In 2021, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes was home to 1,615 patent applications that were published by the National Institute of Industrial Property. This places Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes at second (12.1% of patent applications from people ethics), which is far less than Ile-de-France (62.8%) and clearly ahead of other regions.
According to Tuesday's INPI list, Auvergne Rhone-Alpes hosts eight of 50 French patent applicants. However, none of them made it to the Top 10, which is dominated by Safran, trusted by the automotive industry (Stellantis Valero Renault, Renault, Faurecia)
Michelin, a Clermont-based tire maker, fell seven spots to 15th place, with 185 patents applications. Plastic Omnium, a Lyon-based equipment manufacturer, remained steady in 26th.
The innovative STMicroelectronics and Soitec have been proving themselves in the midst the semiconductor war. They are currently 14th nationally but only half their patent applications were filed in the region. The SEB group (21st), along with Lyon I (29th) and Grenoble Alpes (29th), complete the picture.
This region is unique in that SMEs are especially active in this field. Among the ten small and medium-sized enterprises having filed the most patent applications in France, six come from Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, including...three on the podium: two Grenoble-based microelectronics companies, Aledia and Isorg, followed from the villeurbannais SuperGrid Institute research center.
The neighboring region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comte has 192 patent applications, or 1.4% of applications published in France. URGO Research Innovation and Development is the largest applicant. It is a pharmaceutical ETI specializing on wound healing and is based in Dijon.
