April 5 (Reuters) – European patent applications hit a record high in 2021 after a slight decline linked to the COVID-19 pandemic the previous year, data from the European Patent Office (EPO) showed on Tuesday. ).
The organization registered 188,600 patent applications in 2021, an increase of 4.5% over one year. In 2020, applications were down 0.7%.
The increase is largely due to patent applications from the United States – at the top of the ranking – and China, which posted a 24% increase, explains the EPO.
European countries represent less than half of the applications filed, although Germany occupies second place in the ranking and France, which is experiencing a slight decline in its applications (-0.7%), fifth.
In France, it is the field of transport that records the most requests, ahead of medical technologies, down 3%, and IT.
At the head of the French organizations at the origin of patent applications is the aeronautical equipment manufacturer Safran, ahead of the CEA (Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies), a research organization. They are followed by Valeo, Saint-Gobain and Sanofi.
(Report Valentine Baldassari)
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