Patent applicants and patent applications; technology field 2011-2022

This table gives an overview of the number of patent applicants and patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Netherlands Patent Office (OCNL), a department of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Patents can be granted to enterprises, universities, institutions, private persons or other entities as long as the invention which they cover fulfils certain criteria. To obtain a patent the invention must be novel, contain an inventive step and be industrially applicable. This is assessed by a patent office like the EPO or OCNL. The patent office will grant or reject the application.

The data are broken down by the technology field the invention relates to. This does not necessarily have to be the same area in which the applicant is economically active (SIC). 

If an application can be classified as relating to two (or more) technology fields, each technology field is attributed a fraction of the application. If, for example, an application can be classified as relating to two technology fields, half of one application is allocated to each technology field. As a result the total number of patent applications remains equal.

Data available from: 2011

Status of the figures:
The figures from 2011 to 2020 are final. The figures for 2021 are revised provisional. The figures for 2022 are provisional.

Changes as of 12 December 2025:
None, this table has been discontinued. 
This table is followed by three new tables, see paragraph 3.

Changes as of 31 July 2025:  
The figures for 2020 and 2021 have been adjusted and the provisional figures for 2022 have been added. Additionally, the series has been expanded with figures for 2011 and 2012.

Changes as of 21 February 2025:  
Provisional figures for 2020 and 2021 have been updated.
An error in the totals of the WIPO technology fields has been fixed. The numbers from the 'Handling' category were incorrectly assigned to the 'Chemistry' technology field instead of 'Mechanical Engineering'. In addition, in the StatLine table, the total for 'Mechanical Engineering' was shown under 'Handling materials; printing' and vice versa, causing the total for 'Mechanical Engineering' to be too low and for 'Handling' to be too high. As a result of this correction, the total for 'Chemistry' is revised downward by several dozen applicants and applications per statistical year, and around 250 patent applicants and 600 patent applications that were erroneously shown under 'Handling materials; printing' per statistical year are now put back under 'Mechanical Engineering'.
In recent years, there have also been changes to the PATSTAT source data for statistical years that have since been given a 'final' status. Patents may still have been added to the PATSTAT database with long delays, or they may have been removed from the database. This revision makes all statistical years consistent with the most recent PATSTAT source data which was made available at the end of 2024. The adjustment affects at most a few dozen patent applications per statistical year (increase or decrease).

When will new figures become available?
No longer applicable.

Organization: CBS OpenData