(Publ. 28 MAR 2018) Patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) increased by 3.9% in 2017. The top five technical fields where medical technology, digital communication, computer technology, electrical machinery/energy and transport.

The origin of the applications where the EPO member states (47%), USA (26%), Japan (13%), China (5%), Korea (4%) and others (5%). The number of applications from Sweden increased by 4.9% compared to previous year.

In the global rankings of patent applications per inhabitants, Sweden is in fourth place, after Switzerland, Netherlands and Denmark. The number of applications from Sweden increased by 4.9% compared with the previous year.

The statistics is derived from the EPO Annual Report for 2017. The report also contains more statistics as well as infographics. Click here to view the full rapport.