The European Patent Office’s (EPO) annual report reveals that 604 applications came from the East of England in 2016, up from 538 in 2015.
The East of England remains the UK’s second most innovative region, behind London, which had 1,551 applications for European patents in 2016.
| Region | Applications in 2016 | Growth from 2015 |
| East Midlands | 94 | -13.0% |
| East of England | 604 | 11.2% |
| Greater London | 1551 | -3.7% |
| North East England | 57 | -3.5% |
| North West England | 560 | 6.1% |
| Northern Ireland | 66 | -15.4% |
| Scotland | 247 | 0.4% |
| South East England | 574 | 10.8% |
| South West England | 484 | 6.1% |
| Wales | 203 | 6.8% |
| West Midlands | 449 | 6.1% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 207 | -13.8% |
| Total | 5096 | 1.9% |
The top 10 UK applicants for European patents in 2016 were:
| Rank | Applicant | Number of patent applications |
| 1 | Rolls-Royce Plc | 372 |
| 2 | Unilever Nv/Plc | 237 |
| 3 | British Telecommunications Plc | 177 |
| 4 | Bae Systems Plc. | 149 |
| 5 | Primetals Technologies Limited | 88 |
| 6 | Glaxo Smith Kline Plc | 81 |
| 7 | Johnson Matthey Inc | 80 |
| 8 | Delphi Automotive Plc | 74 |
| 9 | Vodafone Group Plc | 69 |
| 10 | Dyson Technology Limited | 62 |
Kirsteen Gordon, Patent Attorney and Cambridge Office Managing Partner at Marks & Clerk, one of the world’s leading intellectual property firms, commented on the report and its findings:
“Companies of all sizes – from multi-nationals to start-ups – and other organisations like universities rely on patents to commercialise their R&D, so they are a good indicator of R&D activity. Cambridge is an established innovation hub and its reputation for nurturing a range of high technology businesses in the last 50 years has made it attractive to world-leading companies to set up operations. So it’s unsurprising that the number of European patent applications from across the region has grown significantly, while numbers from other regions have dropped.
“European patents will continue to prove vital to Cambridge’s high-tech industries as we continue to commercialise our R&D post-Brexit. The European Patent Convention, which governs European patents, is not an EU convention. After the UK leaves the EU, UK applicants will continue to file European patent applications and applicants from around the world will continue to secure patent protection in the UK through the European patent system.”
The full EPO annual report for 2016 can be found here: www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annual-report/2016