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Patent applications to the European Patent Office (09.40)

Patent applications to the European Patent Office Number
Catalonia Spain European Union-27
2025 754 2,255 (p) Provisional value 68,752 (p) Provisional value
2024 724 2,192 68,285
2023 731 2,129 68,647
2022 646 1,974 67,612
2021 652 1,945 67,820
2020 559 1,794 65,925
2019 645 1,885 66,510
Source Catalonia: Idescat, based on the European Patent Office. Source Spain and European Union: Eurostat.
Note: In April 2025, Idescat reviewed the results of Catalonia with the new population base derived from the 2021 Population and Housing Census.
(p) Provisional value.

Last update: April 14, 2026.

Methodological note

The indicator measures the number of requests for patent protection of an invention filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) regardless of whether they are granted or not. The number of applications include direct European applications filed in the reference year (Direct) and international (PCT) applications for which the applicant(s) opted to protect their invention in Europe by selecting the EPO during the reporting period (PCT regional).

Applications are allocated according to the country of residence of the applicant listed on the application form. In cases where several applicants are mentioned on the application form, the country of residence of the first applicant listed applies (first-named applicant principle). The country of residence of the (first) applicant is not necessarily the same as the county of residence of the inventor(s). The data show the total number of applications per country and per million inhabitants.