Overall, applications to the European Patent Office last year exceeded 200,000 for the first time ever
Photo credits: herreid / BigStock
The European Patent Office (EPO) is receiving growing numbers of patent applications, hitting the 200,000 mark for the first time ever in 2025, with application rates from outside of Europe increasing the fastest.
Applications from outside of Europe grew by 2.1%, reaching 115,365 applications. In comparison, applications from the 39 EPO member states rose by just 0.4%, with 86,609 applications in total.
Globally, the growth in patenting from China and South Korea has been the highest, with the number of applications coming from both increasing by around 10%. Applications from China represented 11% of all applications, while those from South Korea represented 7%.
This signals the growing dominance of the two countries in technology fields such as AI, batteries, and 6G telecommunications. In digital communications, for example, 26%…
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