In 2024, French companies held their position on the European patent chessboard. French companies, public laboratories and universities filed 10,643 patent applications with the European Patent Office (EPO), up 1.1% on 2023, according to the latest Patent Index from the European Patent Office (EPO).
With a 1.1% increase in patent applications compared with 2023, France maintains its position as Europe’s second-largest patenting country, well ahead of Germany. This runner-up position on the European scene seems logical. Nevertheless, the colossal gap between the number of patent applications filed by German and French companies is cause for concern. French applicants file half as many patents as their German counterparts.
The importance of patents as a strategic and economic tool clearly deserves to be reinforced in the policies of French innovation players.
Switzerland and the Netherlands are close on France’s heels in terms of EPO filings.
Worldwide, while one third of patent applications come from European countries, the remaining two thirds are mainly from the USA and Asia. On the European market, the USA, Japan, China and South Korea each file more European patent applications than France.
Technology sectors :
Information technology remains the sector with the most European patent filings: 16,815 patent applications in 2024 (+3.3%). This increase reflects companies’ investments in fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as their desire to secure and leverage their R&D investments in these key areas for international competition.
The electrical machinery, appliances and energy sector recorded the strongest growth, with an increase of 8.9% compared to 2023, totaling 16,142 applications. (Source: EPO, “Top 10 technical fields”).
The most dynamic sectors for France are transport (10.4%), IT (7.2%) and medical technologies (6.8%). Among France’s leading patent filers, Valeo, CEA and Safran stand out for their significant contribution to patent filings (source: EPO, “Top French patent filers in 2024”).
To consult all the statistics for 2024: European patent applications | epo.org
