On 2020/03/12, The European Patent Office (EPO) published patent statistics for 2019.

The total number of patent applications filed is growing from year to year. So, in 2019, 181,406 applications were filed with the EPO, which is 4% more than in 2018, and it is a new record. In addition, the data collected show that information technology last year, for the first time in a long period, took first place in the total number of applications submitted. The largest growth was recorded in the field of digital communications (19.6%) and computer technology (10.2%). For comparison, the dynamics of the medical technology sector, which has been leading since 2006, was only 0.9% (although a large number of applications provided second place in the ranking).

The most active applicants in 2019 were HUAWEI (with a large margin of more than 600 applications), SAMSUNG and LG.
Dividing of applications by the type of the applicant also provided interesting results: 72% were submitted by large companies, 18% – by small and medium enterprises and individual inventors, and 10% – by state research organizations and universities. As a result, the small and medium sectors make a relatively large contribution by submitting every fifth application.

Filed patent applications directly reflect global trends and development priorities of technology and the economy. The dramatic growth in the areas of communication and information technology is due, in particular, to the active development of 5G wireless networks.

More information can be found on the source: Patent Index 2019.