Patent: Indian patent filings grow faster than others globally

NEW DELHI: Global patenting activity soared to new records in 2022, fuelled by Indian and Chinese innovators and powered by increased levels of innovation, entrepreneurship and digitalisation in these countries. Patent filings by Indian applicants grew by 31.6% in 2022, extending an 11-year run of growth unmatched by any other country among the top 10 filers, according to WIPO’s (World Intellectual Property Organisation) annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.
What is even more significant is that resident patent filings in India (filed with the Indian Patent Office) rose by 47% to 38,551 in 2022, and were half of the total filings of 77,068 filed with the Indian Patent Office. So, for the first time ever, there were more patents filed by Indian residents as against foreign filers, reflecting India’s fast growing innovation ecosystem, data culled from WIPO said.
Innovators from around the world submitted 3.5 million patent applications in 2022, marking a third consecutive year of growth. Overall, China, the US, Japan, Republic of Korea and Germany were the countries, with the highest numbers of patent filings in 2022.

“IP filings have braved the pandemic to continue to grow, powered by increased levels of innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and digitalisation in all parts of the world. Developing countries are increasingly becoming engines of IP, showing the greatest growth rates as they harness the innovation and creative potential of their people. However, uncertainty continues to weigh on the global innovation ecosystem, with venture capital funding dropping in many parts of the world. We urge investors to pursue quality, but not at the expense of supporting good ideas that can change the world for the better,” WIPO DG Daren Tang said.
Continuing a longer-term trend, bulk of IP filing activity occurs in Asia, from all origins. Asia accounted for 67.9%, 67.8% and 70.3% of global patent, trademarks and industrial designs filing activity in 2022. The largest rise in filings was reported from India. Switzerland (6.1%), China (3.1%), Austria (2.5%) and the UK (2.5%) also reported robust growth in filings.