Belgium 2023 Annual Report on Intellectual Property

In the ranking of patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO), Belgium ranks 13th, mainly in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. The main applicants are KU Leuven, IMEC and Solvay.

In 2023, Belgium filed a total of 2,547 patent applications with the European Patent Office, ranking 13th. Most patent applications came from the provinces of East Flanders, Antwerp and Flemish Brabant. In terms of European patent applications, the most active areas of Belgium are:

• Biotechnology (+28%)
• Pharmaceutical products (-14%)
• Medical technology (+22%)
• Computer technology (+25%)
• Measurement technology (+20%)
• Electrical machinery, appliances and energy (+14%).

Many inventions related to clean energy technologies have been licensed.

Top universities drive innovation in Belgium

• Three Belgian universities are among the top ten European universities in terms of patent applications. These are KU Leuven, Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. KU Leuven is tied with Columbia University in the United States for 21st place. Two research institutes, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) and the Frams Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), are also on the list of Belgian patent applicants. This means that half of the top ten Belgian patent applicants are universities and research institutes.

Women Inventors Doing Well

• In 32% of Belgian patent applications filed with the European Patent Office, there is at least one female inventor. Belgium is therefore third in the list of 12 European countries considered “main applicants” (more than 2,000 patent applications per year). Spain (46%) and France (33%) are first and second respectively.

European Unitary Patent is popular in Belgium

• The European Unitary Patent will be officially implemented from June 1, 2023. A total of 337 Belgian patent holders have chosen the European Unitary Patent. The utilization rate of the Unitary Patent by Belgian patent holders is 31.9%, which is higher than the EU average (26.2%) and much higher than the world average (17.5%).