More than 174,000 patents were filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) last year - around 5 percent more than the previous year and more than ever before. Almost half of the applications came from European countries - 15 percent of them from Germany alone, the office announced on Tuesday. "The demand for patent protection continues to rise, which means that inventors and companies regard Europe as an attractive and important technology market," said EPO President AntónioCampinos.
Around a quarter of the patent applications came from the United States, the most from any single country, while 5 percent came from China. In terms of companies, technology giant Siemens took over the top spot from the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. According to the EPO, the Munich-based company registered almost 2,500 patents for the European market in 2018, more than any other company. According to the company, it made almost 4,000 registrations worldwide.
The highest number of inventions was registered in medical technology (13,795 patents). Digital communication (11,940) and computer technology (11,718) followed. Pharmaceuticals (7,441) was ranked 7th.
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