Context:
China’s share of global patent filings has undergone exponential growth in recent years, including at the European Patent Office (EPO), which saw applications jump by 9.7% in 2025 (
April 2026 ip fray LinkedIn post
). This is, by no coincidence, strengthened by its increase in R&D spending, which grew by twentyfold over the past 22 years.
Meanwhile, German companies have started to lose ground internationally, both in terms of investment in R&D and in terms of patent filings. Germany’s share of global R&D spending fell by 3% between 2008 (when it ranked fourth worldwide and had an 8.5% share) and 2021, sinking to sixth place. Meanwhile, the German share of patents fell by nearly 7% (from 21.9% to 15%) between 2000 and 2022. This is primarily attributed to a slowdown in the automotive, electrical, and chemical industries. While the German share of EPO patent filings remains quite high, it notably files very few in industries such as AI, like many of its other European counterparts (