EPO publishes European Patent Office Patent Index 2024

The European Patent Office (EPO) has published its Patent Index 2024, which shows that innovation continues to thrive, with the number of patent applications filed last year comparable to the level observed in 2023. The number of patent applications filed with the EPO by companies and inventors from all over the world remained the same last year (-0.1%), after significant growth over the previous three years. Patent applications originating from Europe, including all 39 EPO Member States, grew by 0.3%, while applications from outside Europe fell slightly (-0.4%). The report shows the following trends:

Computer technology takes the lead for the first time

• Computer technology, including artificial intelligence fields such as machine learning and pattern recognition, became the leading field for the first time, with a total of 16,815 patent applications in 2024. The electrical machinery, equipment, energy field saw the strongest growth last year (+8.9% compared to 2023), driven by advances in clean energy technology, especially battery innovation (+24.0%). At the same time, the digital communications field, including inventions related to mobile networks, fell by 6.3%.

Global and European trends

• The United States retained its top position as the country of origin of European patent applications, followed by Germany, Japan, China and South Korea. EPO member states accounted for 43% of all applications, while 57% came from outside Europe (see chart ‘Origin of applications’). Notably, South Korea saw the strongest growth (+4.2%), the People’s Republic of China grew by 0.5%, while applications from companies and inventors from the United States (-0.8%) and Japan (-2.4%) fell. The top ten countries of origin have remained unchanged since 2023.
• In 2024, the number of patent applications from the 39 EPO Member States increased again (86,296 applications, +0.3%), despite a decrease in applications from the EU27 Member States (68,392 applications, -0.4%). European companies and inventors showed above-average growth in the fields of computer technology (+5.9%) and transport (+4.8%).

Switzerland and the UK show the strongest growth among EPO member states

• Germany (+0.4%) and France (+1.1%), the top two European filers, saw slight growth in 2024. Among the larger filers (more than 5,000 applications), Switzerland (+3.2%) and the United Kingdom (+3.1%) saw the strongest growth. Switzerland still leads in patents per capita, followed by several Nordic countries (see chart 'Patent filings per million population').
• Among European countries with more than 1,000 applications, Ireland (+4.4%), Spain (+3.0%) and Finland (+2.7%) saw significant increases in the total number of European patent applications.

Diversified sources of innovation

• Samsung becomes the new top applicant at the EPO in 2024 (it last topped the list in 2020), with Huawei dropping to second, followed by LG, Qualcomm and RTX. The top ten includes four European companies, two South Korean companies, two US companies, as well as one from the People's Republic of China and one from Japan.

One in four patent applications comes from female inventors

• 25% of EPO patent applications originating from Europe list at least one female inventor in 2024. Among the main filing countries (more than 2,000 applications), Spain leads with 42%, followed by Belgium (32%) and France (31%).

Small companies use the patent system to drive innovation

• In 2024, 22% of EPO patent applications from Europe will come from individual inventors or SMEs (companies with fewer than 250 employees), with a further 7% from universities and PROs (see chart ‘Breakdown by applicant class’). This highlights the attractiveness of the patent system for smaller entities, which will be further enhanced by the EPO’s fee reductions for micro-enterprises, individuals, non-profit organisations, universities and research institutes in April 2024.

The European Unitary Patent has exceeded expectations in its second year

• The European Unitary Patent System, launched in 2023, offers innovators simpler, more accessible patent protection across 18 EU Member States, with a single request to the EPO. In 2024, 25.6% of European patents granted by the EPO requested unitary protection, totaling more than 28,000 requests – a 53% increase on 2023 (18,300 requests). Patent holders in EPO Member States had the highest adoption rate, with 36.5% of European patents converted into Unitary Patents, followed by South Korea (18.9%) and China (17.9%), then the United States (16.0%) and Japan (7.9%). Top requesters include Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Samsung, Qualcomm and Volvo Group. Smaller entities have a higher propensity to use, with European SMEs and universities taking up 57.5% of the system.

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(Original link: European innovation remains robust, with demand for patents sustained at a high level | epo.org )