(Yicai) March 28 -- Chinese companies maintained a strong momentum in European patent applications last year, with battery technologies becoming a new growth driver, according to the spokesperson of the European Patent Office.

Chinese firms and innovators filed a record of over 20,000 patent applications to the EPO last year, up 0.5 percent from the year before, Luis Berenguer told Yicai, citing data from the EPO's latest annual report. Even though the growth rate slowed compared to double-digit earlier in the decade, applications from China have more than doubled since 2018 and quadrupled since 2014.

"China had 12 companies among the EPO's 100 top patent applicants of 2024, several of which were the biggest filers in digital communication," Berenguer noted.

Huawei Technologies filed 4,322 applications to the EPO last year, down over 15 percent from the previous year, according to data from the EPO report. The telecoms giant remained China's biggest patent applicant but moved from first to second place in the global ranking.

The top five global applicants in the digital communication sector all filed fewer applications last year than in 2023. "This is a reflection of the cyclical nature of innovation growth in this field, which will likely see a new wave of applications with the introduction of new technological developments like sixth-generation network," Berenguer noted.

Last year, China witnessed a 6.6 percent decline in patent applications in both the digital communication and computer technology fields, data from the report showed. However, the electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy fields, driven by a 79 percent growth in battery technology, overtook computer technology to become China's second-largest field.

Chinese firms were dominant in battery technology, with Contemporary Amperex Technology, Even Energy, and BYD ranking second, sixth, and ninth globally, respectively.

CATL, China's second-largest applicant, posted the strongest overall growth among the global top 15, applying for 40 percent more patents in 2024 than the year before, thus moving to 14th from 18th spot, Berenguer noted.

Huawei was also the second-biggest applicant in the field of computer technology, a growing field for patent applications to the EPO, thanks to the development push for artificial intelligence-related technologies.

Despite challenges in predicting future trends, Chinese companies and inventors are expected to continue innovating and filing a large number of patent applications to the EPO, Berenguer said.

The EPO, in close collaboration with the China National Intellectual Property Administration, aims to enhance services for patent applicants, Berenguer added. Since 2020, Chinese applicants can select the EPO as their International Searching Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and since last December, they can pay search fees in Chinese yuan, streamlining the application process.

Overall EPO Ranking

Total patent applications to the EPO remained steady at around 200,000 last year, after experiencing three years of significant growth, according to data from the EPO report. While applications from European countries inched up 0.3 percent, those from non-European nations dipped 0.4 percent.

"For the first time in the past decade, computer technology, which includes areas of AI such as machine learning and pattern recognition, topped the ranking of technology fields with 16,815 patent applications in 2024," Berenguer said.

Electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy climbed to second place after posting the strongest growth among the top 10 fields at 8.9 percent last year. "This was driven by advances in clean energy technologies, and especially in battery technologies, which increased 24 percent," Berenguer explained.

Meanwhile, digital communication, which encompasses inventions related to mobile networks, dropped from first to third place, with a 6.3 percent decrease. "There were significantly fewer patent applications in this field coming from Europe, China, and the US," Berenguer noted.

Launched in June 2023, the EPO's Unitary Patent system provides innovators from around the world with simpler and more accessible patent protection across 18 European Union member states with a single request to the EPO.

The system gained momentum last year. Chinese patentees showed an uptake rate of 18 percent for the Unitary Patent in 2024, up from 11 percent in 2023 and surpassing the US at 16 percent and Japan at 7.9 percent.

"This trend reflects both the global appeal of the Unitary Patent system and the strategic shift of Chinese companies toward deeper integration into the European market and signals their confidence in the stability and legal certainty offered by the new system," Berenguer said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione