MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - The number of patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) rose by almost three percent last year to 199,275 new inventions. The growth driver was the demand for intellectual property rights for digital communication, electrical machines and energy technology, as the EPO announced in Munich on Tuesday. Significantly more applications came from South Korea and China in particular.

However, the USA is still clearly in the lead with around 48,200 applications. Germany follows far behind with an increase of 1.4 percent to almost 25,000 applications, Japan (around 21,500), China (20,700), South Korea (12,600), France (10,800) and Switzerland (9,400). Most patent applications from Germany related to inventions in the three fields of electrical machines/devices/energy, transport and vehicle technology as well as measurement technology, which includes sensors that are important for digitalization in industry.

As in the previous year, the Chinese IT and telecommunications group Huawei topped the list of companies filing EPO patent applications, with more than 5,000 submissions. It is followed by the South Korean tech companies Samsung and LG, the US semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm, the Swedish mobile network supplier Ericsson, the Munich-based technology group Siemens, the US defense and electronics group Raytheon and the chemical company BASF in Ludwigshafen. The top applicants also include Robert Bosch in 12th place for inventions in battery technology and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in the top 25 for computer technology.

Among the German federal states, Bavaria remains at the top in 2023; Baden-Württemberg overtakes North Rhine-Westphalia and moves up to second place. "These three federal states account for almost 70 percent of all German patent applications to the EPO." Munich filed 3441 patent applications last year, putting the Bavarian capital in first place in Europe and sixth place worldwide. Ludwigshafen am Rhein (1259 patent applications) and Stuttgart (1133) are also at the top of both rankings.

Almost one in four patent applications in Europe is now filed by small companies with fewer than 250 employees. EPO President António Campinos said: "Their share of applications reached its highest level ever last year." They benefited from the newly created unitary patent, which protects inventions throughout the EU simply and cost-effectively. From the start of the Unitary Patent in June 2023 to the end of the year, 22% of patents granted were Unitary Patents. "It has significantly improved the framework conditions for innovation in Europe," said Campinos.

The proportion of female inventors remains low. In only 27% of all patent applications from Europe was at least one woman named as an inventor. In Germany, the figure was 22 percent. In the individual fields of technology, the proportion of female inventors ranged from 14 percent in mechanical engineering to 50 percent in chemistry./rol/DP/zb