The Patent Index 2022 shows that the number of patent filings continued to grow last year and reached close to 200,000 applications, according to statistics released by the European Patent Office (EPO) last week.
The number of applications increased by 2.9 % compared to 2022. This follows growth of 2.6% in 2022 and 4.7% in 2021. Patent applications, which are filed to help protect and market inventions, are an early indicator of companies’ R&D investments.
The EPO is the executive arm of the European Patent Organisation, an international organisation with 39 member states, and one of the largest public service organisations in Europe. To handle the workload, the EPO employs some 6,300 staff, of whom nearly 4 000 are scientists and engineers working as patent examiners in all fields of technology.
Patents by country
Some 43% of the total applications came from companies and inventors from the EPO’s 39 member states, while 57% originated from outside Europe. The top five countries of origin for European patent applications in 2023 were the US, Germany, Japan, China and Korea.
According to EPO, the majority of patents applications come from non-EU countries because of the quality of the European patent system.
The leading patent filing countries from Europe were Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden and Italy. The highest growth rates in Europe were shown in Finland, Spain, UK and Italy.
The overall growth in patent applications at the EPO in 2023 was mainly fueled by steep increases from Korea (+21.0%) and China (+8.8%). Korea entered the top five for the first time, while patent applications from China have more than doubled since 2018.
“Our latest Patent Index shows that innovation remained vibrant around the world in 2023,” said EPO President António Campinos. “The EPO was entrusted with examining more applications than ever before, attesting to both the attractiveness of the European technology market and the high quality of our products and services. “
Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are making ever-increasing use of patents, with the share of applications from SMEs at its highest level yet last year. In 2023, 23% of patent applications to the EPO originating in Europe was filed by an individual inventor or SME (with fewer than 250 employees). A further 8% came from universities and public research organisations.
These businesses can also now benefit from the new Unitary Patent, providing a simpler and more cost-effective option for innovators to protect their inventions and bring them to the EU market. As part of its support for smaller entities, the EPO has announced new fee reductions as of 1 April 2024 for micro-enterprises, individuals, non-profits, universities and public research organisations.
Increased uptake of Unitary Patent System
As previously reported, the new streamlining Unitary Patent System UPS) was introduced on 1 June 2023. The new system offers a single patent, with no need to validate the patent in each country, a single renewal fee, under a single legal system and before a single Unified Patent Court, for the participating countries.
At the introduction of UPS, Commission President von der Leyen said that simulations suggest that the new system could generate nearly €2 billion in additional foreign direct investment into the EU.
Initially, 17 EU member states, among them the top patent filers in Europe such as France and Germany, joined the system. Altogether, they account for around 80% of the EU's GDP.
The number of countries is still the same but is expected to increase, Luis Berenguer, Principal Director of Communication at the EPO, told The Brussels Times. The share of UPS patents of all European patents (uptake rate) is steadily growing, from 17.5 % last year to currently 24 %. Of the innovators who have transformed their European patents into Unitary Patents, some two-thirds are European.
Patents by technology
The leading technical fields for patent applications at the EPO last year were digital communication (which covers technologies related to mobile networks), medical technology and computer technology.
Overall, the strongest growth among all technology fields in 2023, however, was in electrical machinery, apparatus, energy, which covers inventions related to clean-energy technologies, including batteries. Patent activity in biotechnology also continued to rise further.
European companies posted above average growth in the fields of digital communication, biotechnology, computer technology and measurement, which includes sensor technologies. Meanwhile, European companies filed fewer patent applications in pharmaceuticals and medical technology.
This year’s Patent Index also looks at the contribution of women to innovation. For all patent applications filed with the EPO last year coming from Europe, 27% named at least one woman as an inventor. The data can help in addressing the gaps that remain to be bridged to harness the full potential of women inventors.
Asked about the most interesting and innovative patents, Luis Berenguer replied that they cannot be disclosed yet because patent applications are published only 18 months after the filing.
The practice of publishing patent applications at 18 months after filing is a standard feature of many of the world’s patent systems and represents a balance of interests between inventors and third parties, including the public.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
