Last year, the European Patent Office (EPO) received a record number of patent applications from around the world, indicating that investment in research and development is running counter to an atmosphere of economic uncertainty. The digital technology (health, transport, agriculture), battery and semiconductor sectors are the most innovative and inventive of ideas, as the number of patent applications in these sectors increased significantly at the EPO in 2022.

In total, 193,460 patent applications from different countries were filed with the European Patent Office, which is 2.5% more than in the previous year. This is a new record, although it was also preceded by a 4.7% increase in 2021. The rise in patent filings, an early indicator of corporate investment in R&D, shows that innovation has remained stagnant, according to the EPO. last year were strong despite economic uncertainty around the world.

In the corresponding list of the top 50 filing countries, Greece, with 185 patent applications, ranks 37th behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. This number is down 8.9% compared to 2021 (203). On the other hand, US companies lead with a total of 48,088 patents filed with the EPO in 2022 compared to 46,712 patents in the previous year (+2.9%), followed by Germany with 24,684 applications (-4, 7%), Japan. with 21,576 patent applications (-0.4%), China with 19,041 patent applications (+15%) and France, which also closes the top five with 10,900 patent applications (+1.9%). According to the EPO, the number of patent applications from German companies was at a high level, but decreased by 4.7% compared to 2021 due to the overall decline registered in sectors such as transport (including cars), electrical equipment, household appliances , energy and chemical industry. . The top companies in EPO patent filings last year were China’s Huawei, followed by LG, Qualcomm, Samsung and Ericsson. The top ten included four companies from Europe, two from the Republic of Korea, two from the United States, and one each from China and Japan. It is noted that patents are of interest not only to large companies. This is evidenced by the fact that every fifth patent application filed in Europe originates either from individual inventors or from small and medium-sized companies, i.e. companies with less than 250 employees. At the same time, a percentage of about 7% falls on universities and public research organizations.