Brussels, 06/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Requests for patents in Europe are increasing, according to data published on Thursday 6 March by the European Patents Office (EPO), the European body that brings together 38 different countries including all the member of the EU. EPO president, Benoît Battistelli, talked to EUROPE about these results, which he described as “good news and not too bad considering the current period!” (Interview by MD).
Agence Europe (AE): Patent requests are at a healthy level in Europe and in 2013 the EPO registered a new record. What's behind this boom?
Benoît Battistelli (BB): Overall, we had a very good year in 2013, with a 2.8% increase in patent requests compared to the previous year. The exact level of patent requests reached a figure of 265,690. This increase is due to stability in the position of European countries, which account for almost 35% of all requests, and to increased demand from Asia (particularly China and Korea). Non-European patents as a whole account for 65% of the total. We are also publishing for the first time a prize for the number of patents per million inhabitants. European countries are doing well - there are nine of them among the top ten and one non-European, Japan (Ed: Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Japan and France). These figures reflect the situation on the market for us and it is then up to European and national decision-makers to include these data in their respective political choices.
(AE): How do you explain this record number of requests in Europe?
(BB): The reason for the increase is connected to the fact that companies have understood that it is by way of innovation that we can find a way out of the crisis and continue to develop. The real comparative advantage is innovation and being able to produce new products and new production processes. It is logical that in an economy that is increasingly based on knowledge, patents are assuming an increasingly important place. Regular progress is not exclusive to 2013 - in fact this is the 15th year in which we have achieved an increase of between 3 and 4% a year, except for the fall experienced in 2009, which was related to the financial crisis.
(AE): How should the predominant number of non-European countries requesting patents be interpreted?
(BB): We are an open economy. Europe is part of the global economy and non-European companies that want to invest in Europe need to protect their inventions there. This high proportion illustrates the innovative character of the European economy. Europe is the biggest market in the world and the biggest trading power. Major international groups are therefore developing in Europe and are subsequently protecting their inventions here. I see this as rather positive, and it demonstrates the attractiveness of the European economy.
(AE): What is Switzerland's successful recipe for making the largest number of patent requests per inhabitant?
(BB): There are two reasons for this position. On the one hand, Swiss industry is extremely creative and innovative, particularly in pharmaceuticals and precision instruments. On the other hand, there is a link with financial aspects: the Swiss can offer a very attractive tax package for patents and therefore a large number of multinationals come to Switzerland to manage their patents portfolio.
(AE): What sectors are receiving the most demands? Are you also noticing sectors that are falling behind and which need to do more research?
(BB): On the list of the 10 sectors filing the most requests for patents, medical technologies is in first place, followed by electric and energy equipment. Digital communications are only in third place and have slightly fallen compared to figures for the previous year. Information technology and transport come next. This sector has seen a 5% increase compared to last year (cars, aeronautics, space and railways). We have also witnessed a slight fall in pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies, which, nonetheless, are still in the top ten. This can be explained by the very strict patent rules in place in the latter domain over the past few years and a trend that has seen these companies leaving Europe for the US.
(AE): The unitary patent so far only exists at a political level. Is the delay in ratifying the agreement to set up the court impacting on EU performance in terms of innovation?
(BB): The unitary patent will improve the European system and make it more attractive insofar as once the patent was issued there was no uniform application. Now we will have the same application in 25 countries, then a European patent court will be able to create common jurisprudence in Europe. We cannot say that this implementation is taking too much time. Parliamentary ratification processes are always lengthy and complicated. The political decision was barely made a year ago, in 2013. Austria, Malta and France have already ratified and this is going at the right pace. I'm very hopeful that we will achieve effective implementation of this unitary patent in 2015 probably.