Most patent applications by Icelandic life science companies from Össur

63% of all patent applications* of Icelandic life science companies in Europe and the US in the last 11 years are from Össur. This is among the results of a new report on patent applications by Icelandic life science companies, published by the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office (ISIPO) (in Icelandic only).

The report shows that, in general, Icelandic life science companies do well in protecting inventions through international patent applications. Iceland's good position is however primarily due to the large number of applications from one company, Össur. Looking at the number of patent applications in life science sectors other than health technology i.e., the pharmaceutical sector, biotechnology, and food science, there are relatively few applications from Iceland compared to other Scandinavian countries.

The report provides evidence that Icelandic life science companies need to pay more attention to patent protection. It should be stated still that large life science companies operate in Iceland which, due to the nature of their operations, do not apply for many patents.

Borghildur Erlingsdóttir, Director General of the ISIPO, says that it is desirable for Iceland to promote the life sciences sector, as it is a high-tech industry that creates great value and pays good wages.

"Denmark has for many years effectively focused on the build-up of this industry, among other things through public policy. Danish companies' exports in the field tripled in ten years, from 2010-2019. Denmark is now working according to a new life science policy and a clear intellectual property policy. In Iceland, there are good conditions to follow in the footsteps of Denmark and make life sciences a mainstay of the Icelandic economy. This requires, among other things, careful attention to the protection of Intellectual Property Rights, and possibly increased public support for patent applications by small and medium-sized companies."

The report summarizes information on the number of Icelandic patent applications in the field of life sciences to the European Patent Office (EPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) 2010-2021. Applications within the sectors of pharmacology biotechnology, health technology and food science were included, and the number of Icelandic applications is compared to the number of applications from Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, Swiss, US and Chinese companies in the same sectors. The model for the report was a Danish report published by the Danish Intellectual Property Office in 2020.

*When counting the patent applications of individual companies in the report, a patent family is counted as one application. So-called simple DOCDB families of patent applications are considered, where each family covers one invention.