Innovation brief: Data center growth and battery technology drives innovation to mitigate risk

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Oct 26

New fire and battery risk plus the proliferation of AI is driving the shift in innovation to manage warehouse and data center risk

Warehouses and data centers are changing faster than the risks around them are understood. Automated storage, lithium-ion batteries, liquid-cooled servers and connected control systems are rewriting how these facilities operate, and how they fail. To see where innovation is responding, FluidityIQ analyzed nearly 7,000 patent publications across seven technology areas, from battery fire and power resilience to water damage, warehouse automation and operational technology cybersecurity. The picture that emerges is clear: fire-related innovation is accelerating fastest, AI is spreading into every area, and a growing number of companies, not just the established leaders, are driving new invention.

About this report

The full report examines seven technology areas covering the main loss drivers for these facilities: fire and explosion, power and equipment failure, water damage, automation, and cyber-physical exposure. It is built from seven portfolio analyses of the global patent record, with no date or jurisdiction limit. The report uses patent publications as a measure of innovation activity: where companies patent shows where they are investing in new technology, and changes over time show where that investment is growing or slowing.

Key findings

Fire-related innovation is accelerating fastest. Patented innovation in the three fire and explosion areas grew by about a third or more between 2019 to 2021 and 2022 to 2024, while innovation activity in water damage declined.

Battery risk links facility types. Battery fire and data center fire share a large body of patented inventions, and battery monitoring is among the fastest-growing themes in both.

AI is spreading across every area. The share of patented inventions using AI or image analysis rose in all seven areas, most sharply in early fire detection and power resilience.

More companies are innovating. The largest innovators account for a smaller share of recent activity in six of the seven areas.

Leadership differs by area. Each area has its own leading countries and companies, from Japanese material handling makers to Korean utilities and US technology firms.

Insurers are among the innovators. Four insurers hold patents or applications in these areas; the full report identifies them and their inventions.

Seven key areas at a glance

Innovation activity is rising in six of seven key areas, with AI investment spreading and leaders’ activity falling.

Inside the full report

Innovators covered include Honeywell, Siemens, Tyco Fire Products, Samsung SDI, Amazon, IBM and Murata Machinery. The full report includes five peril chapters, technology themes defined by CPC classification, the direction of innovation by area and theme, standards referenced in the patent text, new entrants, a cross-area view of the largest innovators, insurer and reinsurer patents, US innovation trends, methodology, a glossary and appendix tables for every chart.