After the downturn due to corona, the number of applications submitted to the EPO has reached an all-time high. The most patent applications, namely 46,533, came from the US. Germany came in second with 25,969 applications and was followed by Japan with 21,681 and China with 16,665. The record-breaking numbers highlight the creativity and resilience of innovators in Europe and worldwide, said EPO President António Campinos.
“We’re back on track,”
said EPO Chief Economist Yann Ménière.
“The considerable increase in applications last year compensates for the small drop in the previous year. For companies, research and development constitute long-term investments that are not as severely impacted by crises.”
Munich and Bavaria top performers in EPO statistics
With 7656 applications, Bavaria is the frontrunner among the European regions in the EPO statistics and clearly ahead of the runner-up Île-de-France with 6705. In Germany, second place was taken by North Rhine-Westphalia with 5248 patent applications followed by 5087 in Baden-Württemberg.
3757 patent applications came from Munich. The capital city of Bavaria was well in the lead in the comparison of cities, coming in before Ludwigshafen (1089), Stuttgart (1086), Berlin (825) and Leverkusen (680). Ménière said that while Munich does benefit somewhat from its role of being home to the EPO, the effect is minimal and doesn’t distort the statistics.
The German Patent and Trademark Office, which is also located in Munich, also recently released its annual figures for 2021. In their ranking, Baden-Württemberg was ahead of Bavaria in the number of patent applications. The differing numbers may be due to the offices’ different application strategies, remarked Yann Ménière.