In 2019, China took over the position as the world’s top filer of international patent applications with WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). Since the beginning of the PCT system in 1978, the US has held this position, but with 58,990 applications against 57,840 filed by American innovators, the rapid growth in China has now proven the shift in the world’s innovation towards the East even more. In 2019, seven of the top ten applicants were from China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

If you calculate the number of applications by population, however, the picture is quite different. Here, Denmark and especially Sweden are among the top filers. Sweden with its 409 applications per million inhabitants is only beaten by Japan (416), with Korea (370), Denmark (250), and Germany (233) as runners up. China and the US have 42 and 175 applications respectively per million inhabitants.

If you wish to dive deeper into the figures of PCTs in 2019, click here.

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