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     According to statistical evaluation, a number of 211057 patents have been published in all fields of science and technology in EPO in 2015, which is about one-third of all patents published in United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Among these patents, 69528 are granted patents and 141529 are published patent applications. The top 10 countries in the publication of patents possess more than 85% of all patents published in EPO. A number of 107 countries possess at least one published patent application in EPO in 2015 while 81 countries possess at least one granted patent. This fact is a proof of the importance of Europe after the United States to various countries in the field of technology and market. The following table lists the top 50 countries in the publication of patents in EPO.

 

Rank	Country	Granted Patents	Share (%)	Rank	Country	Published Patent Applications	Share (%)
1	USA	15428	21.89	1	USA	37205	26.07
2	Germany	14737	20.91	2	Germany	22857	16.01
3	Japan	10776	15.29	3	Japan	21564	15.11
4	France	5614	7.96	4	France	9950	6.97
5	Switzerland	3403	4.83	5	South Korea	6206	4.35
6	Italy	2572	3.65	6	Switzerland	5680	3.98
7	UK	2259	3.20	7	China	5570	3.88
8	Netherlands	2247	3.19	8	UK	4627	3.24
9	South Korea	2013	2.86	9	Netherlands	4295	3.01
10	Sweden	1985	2.82	10	Sweden	3908	2.74
11	China	1490	2.08	11	Italy	3643	2.55
12	Austria	1087	1.54	12	Finland	2016	1.41
13	Belgium	914	1.30	13	Austria	1823	1.28
14	Canada	791	1.12	14	Canada	1666	1.17
15	Finland	760	1.08	15	Belgium	1530	1.07
16	Denmark	744	1.06	16	Denmark	1384	0.97
17	Spain	565	0.80	17	Spain	1380	0.97
18	Taiwan	445	0.63	18	Taiwan	1175	0.82
19	Australia	339	0.48	19	Australia	796	0.56
20	Ireland	279	0.40	20	India	533	0.37
21	Norway	264	0.37	21	Norway	520	0.36
22	Luxembourg	222	0.31	22	Ireland	468	0.33
23	Turkey	220	0.31	23	Turkey	415	0.29
24	India	189	0.27	24	Singapore	397	0.28
25	Poland	156	0.22	25	Poland	390	0.27
26	Singapore	121	0.17	26	Luxembourg	373	0.26
27	Liechtenstein	104	0.15	27	Liechtenstein	333	0.23
28	Russia	85	0.12	28	Russia	241	0.17
29	Brazil	78	0.11	29	Brazil	202	0.14
29	Czech Republic	78	0.11	30	Czech Republic	198	0.14
31	Slovenia	66	0.09	31	New Zealand	196	0.14
32	South Africa	64	0.09	32	Saudi Arabia	185	0.13
33	New Zealand	53	0.08	33	Portugal	122	0.09
34	Saudi Arabia	51	0.07	34	Slovenia	114	0.08
35	Portugal	48	0.07	35	South Africa	105	0.07
36	Mexico	45	0.06	36	Hungary	94	0.07
37	Hungary	41	0.06	37	Greece	81	0.06
38	Iceland	28	0.04	38	Malaysia	65	0.05
39	Malaysia	26	0.04	39	Mexico	61	0.04
40	Greece	23	0.03	39	Latvia	61	0.04
41	Cyprus	17	0.02	41	Cyprus	42	0.03
42	Chile	16	0.02	42	Iceland	41	0.03
43	Argentina	15	0.02	43	Slovakia	38	0.03
44	Slovakia	12	0.02	44	Estonia	34	0.02
44	Lithuania	12	0.02	45	Romania	33	0.02
46	Estonia	10	0.01	46	Lithuania	31	0.02
46	Romania	10	0.01	47	Bulgaria	30	0.02
48	Bulgaria	8	0.01	48	UAE	29	0.02
48	Mauritius	8	0.01	48	Chile	29	0.02
48	Cuba	8	0.01	50	Philippines	21	0.01
World		141521		World		69528

 

     The following figure shows the share of various continents in the publication of patents in EPO. As is seen in the figure, the three continents Europe, America, and Asia have a very high share (approximately 99%) in the publication of patents. The important point is the very low share of Africa despite the high number of countries in this continent.

 

Share of Continents in Publication of Patents in EPO in 2015

 

     According to statistical evaluation based on Orbit Database, a number of 3065 nanotechnology patents have been published in EPO in 2015, among which 1441 are granted patents and 1624 are published patent applications. Nanotechnology patents have a share of about 1.45% in EPO, which is considered a lower share in comparison with the share of 2.8% of nanotechnology patents from all patents published in USPTO. The following figure shows the share of nanotechnology patents from all patents published in EPO for the top 10 countries. Similar to USPTO, the two countries China and South Korea are the leading countries among the top 10 ones.

 

Ratio of the Number of Nanotechnology Published Patent Applications to All Published Patent Applications in EPO in 2015 for Top 10 Countries

 

     United States, France, and South Korea are the leading countries among the top 10 countries in the ratio of the number of nanotechnology patents to all patents in EPO. The top countries have a share of less than 3% in this indicator, which shows the focus of these countries on all aspects of science and technology.

 

Ratio of the Number of Nanotechnology Granted Patents to All Published Patent Applications in EPO in 2015 for Top 10 Countries