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Yann Ménière, EPO Chief Economist (left) and Aidan Kendrick, EPO Chief Business Analyst, discuss the key patenting trends at the EPO in 2021. Filings from many countries and in many technology fields are returning to growth following the declines seen in 2020.
Given the levels of global uncertainty twelve months ago, we are now pleased to see that patent applications to the European Patent Office in 2021 were up 4.5% at well over 188 000 - a new record.
Patent
applications from most parts of the world have increased compared to 2020. This
shows that innovation is bouncing back after the initial shock of the pandemic.
The strongest growth by far has been from companies in China, from where
filings have quadrupled in a decade.
European
companies filed the greatest share of applications - some 44% - with Germany,
France and Switzerland in the lead. Applicants from the US contributed
25%. For the first time their share has been overtaken by that from Japan,
South Korea and China, driven mainly by Chinese applicants increasing their own
share from 7% to 9% last year. European
industry appears to be returning to growth, with big increases in patent
filings from companies in Nordic countries, Spain and Italy. More modest
growth was seen from companies based in other leading European economies like
Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Germany also returned to growth, but
only just.
The EPO has
significantly reduced the pendency for examinations in recent years, which led
to a "surge" in granted patents. We now have better timeliness for all products,
a more balanced workflow, so patent granting volumes are stabilising.
The continuing
boom in digital technologies was clearly in evidence in 2021.
The top
technology field was digital communications - with 15 400 applications - edging
out medical technology by fewer than a hundred filings. Computer
technology was a strong third with over 14 500 filings. Taken as a
whole, ICT-related fields now account for over 31% of all applications to the
EPO. And the scale
of this growth has been remarkable - with increases exceeding 9% for digital
communications and computer technology. The related fields of audio-visual
technology and semiconductors posted growth of over 20%.
Of the 35
technology fields across which all patent applications are classified, more
than half have seen filings increase above their 2019 levels. Pharmaceuticals
and biotechnology were both up over 6.5% last year, proving that innovation is
vibrant in healthcare. Other fields of chemistry are recovering too, as
investments in R&D pick up again. Patent filings for some areas of
mechanical engineering continue to decline, reflecting stagnation in some
conventional technologies.
Amongst the
largest applicants for European patents, four of the top ten companies are
European. They are joined by Sony from Japan; Qualcomm and Raytheon
Technologies from the US; LG and Samsung from South Korea;
and Huawei from China on the top spot, as they were in 2019.
