The European Patent Office (EPO) received 199,275 patent applications in 2023, an increase of 2.9% compared to 2022, mainly driven by an increase in filings from China and Korea, the report shows Annual EPO, Tuesday March 19.
Among the top five countries of origin of patent applications, only one is European: Germany (1.4% compared to 2022), alongside the United States (0.4%), Japan (-0 .3%), China (8.8%), and South Korea (21%).
With 10,814 files filed, the number of patent applications from French researchers or companies fell slightly by 1.5%. Behind Germany, France therefore maintains its second place in Europe, and ranks sixth overall.
Organic fine chemicals take a leap
The year 2023 was marked by a decline in the traditional areas of excellence for patents in France, namely transport and medical technologies.
In the field of transport, which nevertheless remains in first position, 1,010 requests for files were filed, according to the EPO's Patent Index 2023, a decrease of 1.5%. This decline comes from the energy transition and the slowdown in research into combustion engines, said Yann Ménière, chief economist of the EPO during an interview with Agence France-Presse. France stands out in this area with three companies, Valéo, Renault and Safran, which are respectively in 6th, 13th and 14th positions in the world ranking of file submissions, underlines the EPO. In the medical technology sector, which remains in third position, 729 French patents were requested, also a decline of -1.5%.
In IT, France is ranked 6th in the world, and 7th in medical technologies, where innovation is "driven by the Sanofi group" which ranks 12th in the EPO's global ranking of companies. in this domain.
The largest increases in patent applications can be found in the field of organic fine chemicals, which had not recorded any progress since 2019: the number of applications filed jumped 21.7% last year ( 483 files), carried in particular by L'Oréal. Next comes IT (18.2% with 871 files).
The feminization of patent applications on the rise
The EPO underlines the essential role of French public research organizations, “true catalysts for innovation”. The Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA) in particular filed 523 patent application files last year, and ranks second among French applicants, just behind Valeo (1st position with 564 files). , and just before Safran (3rd position, 472 files), the two companies which file the most patents in France.
The National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) submitted 241 applications (8th position), the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) 152 applications (17th position), and IFP Energies nouvelles, 103 patent applications , which places him in 18th position.
France also stands out for its efforts to increase the feminization of patent applications: 33% of files mention at least one woman among the inventors, a share higher than the average of the 39 member states of the EPO which is 27%.
Overall, the first company in the world requesting patents covering Europe is the Chinese Huawei (with 5,071 files filed, or almost a quarter of the requests coming from China), which is ahead of the two Korean giants Samsung (4,760 files) and LG (3,498 files).
