The European Patent Office has for the first time in its five-decade history received more than 200,000 patent applications in a year, according to the Office’s annual Patent Index published on Tuesday.
The Office’s annual Patent Index shows that demand reached 201,974 filings in 2025, which is up 1.4 per cent on the year before as innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and next-generation wireless communications drives a new wave of intellectual property.
The United States kept its place as the largest applicant for European patent filings, with American companies and inventors submitting 47,008 applications.
Germany was Europe’s leader in patent requests and ranked in second place behind the US. China came in third place, with a 9.7 percent surge compared to last year, as the country develops its technologies. Japan and South Korea ranked in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Meanwhile, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Italy in respective order, rounded out the top 10.
Europe’s growth in 2025 was largely driven by countries such as Denmark, Australia, Spain, and Finland (which saw a 44 percent increase). However,
Within Europe, growth was driven by countries such as Denmark (+5.2%), Austria (+5.0%), Spain (+2.9%), and especially Finland (+44.0%), even as filings from traditional leaders like Germany (-2.2%), France (-0.4%), Switzerland (-0.5%), Netherlands (-0.7%), the UK (-3.3%), Italy (-1.8%) and Sweden (-4.3%) were down.
Which technologies lead?
While the buzz over AI continues, companies did not request the most patentsin AI. The technology saw an almost 10 percent increase in patent demands but it was quantum that was the fastest-growing tech with a 38 percent increase in patent applications.
While the US accounted for the largest overall share of computer technology applications, European innovators held the biggest share in both AI and quantum, and increased filings by 2.6 percent and 22 percent respectively.
Computer technology, including quantum and AI, ranked as the leader but digital communications, which includes inventions for mobile networks, ranked second and recorded the strongest overall growth, which is largely down to the advances of 6G technologies.
That was followed by electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy in third place, followed by medical technology in fourth and transport in fifth.
However, notable, pharmaceutical patent demand dropped some six percent compared to last year, as did biotechnology, which dropped three percent.
Which companies applied for the most patents?
The top five requestors for Unitary Patents in 2025 were Samsung, Huawei, LG, Qualcomm and Nokia.
The Unitary Patent is a streamlined protection mechanism launched in June 2023 that grants coverage across 18 EU member states through a single application.
Total filings under the new system have now exceeded 80,000, with an overall 28 percent uptake rate in 2025. For European innovators, it was at 40 percent. The EPO regards the trajectory as a strong signal of success for one of the most significant reforms in European patent law in a generation.
But it was not just big businesses that made up the patent demands.
Small and medium-sized enterprises, individual inventors, universities and public research organisations now account for almost half of all Unitary Patents granted to European innovators.
The report also found that one in four patent applications included a woman inventor, which is up one percent compared to the previous year.
Spain led with the most women applicants 42 percent, followed by Finland (34%), Belgium (32%), France (32%) and Denmark (30%).
