Patent applicants and patent applications; Sic 2008 or applicant, 2009-2010

This table gives an overview of the number of patent applicants and patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) and NL Patent Office, a division of NL Agency (NLOC). Patents can be granted to enterprises, universities, institutions, private persons or other entities as long as the invention which they cover Fulfils certain criteria. To obtain a patent the invention must be novel, contain an inventive step and be industrially applicable. This is assessed by a patent office like the EPO or NLOC. The patent office will grant or reject the application. The data are broken down by economic activity of the enterprise applying for a patent. For the classification by economic activity the Dutch Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2008) is used. The data give an indication which branches are (most) innovative. This table has been stopped. Data available from 2009 up to 2010. Status of the figures: Data are final for 2009. The dates for 2010 are provisional. Since this table has been stopped, the data for 2010 will not be finalised. Changes as of 30 October 2015: None, this table has been stopped. When will new figures be published? No longer applicable.