A recent report released on Tuesday reveals that over 10% of patent applications submitted to the European Patent Office (EPO) originate from universities. Among Polish academic institutions, the most active patent filers were inventors from the University of Warsaw, AGH University of Science and Technology, and Warsaw University of Technology.
The report, prepared by the EPO, highlights the role of universities in fostering new technologies in Europe. It analyzes data from 1,200 European universities that submitted patent applications to the EPO between 2000 and 2020. In addition to direct submissions by universities, the report also considered applications where university-affiliated researchers were listed as inventors, even if the applicant was another entity, according to the EPO’s press release.
Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy were identified as the leading countries in terms of academic patent filings. Poland ranked 14th in Europe, with Polish universities contributing 1.25% (or 1,341 applications) of all European academic patent filings during the two-decade period. In Poland, academic patents made up 25.2% of all national patent submissions to the EPO. At least one patent application was filed by inventors from 71 Polish universities.
The University of Warsaw topped the list of Polish universities, with 274 patent filings between 2000 and 2020. The AGH University of Science and Technology followed with 115 applications, and the Warsaw University of Technology was close behind with 110. Rounding out the top five were Poznań University of Technology and Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
The report was developed by the EPO’s Patent and Technology Observatory in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, a leading German research organization. The full report is available in English on the European Patent Office website (https://www.epo.org/en/service-support/publications?size=n_10_n&sort-field=publication_date_content&sort-direction=desc).
This analysis underscores the significant contribution of academic institutions to innovation in Europe and highlights Poland’s emerging presence in the field of patent development.
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