Patents Issued by Austria Reached Record Levels

Of almost 193,500 applications received by the European Patent Office (EPO) in the previous year, 2388 came from Austria - more than ever before. The number of domestic filings in 2022 was thus 3.4 percent above the level of the previous year, as the EPO announced on Tuesday. Overall, 2.5 percent more inventions were filed with the European Patent Office than in 2021. This proves that innovation activity has remained robust despite global economic uncertainties, the EPO stresses. The number of patent applications is an early indicator of companies' investments in research and development, according to Die Presse.

According to ORF, the overall growth is mainly due to the continued high increase in filings from China, which with 19,041 filings grew strongly by 15.1 percent and ranks fourth among the countries with the highest number of filings. China's filing numbers have more than doubled in the past five years, according to the EPO. The U.S. continues to lead the global ranking with nearly a quarter of all filings (48,088 filings; up 2.9 percent), followed by Germany, but down 4.7 percent with 24,684 filings.

Also according to ORF, there was a slight decline in applications from Japan, the third most active country (21,567 applications; minus 0.4 percent). In the overall list of the most patent-active countries, Austria ranks 14th. When weighted by population size, Switzerland is by far the leader with 1,031 patent applications per million inhabitants. It is followed by Sweden (482), Denmark (453), the Netherlands (387), Finland (386), Germany (297), and Austria (266). The average for the EU-27 is 151 registrations.