INESC TEC in the top 5 of EPO’s Portuguese patent applications
According to EPO - European Patent Office’s Annual Report 2017, INESC TEC is in second place ex-aequo with the University of Porto and Biosurfit in the Portuguese patent application top.
The numbers, which were announced by EPO during the press conference of 7 March, revealed that INESC TEC is in the top 5 of national institutions which filed more patent applications in this European institute. Besides INESC TEC, Biosurfit also submitted six patent applications according to EPO. The University of Porto also filed six patent applications, according to that institution. For that reason, INESC TEC, the University of Porto and Biosurfit are in second place ex-aequo, being only surpassed by International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) which filed eight patent applications.
The data released by EPO show that Portugal had filed less patent applications in 2017 (5.7% drop) compared with 2016. Nevertheless, Portugal had more patents granted (from 59 in 2016 to 68 in 2017).
USA (26%), Germany (15%), Japan (13%), France (6%) and China (5%) were the countries that filed more patent applications. Portugal ranked 35th with 0.1% applications. When the analysis is made in terms of applications per million inhabitants, Portugal ranks 30th with 13.7 applications.
The technical field with the highest patent applications was the medical technology, followed by digital communication and computer technologies. However, biotechnology registered the most significant increase. INESC TEC’s applications are related to telecommunications, medical and audio-visual technology. INESC TEC made its first European patent application in 2009 and has since submitted 11 more patent applications within this area.
Catarina Maia of INESC TEC’s Technology Licensing Office (SAL), explained that INESC TEC’s result were “only possible due to everyone's effort but especially due to our researchers who have promptly drafted the applications."
“The work in this area is not finished at all. This is just another sign of the efforts that we're making in order to ensure the future of the Institution"”, highlights Catarina Maia.
The collaborator mentioned in this news piece is associated with INESC TEC.