Science, Technology and Innovation

Intellectual Property Protection

The number of patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office per head of population is often used as a proxy indicator for outputs of technology-based innovation. Although this is likely to overstate the patenting performance of the US due to “home country bias”, it allows a fair comparison of the patenting performance of EU countries. The UK’s number of US patents granted per head has been consistently 5th in the G7 with France. Patents are not the only means of protecting intellectual property – registered designs, trademarks and copyright are significant for companies in many sectors, particularly the creative industries.

http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/documents/Innovation/Innovation_Strategy_Reports/21390%20AIR%20Report%20AW%20Complete.pdf



In 2003 in the EU-25, 54 % of the R&D personnel in full time equivalent (FTE) worked in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. However, these countries come far behind China – where more than one million persons were working in R&D – the Russian Federation and Japan.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-NS-05-008/EN/KS-NS-05-008-EN.PDF