Innovation holds strong. Patent filings by French companies increased by 12% between 2019 and 2023, according to a study by the Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) published Wednesday, November 6. Counted by the INPI and the European Patent Office (EPO), these filings reached nearly 194,000 patents in 2023, compared to 174,000 in 2019.
This growth in patent filings would have been driven by state support for SMEs and ETIs, according to the study. This cites pell-mell the deeptech plan and the France 2030 plan, launched respectively between 2019 and 2021, or the ETI nation strategy and, more recently, the ETIncelles Program.
SMEs spend the equivalent of 9% of their turnover on R&D
While the share of large companies in all patents filed remained stable over the period (around 60%), SMEs saw their share increase. They issued 19% of deposits in 2023, compared to 17.7% in 2019. “These are in particular start-ups specializing in deeptech, chemistry, mechanics and even aeronautics”lists Émilie Gallois, head of the studies department at the INPI. In medical technology, in particular, 44% of all requests come from SMEs.
“These SMEs spend around 50% of the equivalent of their turnover on R&D on average, while this rate is around 9% for all French SMEs (excluding microenterprises)”points out the researcher. In comparison, mid-sized companies and large companies devoted less than 2% of their turnover to R&D in 2021, according to a study by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
Less than 2% of SMEs file a patent
Within SMEs, however, patent filings are driven by a restricted group of companies: only 2,000 of the 159,000 French SMEs file a patent each year, or less than 2% of all small and medium-sized businesses listed in France. At the same time, all (100%) of large companies filed at least one patent over the period.
“SMEs do not always have the reflex to secure their innovations with intellectual property assets”regrets Émilie Gallois. “It seems that it is mainly a question of culture, because accessing a French patent does not cost much.” The price of filing a patent is 26 euros according to the INPI website.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
