Better quality of life as an independent inventor – Inventor study by the German Intellectual Property Office

The first airbag, mass-produced expansion plugs, football boots with screws and the first car wash were all patented by inventors in their own names and all resulted from innovations by independent inventors rather than from companies or research institutions.

In 2023, the German Intellectual Property Office DPMA registered a total of 1,835 patent applications from independent inventors, 40.9% of which were in the field of mechanical engineering. About a quarter of the independent inventors were from Bavaria (470). The number of female inventors was slightly higher than in 2022, and the proportion increased slightly, from 7.6% in 2022 to 8.7%.