Patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2002 at regional level - Issue number 4/2006 - Products Statistics in Focus

This publication shows the leading patenting regions to the EPO in total number and per million of inhabitants. Four out of eight IPC sections were led by a German region. Stuttgart (DE) is in 2002 the leading region of three IPC sections. German regions were also the most represented regions among the top fifteen in total number of patent applications as well as per labour force, both in absolute and relative values. EU-25 patenting is highly concentrated at the regional level. In average, 30% of all regions cover 83% of all patent applications. Leading regions are not always the capital region of each country. Depending on the IPC section there are sometimes more than one leading region in a country.