Barcelona has regained leadership in the number of European patent applications registered by public bodies and private companies during 2023.
According to the Patent Index of the European Patent Office (EPO), Barcelona's innovative ecosystem has requested 345 patents while Madrid has remained at 295, figures that turn around the situation in 2022, when Madrid requested 280 patents. compared to 272 in Barcelona.
If the data is analyzed with more perspective, it is clear that 2022 was an anomalous year since Barcelona had been leading this ranking since 2019. According to sources consulted, the Catalan city has always been in first position – also in 2022 – if It takes into account the activity of metropolitan regions and not only cities. In this case, 673 applications have been counted in the metropolitan region of Barcelona, compared to 404 in the counterpart territory of Madrid, which has kept this figure stable compared to the previous year.
The solidity of the research centers and the Catalan industry largely explain these results. Among the organizations that have led the ranking in the metropolitan region are the UB, the UPC, Eurecat and the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques. This year, the EPO does not make public the names of Catalan companies that have been protagonists. In previous editions, names such as Esteve, Almirall or Seat had stood out.
In any case, the statement to which this newspaper has had access ensures that the pharmaceutical sector – with a strong presence in Catalonia – once again leads the patent applications in Spain, followed by the electrical equipment and biotechnology sector.
By community, Catalonia is once again the leader in applications, contributing 34% of the total in Spain, one percentage point above the results of the previous year. As the graph reflects, Madrid, the Basque Country, Valencia and Andalusia follow in this order, while Extremadura, Asturias and La Rioja are among the communities with the least innovative activity.
The dynamism of Catalonia has ensured that this territory appears among the top 20 regions of the European Union in patent applications at the EPO. Specifically, it ranks 18th and is the only Spanish region included in this list, which also includes regions from Germany and France.
In the country as a whole, Spain once again registers a record number of patents, adding a total of 2,111, which represents an increase of 2.9% compared to the previous year and a growth of 43% in the last ten years. Among the most active organizations are the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), the tourism technology company Amadeus, Multiverse Computing, Fundación Tecnalia and Telefónica.
On a global scale, the main countries that have registered the most patent applications at the EPO are not precisely European. In this order, the United States, Germany, Japan, China and South Korea lead the top 5. The growth of large technology groups such as Huawei, Samsung, LG or Qualcomm explain these results.
