Patent applications to the European Patent Office at regional level - Issue number 10/2006 - Products Statistics in Focus

High tech patenting is highly concentrated in EU-25 regions. This concentration is linked to some specific regions spread over the EU-25 countries. Only in Finland and in Germany there are several regions concerned which are geographically close. In the biotechnology sector, the EU-25 is reaching the US level in total number of patent applications in 2002.