EPO Patent Index shows green energy and communication driving record growth

Today, the European Patent Office has published its EPO Patent Index 2022. For the fifth consecutive year, the office has recorded a growth in patent applications. Numbers increased by 2.5% compared to 2021, reaching 193,460 patent applications in total. The development marks a new record high for the EPO.

According to the Patent Index 2022, since 2018 numbers have risen continuously. A small dip of -0.6% in the first COVID-19-impacted year in 2020 was followed by an increase of 4.7% in 2021.

Digital communication patents rise

At +11.2% and +18.5% respectively, the EPO recorded a particularly strong increase in the number of patent applications in digital communication and electrical machinery. The latter category also includes innovation in the field of energy, where 48% of the 18.5% rise can be attributed to the boom in battery technology.

The area of semiconductors has also seen strong growth at +19.9%, as well a growth of +8.5% in audio-visual technology, albeit with the latter growing from a smaller base, as the EPO underlines in its report.

Another booming industry in patent application is biotechnology, with an increase of 11%. Meanwhile, patent activity in pharmaceuticals, medical technology and computer technology is also rising, with each sector seeing a growth of +1%, +1% and +1.8% respectively.

US and China still going strong

Geographically, the main drivers of growth – especially in the field of digital communication and semiconductors – are companies situated in Asia and the US. Chinese company Huawei, South Korean companies LG and Samsung, and US company Qualcomm are among the top ten patent applicants. These four companies alone filed over 13,800 patent applications in 2022, followed in fifth and sixth place by Ericsson and Siemens. As the first two European companies to make the top-ten list, they filed 1,827 and 1,735 patents respectively.

All in all, US firms also account for most patent applications at the EPO, filing 48,088 patents in 2022. This is a 2.9% rise against the previous year. Next in line is Germany with 24,684 patent applications, a decline of -4.7% compared to 2021. Number three in the list of patent-filing countries is Japan with 21,576 patents, a drop of 0.4%, followed by China.

However, with 19,041 patent applications, the latter country has seen an impressive 15.1% compared to the previous year. Patent filings from China have more than doubled in the past five years, with the country now a main driver of growth in patent applications at the EPO. South Korea is another Asian power house of innovation. According to the EPO Patent Index 2022, it has increased its number of filed patents by 10% since 2021.

Decline in Germany

Furthermore, increasing numbers of small- and medium-sized companies are also filing patents. According to the EPO Patent Index 2022, 20% of patent applications originating in Europe came from an individual inventor, or a small- or medium-sized enterprise. A further 7% came from universities and public research organisations.

While patent applications from Germany dropped significantly, other European countries saw a rise, including France with +1.9%, Switzerland with +5.9%, and the Netherlands with +3.5%. Among other European countries with over 1,000 applications per year, the strongest growth came from Ireland with +12.3%, Belgium with +5.0%, and Austria with +3.4%. With respect to patent applications per capita, Switzerland was again the leader, followed by several Nordic countries.

EPO Patent Index belies mixed feelings

In 2023, the EPO celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European patent system. On 5 October 1973, 16 countries signed the European Patent Convention in Munich. Today, the EPO has 39 member states, the most recent being Montenegro, which joined in October 2022.

However, it is not all plain sailing. Many EPO users are critical of the increasing number of patent applications and granted patents. They complain that the quality of the granted patents sometimes suffers and attribute this to the drive for more efficiency. As such, a current debate is raging between the EPO management and an industry initiative regarding the quality of granted patents.