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Data

Invention patents in Brazil

  • The number of invention patent applications1 filed by legal entities2 based in Brazil decreased by 8.2% between 2020 and 2021, from 3,136 to 2,878
  • The two years of the pandemic put a halt to a period of almost constant growth in the number of patents filed in the country, between 2000 and 2019
  • The fall was steepest at higher education institutions (HEIs), especially public universities, where applications decreased by 22% in the period, from 1,451 to 1,135. At other organizations, the number actually increased by 3.4%, from 1,685 to 1,743
  • Despite the drop, HEIs still accounted for 39% of all invention patent applications in 2021, after having grown intensely between the year 2000, when they represented 7.1% of the total (65 of 916 applications), and 2019, when they peaked at 47%
  • It is uncommon to see such a high proportion of patent applications filed by HEIs in most countries. The most recent data from the European Patent Office indicate that HEIs account for less than 10% of patent applications in European countries. The figures are similar in the USA and China.
  • In the five main European economies (Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain), HEIs only feature among the top 10 patent filing organizations in the UK (University of Oxford) and Spain (three universities)
  • In Brazil, public universities comfortably top the list of the 20 most active organizations in this regard, with only two private companies appearing

Notes (1) Refers to sole applicants or the person responsible for filing the application at the National Institute of Industrial Property. (2) There were 1,793 applications by private individuals, totaling 4,671 applications in 2021, a drop of 12% from the 2020 total of 5,281 invention patent applications.
Sources National Institute of Industrial Property and European Patent Office Drafted by Studies & Indicators Team (GEI)

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