The latest technology insight report by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) presents a comprehensive analysis of innovation in battery circularity, covering the collection and sorting of used batteries as well as recycling, recovery and repurposing technologies. As battery circularity is intended to reduce dependency on critical materials that must first be mined and refined, a section of the report investigates the innovation landscape surrounding battery metal refining too.
Filings to the EPO exceeded 200 000 for the first time, up +1.4% on 2024. Growth was driven by technologies such as AI, quantum technologies, batteries and semiconductors.
Industries that make intensive use of intellectual property rights (IPRs) are crucial to European competitiveness. They generated almost half of the European Union’s GDP during the period 2021-2023, as well as over 30% of all jobs in the EU and paying on average nearly 41% higher wages (for patent-intensive industries the wage premium is even higher at almost 59%). They also accounted for over 78% of EU exports and over 76% of imports. Some €70.7 billion in private equity and venture capital, over 88% of all such funding in the EU, was invested in startups operating in these industries.
As part of its policy of continuously improving the services offered to users of industrial property rights, the Industrial Property Division of the Economic Development Department has launched a new online patent service.
