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Statistics in Focus - European patent applications

The Statistical Office of the European Communities, EUROSTAT, has published a special edition of its "Statistics in Focus" series presenting data on European patent applications filed with the European Patent Office (EPO). Using 1994 data from the European Patent Office, the ...

The Statistical Office of the European Communities, EUROSTAT, has published a special edition of its "Statistics in Focus" series presenting data on European patent applications filed with the European Patent Office (EPO). Using 1994 data from the European Patent Office, the bulletin analyses patent applications by country, by region and by technological field. A total of 30,792 patent applications were made in Europe during 1994, representing an increase of 2.5% over the previous year. However, taking the total number of patent applications per one million population, the report shows that there has been a reduction in patent applications relative to population. Measuring patent applications relative to population shows that the highest number of applications come from Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and Denmark, while the fewest come from Spain, Greece and Portugal. As regards the technological fields in which patent applications are filed, the highest proportion (23%) are in the sector "performing operations and transporting". Other sectors with high levels of applications are "chemistry and metallurgy" and "human necessities". Further information on European patent applications will be available in the Eurostat publication "Research and Development - Annual statistics 1996", due to be published shortly.