Spanish inventors filed almost 2,200 European patents in 2024, a 3% increase

Spain ranked as the European country with the highest percentage of female inventors named in patent applications filed at the EPO

C. P. S

Madrid

Wednesday, 26 March 2025, 23:15

Spanish scientists and inventors filed 2,192 European patent applications last year, according to the 2024 patent index published on Tuesday by the European Patent Office (EPO). Companies and inventors from around the world filed a total of 199,264 patent applications with the EPO in 2024, which is in line with the previous year's figures that followed three years of significant growth. Patent applications from Europe, which includes the EPO's 39 member states, increased by 0.3%, while those from outside Europe decreased slightly (-0.4%), according to EPO's press release. It further notes that, while Samsung was the applicant to lodge most patents in 2024, Spain's national research council (CSIC) was the largest at the national level.

"Despite political and economic uncertainties, European companies and inventors applied for more patents last year, underlining their technological capacity and continued investment in R&D," said EPO president António Campinos. "The EPO data show a clear roadmap for industrial, political and investment priorities. As the Draghi and Letta reports warn, to remain globally competitive Europe must improve its innovation ecosystem and do more to help inventors improve and commercialise their inventions, especially in key areas such as green technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors."

Spanish companies and inventors filed 3% more European applications in 2024. Furthermore, in the last decade they have registered the highest increase in annual European patent applications among the most active EPO countries (those with more than 2,000 applications submitted per year). Since 2015 the growth rate has reached 44%, reflecting the commitment to innovation and technological development. This trend highlights the efforts of Spanish companies, public research centres and entrepreneurs to protect their inventions and compete in the European technology market.

CSIC in the lead

The CSIC continues to be the leading applicant for patents from Spain with the EPO. In 2024, the nation's universities and public research centres with the highest number of patent applications together filed over 100 applications. Among private companies, Amadeus was the company with the highest number, filing 43 European patent applications, followed by Tecnalia's research and innovation foundation (24) and Telefónica (21).

Other notable companies include Autotech Engineering (21 applications), and two newcomers to the ranking, Madrid-based Horse Powertrain Solutions (19), which develops low-emission internal combustion engines and hybrid systems, and supplier Ficosa Automotive (17).

For Spain, the technology field with the highest number of patent applications in Europe (221) was again pharmaceuticals, with an increase of 11.6% on 2023 data. Medical technology and biotechnology share second place with a total of 163 patent applications each, reflecting annual growth of 14% and 8.7% respectively. The biosciences sector, which encompasses the three fields mentioned above, continues to account for almost a quarter of all European patent applications from Spain.

The transport sector, which includes the automotive sector, recorded the highest year-on-year growth of Spanish inventions in 2024, with an increase of 30.7% over the previous year, securing fourth place with a total of 149 applications.

On the other hand, the machinery, apparatus and electrical energy sector, which includes inventions related to clean energy technologies such as batteries, ranked fifth with 134 patent applications, a decrease of 13%.

Notable growth in the Basque Country

Among all of Spain's regions Catalonia continued to lead the regional ranking, with 724 applications lodged with the EPO in 2024. Even though this was a slight decrease of -1% compared to the previous year, it still accounted for 33% of the total. It was followed by the region of Madrid with 413 applications and a year-on-year growth of 2.2%.

Together Catalonia and Madrid filed more than half of all Spanish patent applications at the EPO. The Basque Country ranked third with 326 applications, with a remarkable growth of 24.4% compared to the previous year. In fact, the University of the Basque Country (UPV) is among the top 10 patent applicants in Spain. The significant increase in Extremadura (up 300%) and Cantabria (up 140%) is striking, although both regions started from very low figures and in 2024 registered 4 and 12 patent applications respectively.

Catalonia maintains its strong position in innovation, ranking 18th among EU regions for European patent applications. To add more details, the sector with the highest number of patent applications was pharmaceuticals, followed by medical technology and biotechnology. In Madrid, pharmaceuticals also led the way, but transport came second, followed by biotechnology.

In the Basque Country, the majority of applications came from the machinery, appliances and electrical energy sector, with transport in second place and civil engineering in third. These figures reflect the industrial and scientific specialities of each region, highlighting their strengths in different areas of innovation.

By city, Barcelona led the Spanish ranking in 2024, with 331 European patent applications compared to Madrid's 244. Both cities are among the top 50 European cities for European patent applications.

Women inventors

Spain ranked as the European country with the highest percentage of female inventors named in patent applications filed at the EPO (among the top European patent filing countries, which is those with over 2,000 applications per year). Specifically, 42% of Spain's European patent applications filed in 2024 included at least one female scientist or inventor, a significantly higher percentage than Belgium (32%), France (31%) and the average of the 39 EPO member states (25%).

The United States maintained its position as the main country of origin for European patent applications, followed by Germany, Japan, China and South Korea. EPO member states accounted for 43% of European applications in 2024, while 57% came from outside Europe. Spain ranked 15th in the top 20.

Notably, South Korea recorded the highest growth among the top 10 applicant countries (up 4.2%). China's growth slowed, despite an increase of +0.5%, while companies and inventors in the US (-0.8%) and Japan (-2.4%) filed fewer applications in 2024.

Globally, Samsung was the largest patent applicant with the EPO in 2024 (after last topping the ranking in 2020), while Huawei dropped to second place, followed by LG, Qualcomm and RTX. The top 10 includes four European companies, two from South Korea, two from the US, one from China and one from Japan.

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