Lisbon, March 24, 2026 (Lusa) - Patent applications from Portugal hit a record high last year, with 368 requests to the European Patent Office (EPO), a 6.1% year-on-year increase, the entity said on Tuesday.
This was the "highest number ever", according to the EPO Technology Dashboard 2025 (formerly the Patent Index), released on Tuesday. It noted that since 2016, European patent applications from Portugal had more than doubled, reflecting an increasingly dynamic innovation ecosystem.
Computer technology and health-related areas "remain the main innovation sectors in Portugal."
"OPRIMEE, NOS Inovação and INESC Porto are the three main Portuguese applicants," the statement said, noting that the north of Portugal "is the region with the highest number of European patent applications", accounting for 39% of the total.
In 2025, the EPO received a "record 201,974 patent applications", a 1.4% rise from the previous year, "surpassing the 200,000 mark for the first time."
"Applications from Europe, including the 39 EPO member states, increased 0.4% (EU27 + 0.7%), while applications from outside Europe grew 2.1%," the statement read.
Patent applications are an "indicator of company investment in research and development (R&D)."
The record number of patent applications "highlights Europe's innovation capacity and its attractiveness as a global technology market," said EPO President António Campinos in a statement.
The Technology Dashboard 2025 "tracks progress and gaps in different industrial sectors, helping policymakers identify priority areas and guide actions and investments to strengthen technological sovereignty and competitiveness in Europe," he said.
Although "the Unitary Patent was removing barriers and accelerating the transition to a more integrated European innovation market", he said "focus was needed, especially in strategic sectors like artificial intelligence, semiconductors, health and quantum technologies".
The report showed "computer technology remained the top technical area in 2025 for the fourth consecutive year, with applications increasing 2.6% compared to 2024, in line with the global trend at the EPO, where this area also led and grew."
Health-related technologies again represented three of the five main technological areas in Portugal.
For example, medical technology recorded a "particularly significant 32% year-on-year growth, while biotechnology also showed a positive trend, with a 5% increase in 2025, bucking the general downward trend at the EPO."
Conversely, "pharmaceutical applications fell 9.5% after slight growth the previous year."
Handling (including packaging technologies) rose by more than 75%, while furniture/games recorded more than 62.5% and transport (including automotive technologies) increased by more than 50%.
OPRIMEE - Innovation Design Engineering Solutions led Portuguese patent applications in 2025 with 26 requests, followed by NOS Inovação (18) and INESC Porto - Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto (14).
BLC3 Evolution (11 patents), Feedzai (10), Bial (eight), Novadelta (eight), the University of Aveiro (eight), the University of Coimbra (eight) and the CENTITVC research centre – Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials (seven) completed the top 10.
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