The European Patent Office (EPO) received 199,275 patent applications in 2023; An increase of 2.9% compared to 2022, mainly due to an increase in filings from China and South Korea, showed the EPO’s annual report on Tuesday 19 March.
Among the five countries of origin of patent applications, only one is European: Germany (+ 1.4 compared to 2022), along with the United States (+ 0.4%), Japan (− 0.3%), China (+ 8.8%), and South Korea (+ 21%).
The number of patent applications from French researchers or companies decreased slightly, by 1.5%, with 10,814 files. Behind Germany, France still maintains its second place in Europe, and sixth overall.
Organic fine chemicals take leaps
The year 2023 was marked by a decline in the traditional areas of excellence for patents in France, which are transportation and medical technologies.
In the transport sector, which nevertheless remains in first place, 1,010 patent applications were filed, according to the EPO’s Patent Index 2023, a decrease of 1.5%. The decline is due to the energy transition and a slowdown in research into combustion engines, EPO chief economist Yann Menier said in an interview with Agence France-Presse. France stands out in this field with three companies, Valeo, Renault and Safran, ranked 6th respectively.E13E and 14E A place in the world ranking of file filings, insists the EPO. In the medical technology sector, which ranks third, 729 French patents were requested, also a decrease of 1.5%.
France ranks 6th in ITE World Ranking, and 7E Rank in medical technologies, where there is innovation “Supported by Sanofi Group”Which registers at 12 o’clockE Rank in the EPO’s global ranking of companies in this sector.
The largest increase in patent applications is seen in the field of organic fine chemicals, which has not registered any progress since 2019: the number of applications filed last year increased by 21.7% (483 files), notably carried out by L’Oreal. Next comes IT (+ 18.2%, with 871 files).
The feminization of patent applications is on the rise
The EPO promotes the essential role of French public research institutions, “A True Catalyst for Innovation”. The Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA) in particular filed 523 patent applications last year, second only to Valio (1) among French applicants.d Status with 564 files, and before Safran (3E position, 472 files), the two companies filing the most patents in France.
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The National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) submitted 241 files (8E Status), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) 152 files (17E position), and IFP Energy Nouvelles, 103 patent applications, which places it at 18.E condition
France also stands out for its efforts to increase the number of women in patent applications: 33% of files mention at least one woman among inventors, higher than the average of the EPO’s 39 member states, which is 27%.
Overall, the world’s leading company requesting patents covering Europe is China’s Huawei (with 5,071 files, or about a quarter of requests coming from China), ahead of the two big Korean companies Samsung (4,760 files) and LG. (3,498 files).
