Statistics in focus: EU patent applications The Statistical Office of the European Communities, EUROSTAT, has published a report on the development of EU patent applications between 1989 and 1996 filed with the European Patent Office and the Euro-PCT (applications in their international phase). This serves as a useful i... The Statistical Office of the European Communities, EUROSTAT, has published a report on the development of EU patent applications between 1989 and 1996 filed with the European Patent Office and the Euro-PCT (applications in their international phase). This serves as a useful indicator of innovative activity, technology development and in particular enables the international comparison of technology growth. The publication gives a brief overview of the patent situation in the EU and reports that around 34,000 patent applications were filed by the EU Member States in 1996 representing an increase of 16% from the 1989 level. Of these Germany, France and the UK accounted for 70% of the total applications. By examining the patent applications from various countries, their specialisations also become apparent such as Spain and Denmark in human necessities and Belgium in chemistry and metallurgy. The report also examines regional patent activity and draws some comparisons between growth and patent activity and the emerging specialisations of certain regions.
