After the first increase in the number of patent applications in Portugal in 2018 since two years ago, the results of the 2019 Patent Index reveal a further increase in these values ​​last year, this time by 23.1%. Altogether, 272 patent applications were filed with the European Patent Office (IEP), the highest number ever, and of these, 110 were authorized, a value that also represents growth.
In the communiqué released to the media, the IEP guarantees that the growth of patent applications in Portugal is mainly due to the significant growth in 10 of the 15 most important technological areas in the country, with the medical area having the largest number of patent applications in 2019 In total there were 22 requests, which represents an increase of 83.3% compared to 2018. Still in the area of ​​health, pharmacies appear in the second position, with 19 patent applications, a lower growth, this time of 35 , 7%. The furniture and games sector closed the top 3, accounting for 18 patent applications, an increase of 50%.
Even so, one of the biggest increases was not in these areas, but in the information technology for management, rising from one to ten orders, with the same happening in the control of machinery. The electrical machinery and devices sector registered an increase from four to 14 orders, therefore, from ten requests-
Who were the national institutions that filed the most patent applications?
Novadelta-Comrcio e Industria de Cafés and Universidade de vora were the ones that filed the highest number of patent applications with the IEP in 2019, both with 16 patent applications. This was followed by the Association for the Advancement of Tissue Engineering and Cell Based Technologies & Therapies with 15 patent applications, Modelo Continente Hipermercados (10) and the Institute of Systems and Computers Engineering, Research and Development in Porto (with 7 requests) .
The national reality here differs from the European one, with Portugal having three research laboratories and academic institutions in the top 5, which "reinforces the importance of European patents in protecting investments made in research and development by academic institutions", writes the IEP.
As in 2018, the Northern region leading the regional ranking of patent applications in Portugal, representing 46% of the total, compared to 40.5% in 2018. Next is the city of Lisbon, which rose from 18.2 % to 21.7%, and the Centro region, which in this case decreased from 29.5% to 16.5%. Even so, in the ranking of cities, the metropolitan area of ​​Lisbon took the lead with 37 patent applications, compared to 26 in 2018, followed by Porto, which rose from 23 to 36 applications.
New patent application record driven by 5G and AI
Portugal's growth is in line with the 4% rise in patent applications in 2019 globally, a year in which the IEP received more than 181,000 applications. As in the Portuguese case, this is a new record. The vast majority of patents (55%) originated from countries outside the European Union, with the United States of America in the top five patent applications, with 25% of the total applications, followed by Germany (15%), Japan ( 12%), China (7%) and France (6%). The Portuguese case represented only 0.1% of this value, with the country being overtaken by countries such as France (6%), Italy (2%) and Spain (1%).
