Switzerland records second most patents per capita in Europa

With 772 academic patents per one million inhabitants, Switzerland is responsible for the second highest number of academic inventions in Europe. Denmark leads the way with 800 patents. Alongside Sweden and Denmark, Switzerland is also ranked in the top three for the highest number of academic patents per full-time equivalent.

In absolute figures, Germany, France, the UK and Italy reported the most academic inventions in the period from 2015 to 2019. However, smaller countries such as Sweden and Switzerland, among others, recorded the highest number of patents per university on average. Across Europe, Switzerland is ranked in 6th place, accounting for 5.7 percent of all academic patents overall.

This data comes from a study carried out by the European Patent Office. The findings “clearly show that university research benefits local ecosystems – small and large firms alike – across all European regions”, as António Campinos, President of the European Patent Office, writes in his foreword to this first comprehensive analysis of academic patent applications now published by his organization.

According to the study, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) leads the way in terms of the number of start-ups with academic patent applications (101) recorded between 2000 and 2020. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) is also among the best 25 universities in Europe, securing a rank of 5th with a total of 83 start-ups. The University of Zurich (UZH) is in 12th place with 60 start-ups. In total, ETH submitted 2,219 patent applications across this period, with EPFL and UZH responsible for 1,697 and 930 respectively. The University of Basel reported 470 patents, while the University of Lausanne racked up 363.

Start-ups accounted for 12 percent of all academic patents. Overall, companies filed 80 percent of all indirect academic patent applications, one third of which were filed by SMEs. In terms of the number of applications filed per start-up, France has an average of 3.1 European patent applications, slightly ahead of Germany (2.8). This is comparable with the United Kingdom (3.0), Sweden (2.83) and Switzerland (2.39), but well ahead of Italy (1.7). ce/mm