Spain, 17th in innovation worldwide

Spain, 17th in innovation worldwide

Spain innovates little. The latest data from the European Patent Office (EPO) place our country in 17th place worldwide, far behind the countries that lead the ranking: United States, Germany, Japan and China. The European Union ranking, however, places Spain at number 10. Spain accounts for only 1% of the applications collected in 2022, a situation that could worsen following the Spanish government’s decision not to sign the Unitary Patent Treaty, which will enter into force next June.

Last year, 1,925 European patent applications were filed by Spanish companies and inventors, 1 % less than in 2021. The most applications were in the field of health technologies, with the pharmaceutical sector in first place, followed by medical technology and biotechnology. These three fields account for approximately a quarter of the total number of patents filed at the European Patent Office (EPO).

Although Spain is the fourth largest economy in the Eurozone, according to Luis Berenguer, Director of Communication at the European Patent Office (EPO), Spain’s main challenge is that there is a very powerful sector of its economy that is not innovation-oriented: the service sector.

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The challenge of the Unitary Patent for Spain

Next June, the Unitary Patent system, which the Spanish government has announced its rejection of, will come into force. The main reason why Spain will not join the Unitary Patent is that applications must be registered in a foreign language, in German, English or French, excluding Spanish. This decision, however, could be detrimental to Spanish companies, relegating them to the background and making their patent registration process more complicated.

Spanish entrepreneurs can apply for their patent to have unitary effect, but the process will be twofold: one in Spain, and another for the rest of Europe. The worst part is that, in the case of litigation, they will not be able to do it in Spanish, as there will be no Spanish judges in the Unitary Court, nor will there be a Spanish seat.

Data by autonomous community

Catalonia is the autonomous community with the most patent applications (604 patents in 2022), due to all the pharmaceutical and automotive companies located in the same area. It is followed by the Community of Madrid, with 410 applications last year. Madrid is also home to Spain’s leading patent applicant, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), with 90 applications filed in 2022. Public research is key to patenting in Spain; 6 out of 10 of the top Spanish applicants are universities or research centres.  Experts point out that it is necessary to continue to focus on ways to bring this public research to the market through innovation.

If you need advice and information on Spanish and European patents, Lidermark offers you all its services for the protection of your trademark and/or innovation.