European patent applications (patent families) by university

Output

Data publication

How many patents (patent families) have been filed per Dutch university in the period 1996-2020? In this data publication we share the figures from the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database (PATSTAT) of the European Patent Office (EPO).

In short

  • Most Dutch universities show a growth in the number of patent applications (1996-2020).
  • TU Delft applies by far the most patents of all Dutch universities.
  • The number of patent applications by Utrecht University decreased throughout the period.

Number of patent applications from Dutch universities (1996-2020)

Analysis
In the time periods (1996-2000, 2001-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, 2016-2020) the number of patent applications increased at most universities. The differences between universities are large. While TU Delft has filed more than 200 patent applications in the last period, a number of other universities do not exceed 50. This may have to do with the policy pursued within the universities and with the topics of research.
 

For an explanation of the used definitions and abbreviations we refer to the webpage Definitions for Science in Figures.

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