(09.04.2025) Switzerland boasts the highest density of inventions in the world. Nearly 10,000 patent applications were filed in 2024 – equivalent to 1,140 per million inhabitants. That’s a rate twice as high as Sweden’s (472), which holds second place in the Patent Index 2024.
The United States leads the global ranking in absolute numbers, accounting for 24.0% of all applications, followed by Germany (12.6%), Japan (10.6%), and China (10.1%). Switzerland ranks seventh globally and third within Europe (5%).
The medical technology sector accounted for more than one in ten patent applications (10.5%), representing the largest industry share. Measurement technologies (9.1%), consumer goods (8.3%), electrical machinery (8.2%), logistics (5.7%), and the pharmaceutical industry (4.7%) are also among the country’s strongest sectors.
Roche alone submitted nearly 710 applications, according to the European Patent Office (EPO), which published the Patent Index 2024. The Basel-based group ranks eighth in Europe and twenty-fourth worldwide. It is followed by ABB, Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris, and Nestlé.
Patent filings in Switzerland also increased between 2023 and 2024 (+3.2%). This growth rate is lower than Ireland’s (+4.4%) but higher than those of the United Kingdom (+3.1%), Spain (+3%), and Finland (+2.7%). Applications from France (+1.1%) and Germany (+0.4%) also rose, albeit more modestly.
In total, the EPO received 199,264 innovation patent applications in 2024, marking a very slight decline from the previous year (199,452, -0.1%). Since 2015, the number of annual applications has risen by nearly a quarter (+24.5%). The organization comprises 39 member states.
Last modification 09.04.2025
