Patent applications in Europe continue to grow in 2022

The European Patent Office (EPO) received 193 460 applications in 2022, an increase of 2.5% on the previous year and a new record. The EPO's Patent Index 2022, published today, shows that patent filings continued to grow last year, after an increase of 4.7% in 2021 that followed a small dip (-0.6%) in 2020.

The rising number of patent applications - an early indicator of companies' investments in research and development - underlines that innovation remained robust last year despite economic uncertainties around the globe.

"When it comes to the promise of green innovation, there has been solid, sustained growth in filings related to clean technologies and other means that create, transfer and store electricity," said EPO President António Campinos. "It's this ongoing boom that is navigating the energy transition. Innovators are also working towards a smarter future, as the fourth industrial revolution takes hold of our lives, sectors and industries - and spreads far into other areas from transport to healthcare. We can see this in the relentless growth in patent applications in digital technologies and semiconductors."

Growth of patent applications 

Boom in digital technologies, batteries and semiconductors 

Digital communication (+11.2% over 2021) was once again the field with the highest number of patent applications last year, followed closely by medical technology (+1.0%) and computer technology (+1.8%). The big increase in patent applications in digital technologies is permeating many other areas such as healthcare, transport and agriculture.

Electrical machinery/apparatus/energy (+18.2%), a field that includes inventions related to clean energy, was the fastest growing among the top ten technology fields, driven in part by the boom in battery technologies (+48.0%). The areas of semiconductors (+19.9%) and audio-visual technology (+8.1%) also grew strongly, albeit from a smaller base. Patent activity in pharmaceuticals continued its steady rise (+1.0%), squeezing past transport (-2.6%) to break into the top five technology fields for the first time in the past decade. Biotechnology (+11.0%) also continued to boom.

Technical fields with most patent applications

Strong growth from China and the US

The top five countries of origin for patent applications at the EPO in 2022 were the United States (accounting for a quarter of the total), Germany, Japan, China and France (see graph Origin of applications). The growth in applications in 2022 was mainly fuelled by filings from China (+15.1% compared with 2021), which have more than doubled in the past five years, and to a lesser extent by filings from the US (+2.9%) and the Republic of Korea (+10.0%).

Top 50 countries for patent applications 

Although the number of patent applications originating from the 39 European Patent Organisation countries (83 955) was at the same level as in 2021 (83 894, +0.1%), their share of the total shrunk by a further percentage point to just below 44%. The growing share of applications to the EPO originating from outside Europe highlights the attractiveness of the European technology market for companies from around the world.

In terms of technology trends, patent applications from the US were up sharply in digital communication and electrical machinery/apparatus/energy. European companies filed fewer applications in digital communication, but considerably more applications in computer technology, medical technology and biotechnology. Patent applications from China grew in most major technology fields.

Europe country trends: German companies file fewer applications; Ireland, Switzerland and Belgium post strong growth

Patent applications from companies in Germany, Europe's leading country in terms of patent applications, dropped by 4.7% last year, largely due to declines in areas such as transport (which includes automotive), electrical machinery/apparatus/energy and organic fine chemistry. Applications from most other leading European patent filing countries were up, including France (+1.9%), Switzerland (+5.9%) and the Netherlands (+3.5%). Among other European countries with over 1 000 applications per year, the strongest growth came from Ireland (+12.3%), Belgium (+5.0%) and Austria (+3.4%). With respect to patent applications per capita, Switzerland was again the leader, followed by some of the Nordic countries (see graph Patent applications per million inhabitants).

Huawei tops applicant ranking

The leading patent applicants at the EPO in 2022 were Huawei (No. 1 in 2021), followed by LG (up from 3rd in 2021), Qualcomm (jumping from 7th to 3rd), Samsung and Ericsson. The top ten includes four companies from Europe, two from the Republic of Korea, two from the US and one from each of China and Japan.

Top ten applicants 

Every fifth patent application filed by a small company

Patents are not only of interest to large companies. A significant proportion of the EPO's applications come from smaller entities: in 2022 one in five patent applications to the EPO originating in Europe came from an individual inventor or a small or medium-sized enterprise (fewer than 250 employees). A further 7% came from universities and public research organisations (see graph Breakdown of applicants by category).