Patent filings at the EPO were up 4.5%, a significant rebound after the slight dip seen in 2020. Innovation in digital and healthcare technologies were the main drivers of growth. Audio visual technology and semiconductors surged, as did patent applications from China – up 24.0% on 2020.
In 2021, the EPO received a record 188 600 applications. As innovation bounced back after the initial shock of the pandemic, most parts of the world and two thirds of the technology fields saw growth. With digital transformation continuing to impact almost every area of life, ICT-related filings accounted for more than 31% of all European patent applications. Annual patent filings have returned to pre-pandemic levels in over half of all technology fields.
See more detailsHuawei was the leading patent applicant at the EPO in 2021 (as in 2019), followed by 2020’s leader, Samsung, and LG. Ericsson and Siemens both moved up a position, to fourth and fifth respectively. The top ten includes four companies from Europe, two from South Korea, two from the US, and one from each of China and Japan. Meanwhile, one in five patent applications from Europe was filed by an individual inventor or small- to medium-sized enterprise. A further 5% were filed by universities and public research organisations.
See more detailsNine of the top ten most patent-active fields saw growth. The steepest rises were seen in digital communication (+9.4%), which narrowly topped the table ahead of medical technology (+0.8%), and computer technology (+9.7%) in third place. Pharmaceuticals (+6.9%) and biotechnology (+6.6%) continued to boom. The combined number of filings in the top ten technology fields accounted for over 55% of all European patent applications in 2021.
European companies filed the greatest share of applications (44%) and returned to growth as a bloc (+2.8%). Significant increases were seen in Sweden (+12.0%), Finland (+11.2%), Denmark (+9.2%), Spain (+8.9%) and Italy (+6.5%). Overall, the top five countries of origin for applications in 2021 were again the United States (+5.2%), which accounts for a quarter of all applications, followed by Germany (+0.3%), Japan (-1.2%), China (+24.0%) and France (-0.7%). The surge in applications from Chinese companies meant that for the first time, combined total filings from China, Japan and South Korea outstripped those from the US. Switzerland remained the country with the most patent applications per capita.
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Data on the last 10 years and country specific profiles.
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