According to the 2022 Patent Index, published by the IEP, the total number of patent applications submitted by Portuguese companies and inventors increased by 7.6% in 2022 to a total of 312, the highest volume to date and 40% above the volume recorded five years ago.

This rise compares with a 15.5% increase in 2021, to 290, and a 2.5% increase in total patent applications to the IEP also in 2022, to 193,460.

As in the previous year, in Portugal last year, computer technology was again the area with the most patent applications submitted to the IEP, followed by medical and pharmaceutical technologies, making health the industry with the highest number of submissions.

In all, last year, Portuguese companies and inventors increased their patent applications for pharmaceutical products by 85.7%.

As for patent applicants from Portugal, Feedzai, a Portuguese company dedicated to artificial intelligence to prevent and detect payment fraud in financial institutions, was again the main entity to submit applications (20), together with the University of Aveiro (also 20 ), followed by Novadelta (13), NOS Inovação (nine), University of Minho (eight), University of Coimbra (seven), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (six), Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (five), the University of Porto (also five) and Altice Labs (four).

With regard to regions, the North led the number of patent applications, with a share of 36.2% of the total, closely followed by the Centre region with a share of 33.3%. Lisbon had, for its part, the strongest growth (+38.6%), contributing to 25.3% of the total number of Portuguese requests.