Identifying potential emerging human rights implications in Chinese smart cities via machine-learning aided patent analysis - Part 12

Aug 5, 2026

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This work examines smart city technologies by analyzing trends in patent filings and using machine learning to surface both global growth patterns and emerging corporate focus areas. The study concentrates on deployed and emerging urban systems-of-systems in China, where patent volumes strongly shape global technology adoption. Results highlight increasing uptake of technologies and processes raising human rights concerns, with particular emphasis on privacy, freedom of expression, and assembly.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Human rights risks in smart-city surveillance

China’s role in smart cities and global diffusion

Patent-based method overview

Scope and focus of the study

Volume 12 ssue 3 Identifying potential emerging human rights implications in Chinese smart cities via machine-learning aided patent analysis [Joss Wright](Joss Wright University of Oxford joss.wright@oii.ox.ac.uk)[ University of Oxford](Joss Wright University of Oxford joss.wright@oii.ox.ac.uk)[ joss.wright@oii.ox.ac.uk](Joss Wright University of Oxford joss.wright@oii.ox.ac.uk)[ ](Joss Wright University of Oxford joss.wright@oii.ox.ac.uk)Valentin Weber German Council on Foreign Relations Gregory Finn Walton SecDev Group DOI: [https://doi.org/10.14763/2023.3.1718](https://doi.org/10.14763/2023.3.1718) [Published:](Published: 28 July 2023)[ 28 July 2023](Published: 28 July 2023) Received: 17 October 2022 Accepted: 30 December 2022 Funding: The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (UK) Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist that have influenced the text. Licence: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (Germany) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/deed.en](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/deed.en) [Copyright remains with the author](Copyright remains with the author)([s](s)). Citation: Wright, J. & Weber, V. & Walton, G. F. (2023). Identifying potential emerging human rights implications in Chinese smart cities via machine-learning aided patent analysis. Internet Policy Review, 12(3). [https://doi.org/10.14763/2023.3.1718](https://doi.org/10.14763/2023.3.1718) [Keywords:](Keywords: Smart cities)[ Smart cities](Keywords: Smart cities), Human rights, China, Machine learning, Patents Abstract: In this work, we investigate smart city technologies primarily through an examination of trends in patent filing. We apply machine learning methods both to explore the increasing rates of patent filing globally for smart city technologies, and also to identify the emerging topics on which companies are choosing to focus their efforts. We focus particularly on deployed and emerging urban systems-of-systems in China, which represent a high proportion of patents filed for smart city technologies, with a view to their potential global impacts. As a leading source of innovation in the development of smart cities, Chinese patent filing exerts significant influence on similar technologies adopted globally. Our global patent analysis highlights emerging trends in smart city innovations, and the increased adoption of technologies and processes that present significant human rights concerns, especially concerns to privacy, freedom of expression, and assembly. Introduction Cities, and the interactions between their infrastructure and their populations, will be fundamental to the human experience in the future as greater and greater proportions of the global population become urban dwellers. By 2050 more than two thirds of humanity will live in urban areas (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2018). Cities are undergoing a rapid process of digital transformation, many of them involving advanced systems of surveillance and internet control such as facial recognition. Roughly half of the 1,000 smart city initiatives underway are in China (Atha et al. , 2020). Chinese cities are becoming synonymous with massive surveillance and rising ‘digital authoritarianism’(Dragu & Lupu, 2021; Weber, 2019). China is also actively exporting mass surveillance technologies: AI-enabled ‘Safe Cities’ are being sold to over 75 countries globally (Feldstein, 2021).1 Chinese companies supply AI surveillance technology to over 63 countries, 36 of which have signed up to China’s Belt and Road initiative (Feldstein, 2021).2 The spread of these domestic and exported systems endangers a host of human rights. Predictive policing, or ‘Intelligence-Led Policing’(??????) as t

FAQs

How does the study investigate smart city technologies?

It investigates technologies through trends in patent filing, applying machine learning to identify increasing patent rates and emerging topic areas companies pursue.

Why focus on Chinese smart cities?

Chinese patent filing is treated as a leading innovation source, and deployed plus emerging systems in China are argued to drive global impacts through technology adoption.

Which human rights concerns are highlighted by the patent analysis?

The analysis points to emerging trends tied to technologies and processes that raise concerns, especially privacy, freedom of expression, and assembly.

Aug 5, 2026

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