Patents: 9 per cent of those in the EU come from universities, but 4 out of 10 expire within 10 years

Patents filed with the EPO – the European Patent Office in Munich – by European universities have reached around 9 per cent of the total number of patents on the continent, now coming close to the levels recorded in the United States. But there is a paradox. 40.7 per cent of patents owned by European universities expire within 10 years of filing, compared with just 26.3 per cent at US universities.

This comparison is highlighted by a new study by the EPO itself – in collaboration with the ASTP association and the Fraunhofer Institute – based on a sample of over 800 technology transfer offices across Europe (organisations that are supposed to foster the growth of start-ups and facilitate the transition from invention to industrial application). Although universities across Europe are filing far more patents than they did twenty years ago, the premature abandonment of more than four in ten patents highlights the difficulties in transforming legal protection into long-term economic value. This picture forms part of an international context characterised by intensifying global competition, driven in part by China’s renewed focus on the commercialisation of technologies.
“The effective transition from the laboratory to the market,” emphasised EPO President António Campinos, “has become a crucial factor in generating employment, growth and strategic autonomy for Europe.”

Over the last two decades, patent applications filed by universities, public bodies and research hospitals have more than doubled, rising from 3,200 in 2006 to nearly 8,000 in 2025. This is particularly true in basic research. In 2025, public and academic institutions accounted for 34 per cent of all European patent applications in biotechnology, 29 per cent of those in quantum technologies and 26 per cent in the pharmaceutical sector. Among the leading giants of European research, the CNRS and the CEA in France, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany, Inserm in France and IMEC in Belgium continue to lead the way. Furthermore, the long-standing leadership of Germany, France and the United Kingdom (whose combined share has fallen from 64 per cent to 55 per cent) is giving way to a broadening of the European research base, with a significant increase in activity in the Netherlands, Spain and Italia. Leading the innovation landscape in Italia is, primarily, the CNR (National Research Council) with 34 European patent applications filed in 2025. It is followed by the Politecnico di Milano (29 applications), the Italian Institute of Technology (21 applications), the Politecnico di Torino (20 applications) and the University of Milan (17 applications). All have clear technological specialisations: the CNR leads the way in semiconductors, the Politecnico di Milano in medical technology, the IIT in the pharmaceutical and medtech sectors, the Polytechnic University of Turin in electrical machinery and energy, and the University of Milan in biotechnology.
In terms of high-tech companies spun off from research, Italia ranks 6th in Europe with 289 academic spin-offs that have filed patents with the EPO.

However, the industrial landscape shows a marked concentration in the early stages: 89.6 per cent of spin-offs are in the technology validation phase (early stage), 19 companies have reached the market expansion phase, none have yet made the leap to advanced growth (valuations exceeding $500 million) and 3.8% have been acquired by larger groups. Moreover, 90.5 per cent of technology transfer offices (out of the 809 analysed across Europe) remain small or medium-sized. Strengthening them and promoting cross-border collaboration would be a key step in helping European inventions make their way onto international markets.