Bulletins »
Continued growth for UK filings at the EPO
The European Patent Office (EPO) has published its latest statistics for European patent applications in 2019. In addition to overall surges in the fields of digital communication (+19.6% over 2018) and computer technology (+10.2%) the data shows a continued growth in European patent applications filed by UK companies. The total number of applications originating in the UK rose by 6.9% to 6,156 in 2019. This follows an increase of 8.2% in 2018. In total, this represents the country retaining a 3% share of total European patent applications.
At the same time, the EPO published a top 20 list of UK filers. This list included large British engineering firms and consumer-focussed companies. There are also universities making use of their technology transfer to get onto this list of top filers.
Overall, these are some very encouraging statistics that show that the UK continues to be a centre for innovation in Europe and worldwide.