The economists at the European Patent Office (EPO) have published the Patent Index 2023.
Here are a few data points we have selected as interesting trends.
Most European patent applications are filed by the 39 member states of the European Patent Convention (43%). Germany is responsible for 12.5% of filings and France for 5.4%.
Among non-European countries, the United States filed 24.2%, Japan 10.8% and China 10.4%.
The biggest increase was in South Korea (+21%), followed by China (+8.8%), the UK (+4.2%) and the Netherlands (+3.5%). France is down -1.5%.
In the top 5, the USA are No. 1, followed by Germany, Japan, China and South Korea.
What are the main technology areas of these filings?
- Communication and digital (+8,6%)
- Medical technologies (+1,3%)
- IT (+1,2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment and energy (+12,2%)
The percentages are all increasing.
The conversion rate of European patents granted in 2023 into unitary patents is around 20%.
