In total, the entity announced a year-on-year increase of 6.1%.

This was the "highest number ever," according to the EPO Technology Dashboard 2025 (formerly Patent Index), which was released on 24 March and indicates that, since 2016, "European patent applications from Portugal have more than doubled, reflecting an increasingly dynamic innovation ecosystem in the country.

Main applicants in Portugal

Computer technology and health-related areas remain the main innovation sectors in Portugal.

"OPRIMEE, NOS Inovação and INESC Porto are the three main Portuguese applicants," the statement highlights, noting that the North of Portugal "is the region with the highest number of European patent applications," that is, 39% of the total.

Record number of applications

In 2025, the EPO received a "record number of 201,974 patent applications," a 1.4% increase compared to the previous year, "surpassing the 200,000 applications mark for the first time."

"Applications from Europe, including the 39 EPO Member States, increased by 0.4% (EU27 + 0.7%), while applications from outside Europe grew by 2.1%," the statement reads.

It should be noted that patent applications "constitute an indicator of companies' investment in research and development (R&D)."

Europe's innovation capacity

The record number of patent applications "highlights Europe's innovation capacity and its attractiveness as a global technology market," points out the EPO President, António Campinos, quoted in a statement.

The Technology Dashboard 2025 "tracks progress and gaps in different industrial sectors, helping policymakers identify priority areas and guide actions and investments to strengthen technological sovereignty and competitiveness in Europe," the official continues.

Although "the Unitary Patent is already eliminating barriers and accelerating the transition to a more integrated European innovation market, it is necessary to maintain focus, especially in strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, health and quantum technologies," considers Antonio Campinos.

According to the report, "computing technology remained the leading technical area in 2025 for the fourth consecutive year, with applications continuing to increase (+2.6% compared to 2024), in line with the global trend in the OEP, where this area also led and showed growth."

Main technological areas in Portugal

Health-related technologies "once again account for three of the five main technological areas in Portugal."

For example, medical technology recorded "particularly significant growth (+32% year-on-year), as did biotechnology, which "also showed positive evolution, with a 5% increase in 2025, bucking the general downward trend in the OEP level."

In contrast, "applications in the pharmaceutical area decreased by 9.5%, after a slight growth in the previous year."

Handling (which includes packaging technologies) recorded more than 75.0%, albeit from a lower level, furniture/games recorded more than 62.5%, and transport (which includes automotive technologies) recorded more than 50.0%.

OPRIMEE - Innovation Design Engineering Solutions leads Portuguese patent applications in 2025, with 26 applications, followed by NOS Inovação (18) and INESC Porto - Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores do Porto (14).

BLC3 Evolution (11 patents), Feedzai (10), Bial (8), Novadelta (8), University of Aveiro (8), University of Coimbra (8) and the research centre CENTITVC - Center for Nanotechnology and Technical, Functional and Intelligent Materials (7) complete the top 10.