Icelandic life science companies do well in patent applications

The number of published patent applications by Icelandic companies in the field of life sciences at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) increased slightly in 2022 from the year before but decreased at the European Patent Office (EPO). Although the number of patent applications by Icelandic life sciences companies has been decreasing in recent years, Iceland is still among the countries with the most applications per capita for patents in the field of life sciences. This is stated in newly published figures compiled for the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office (ISIPO) on the occasion of the Innovation Forum 2023, which is dedicated to life sciences and will be held on October 26 in Gróska.

A report on Icelandic patent applications in the field of life sciences 2010-2021, from last year, summarizes information on published applications for patents for inventions in the field of life sciences from Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, China and the United States to the USPTO and EPO. Newly updated figures for 2022 show that only Swiss and Danish companies had more patent applications published in this field than Icelandic companies last year, per capita.

Most Icelandic patent applications within the life sciences are for inventions in health technology, and Össur filed 365 of the 577 patent applications published by Icelandic companies at the USPTO and EPO for inventions in the field of life sciences 2010-2022 or 63%*. Applications for patents in the fields of biotechnology, food science, and pharmaceuticals are generally fewer than in the comparison countries. The ten Icelandic life science companies and institutions with the greatest number of published patent applications 2010-2022 are: Actavis, deCODE, Nox Medical, Skaginn 3X, Háskóli Íslands, ORF Genetics, Kerecis, Genís, Marel, Matís and Oculis.

In the years 2010-2022, 327 applications for patents in the field of life sciences were published by the Intellectual Property Office. Most of them were from international pharmaceutical companies with AstraZeneca owning owning most applications. Icelandic companies and institutionsowned sixteen applications, of which the University of Iceland owned three.

*When counting the patent applications, patent applications for the same invention are counted as one application. So-called simple DOCDB families of patent applications are considered, where each family covers one invention.