The European Patent Office (EPO) received a record number of 201,974 patent applications in 2025, according to the EPO Technology Dashboard 2025, published on Tuesday 24 March and announced in a press release.
Patent increased by 1.4% compared with 2024, “marking a return to steady growth”.
Applications from Europe, including the 39 EPO member states, rose by 0.4% (EU: +0.7%), while filings from outside Europe were up 2.1%, highlighting “the continued global attractiveness of the European patent system”.
According to the EPO, Europe maintains a strong position amid intensifying global competition. The United States remained the leading country of origin for European patent applications, followed by Germany, and then China, which overtook Japan for the first time.
But Europe’s innovators “led patent applications in eight of the ten top technology fields, demonstrating the continent’s broad technological capabilities”.
Mid-sized European economies. In total, 43% of patent applications filed originated in its member states, while 57% came from outside Europe. Within Europe, growth was driven by mid-sized innovation economies, including Finland (+44%), Denmark (+5.2%), Austria (+5.0%), and Spain (+2.9%).
At the same time, however, the number of filings from some of Europe’s largest patenting countries declined slightly, including Germany and France.
AI. Computer technology remained the dominant sector, with 17,844 applications (+6.1%). This growth was driven by a 9.5% increase in artificial intelligence and a 37.9% surge in quantum technologies. While the United States dominates the computer technology sector overall, European innovators hold the largest share of filings at the EPO in both AI (34%) and quantum technologies (44%).
Digital communication recorded the strongest growth among leading sectors (+11.4%). Innovation in machinery, apparatus and electrical energy also expanded (+5.3%), supported by a 14.6% increase in battery technologies. Asian companies currently dominate in the filing of patent applications for batteries, but European applicants still maintain the largest share (36%) in the broader electrical machinery sector.
Link to the Dashboard: https://aeur.eu/f/lb8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)