The automotive supplier Valeo is the French industrial group that has filed the most patent applications in 2022, indicates the annual barometer of the European Patent Office (EPO) published this Tuesday.
588 patent applications
With only 588 patent applications filed, an increase of 17.6% compared to 2021, the Valeo group “illustrates the reorientation of research and development in the automotive sector: from combustion engines to electric ones,” it told the AFP the chief economist of the EPO, Yann Ménière.
Researchers at France’s leading patent applicant work in both sectors.
In second place, the aeronautical and aerospace engine manufacturer Safran submitted 569 files (+5.4%), followed by the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) with 544 applications (+3%).
But globally, the three French innovation champions occupy only 31st, 34th and 37th places, respectively, in the ranking of the top fifty patent applicants, far behind the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei (world number one with 4,505 applications filed in 2022 with EPO), the Korean LG (3,510) and the American Qualcomm (2,966).
In the French ranking, in fourth position, the construction materials specialist Saint-Gobain submitted 410 applications in 2022, followed by the electronics specialist Thales (363), the pharmaceutical group Sanofi (305), Inserm (255), TotalEnergies (250 ), the chemical company Arkema (245) and Renault (200).
Schneider Electric (11th) filed 198 patent files, Michelin 190, Air Liquide 183, Essilor Luxotica 158. The CNRS ranked fifteenth, with 154 applications, followed by L’Oreal (153), Orange (152), Alstom (134 ) , Seb (88) and Nexans (81).
France, 5th in the world
By country, with 10,900 registered applications (+1.9%), France ranks fifth in the world, and second in Europe, in terms of the number of patents filed with the EPO, behind the United States, Germany, Japan and China.
In French research, transport maintains first place, with four groups appearing in the ten most innovative companies in the ranking (Valeo, Safran, Thales and Renault).
One of the most notable increases in patent applications is based on electric batteries (+17% in one year). Globally, battery research is skyrocketing even further, jumping 48% in one year, the EPO says.
France is also accelerating in the field of audiovisual technologies (+22.3%).
Geographically, applications from Ile-de-France and the industrial stronghold of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes continue to lead, but are declining. The EPO sees a strong increase in patent applications in Britain (+65%), especially in digital technologies
Source: BFM TV
