Little change in the number of patent applications by Icelandic parties to EPO
The European Patent Office (EPO) received 48 Icelandic applications for European patents last year. This is slightly above the average number of applications from Icelandic entities in the last ten years, but below the record number in 2021, when 63 applications were received. In terms of applications per million inhabitants, EPO received 123 applications from Iceland last year, which is somewhat below the average of applications from EPO member states, which is 134 applications per million inhabitants. This is stated in the EPO Patent Index 2022 which was recently published.
A total of 15 European patents were granted to Icelandic entities in 2022. Fewer patents have not been granted to Icelandic entities since 2014 and this represents a considerable decrease in numbers from 2020 when 41 patents were granted to Icelandic entities. Overall, the number of patents granted by EPO decreased by almost 25% year-on-year.
Most patent applications by Icelandic entities to EPO last year were in the field of IT methods for management, ten in total. The number of such applications increased greatly in 2022, as only two such applications were received from Icelandic parties in 2021 and none in the previous three years. The second most applications were received in the field of medical technology, or nine applications. Such applications have not been fewer from Icelandic entities for ten years and they were eleven in 2021.
The total number of patent applications to EPO increased by 2.5% year-on-year and has never been higher. The increase is mainly attributed to Chinese applications, which increased by 15%, and American applications, which increased by almost 3%. The number of European applications changed little between years. Most applications were received from the United States, Germany, Japan, China, and France. Ericsson was the only European company among the five largest applicants, which also included Huawei, LG, Qualcomm, and Samsung. Most applications were received in the field of digital communications, medical technology, and computer technology. Electrical machinery/apparatus/energy (+18.2%), a field that includes inventions related to clean energy, was the fastest growing among the top ten technology fields, driven in part by the boom in battery technologies (+48.0%). Biotechnology (+11.0%) also continued to boom.
The European Patent Office, with its headquarters in Munich, Germany, is one of the largest international organizations in Europe with around 6,300 employees from 44 countries. Iceland became a member of the organization in 2004, and since then the number of validated European patents in Iceland has increased greatly. In 2022, 900 European patents were validated in Iceland.
