Patent filings on the rise as Scots drive innovation

Patent filings rose by almost 10 per cent last year in Scotland, highlighting the role of innovation in driving the economy, experts said yesterday.

Intellectual property practice Marks & Clerk pointed to the European Patent Office’s (EPO) latest annual report, covering patents filed and granted in 2017, which revealed that 271 were filed from Scotland – an increase of 9.7 per cent on the previous year.

Patent filing in Scotland outperformed the UK as a whole, which saw a 2.4 per cent year-on-year rise.

Growth in patent filing across the UK was driven by key sectors including medical technology (up 7.1 per cent), biotechnology (up 25.3 per cent), pharmaceuticals (up 15.7 per cent) and civil engineering (up 20.2 per cent).

Paul Chapman, a partner in Marks & Clerk’s Edinburgh office, said: “Scotland continues to lead the way in industries as diverse as food and drink, pharmaceuticals and energy and this is reflected in the fact that filings from Scotland have grown nearly 10 per cent year-on-year.”