Patent applicants and patent applications; industry, company size

This table contains data on the number of patent applicants and applications from the Netherlands to the European Patent Office (EPO) and at Patent Centre Nederland (OCNL), the patent granting body for the Netherlands which is part of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Patents may be granted to companies, universities, institutions or individuals as long as the invention meets the conditions for patentability. To qualify for a patent, an invention must be new, inventive and receptive to industrial application. Whether an invention meets these criteria is tested by a patent office such as the EPO or the OCNL. The patent office will eventually grant or reject the application. The data on patent applicants and applications are broken down in this table by the industry/sector in which the applicant company operates. For the classification by industry, the Standard Business Classification 2008 (SBI 2008) is used. The figures indicate which industries in Dutch society are (most) innovative. In addition, a breakdown by company size is available. Data available from: 2013 Status of the figures: The data from 013 to 2017 are final. The data for 2018 are further provisional. The data for 2019 is provisional. Amendments as of 18 July 2022: None, this is a new table. When are new figures coming? Final figures for 2020 will be published by mid-2023.