Written by: Caleb Gilliam-Scott
The European Patent Office (EPO) has published its annual patent index report, which collects statistics from the previous calendar year. The current report compares the data from 2024 to that in 2023.
In 2024 a total of 199,264 applications were filed with the EPO, the majority of which were from applicants in EPO states (With Germany taking top spot amongst those), and the United States taking 24% of the share, larger than the combined share of China and Japan.
However, South Korea had the most growth in contributing to European filings, increasing by 4.2%. In 2023 South Korea had 21% growth compared to 2022, and so this continuing trend of increasing filings from South Korea makes it stand out as an innovation hub. There was smaller growth of 0.3% from within EPO states and 0.5% growth from China. The US actually saw negative growth of 0.8%.
Women inventors now also represent on average one quarter of named inventors for European applications filed from within Europe.
Looking now at technology practice areas, computer technology, including artificial intelligence, has risen to become the top technology field at the EPO, growing by 3.3% to account for over 8% of total filings, with Samsung, Huawei, Microsoft and Google’s holding company Alphabet as top filers in this category. Samsung and Huawei actually hold the number one and number two positions for total EPO filings in 2024.
Despite not holding the top spot, the “electrical machinery, apparatus, energy” classification, which includes battery and green technologies, actually saw the largest growth in filings by 8.9%.
Pharmaceutical applications however are down by 13.2%, possibly due to a waning spike caused by the Covid-19 pandemic (in 2020 pharmaceutical applications rose 10.2%). Digital communication, such as telecoms, saw a decline in total filings of 6.3%.
On unitary patents, uptake now represents a quarter of granted European patents, with uptake at 36% within Europe.
It’s good to see that the European Patent Office continues to attract innovation from within and outside Europe, and interesting to see how this data can be used in understanding the IP and technological landscape for both practitioners, inventors, and investors alike.
