Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry
Economic Analysis & Statistics Division
sti.microdatalab@oecd.org
Last update: October 2022
The indicators presented here are based on fractional counts (see note in Country dimension).
The OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry has developed patent data and indicators that are suitable for statistical analysis and that can help addressing S&T policy issues.
To date, the OECD Patent Database fully covers:
Series are derived from EPO's Worldwide Patent Statistical database (PATSTAT Global, Spring 2022). USPTO and Triadic patent families are mainly derived from PATSTAT biblio, while EPO and PCT patent counts are based on PATSTAT's EPO Register (Spring 2022).
Indicators based on patent families improve the international comparability and the quality of patent’s indicators (overcoming the drawbacks of traditional patent-based indicators, such as the "home advantage").
2 sets of indicators are provided in OECD.Stat:
Patent counts by technology (including total patents, estimated total patents for latest years):
Indicators of international co-operation (EPO, USPTO & PCT):
Additional indicators on patent counts by regions (PCT) are provided on the regional statistics section
Patents are a key measure of innovation output, as patent indicators reflect the inventive performance of countries, regions, technologies, firms, etc. They are also used to track the level of diffusion of knowledge across technology areas, countries, sectors, firms, etc., and the level of internationalisation of innovative activities. Patent indicators can serve to measure the output of R&D, its productivity, structure and the development of a specific technology/industry. The relationship between patents as an intermediate output resulting from R&D inputs has been investigated extensively. Patents are often interpreted as an output indicator; however, they could also be viewed as an input indicator, as patents are used as a source of information by subsequent inventors.
Like any other indicator, patent indicators have many advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of patent indicators are :
However, patents are subject to certain drawbacks:
For further details on the methodology applied to patent indicators, please consult the following documentation :
Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry
Economic Analysis & Statistics Division
sti.microdatalab@oecd.org
Last update: October 2022
The indicators presented here are based on fractional counts (see note in Country dimension).
The OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry has developed patent data and indicators that are suitable for statistical analysis and that can help addressing S&T policy issues.
To date, the OECD Patent Database fully covers:
Series are derived from EPO's Worldwide Patent Statistical database (PATSTAT Global, Spring 2022). USPTO and Triadic patent families are mainly derived from PATSTAT biblio, while EPO and PCT patent counts are based on PATSTAT's EPO Register (Spring 2022).
Indicators based on patent families improve the international comparability and the quality of patent’s indicators (overcoming the drawbacks of traditional patent-based indicators, such as the "home advantage").
2 sets of indicators are provided in OECD.Stat:
Patent counts by technology (including total patents, estimated total patents for latest years):
Indicators of international co-operation (EPO, USPTO & PCT):
Additional indicators on patent counts by regions (PCT) are provided on the regional statistics section
Patents are a key measure of innovation output, as patent indicators reflect the inventive performance of countries, regions, technologies, firms, etc. They are also used to track the level of diffusion of knowledge across technology areas, countries, sectors, firms, etc., and the level of internationalisation of innovative activities. Patent indicators can serve to measure the output of R&D, its productivity, structure and the development of a specific technology/industry. The relationship between patents as an intermediate output resulting from R&D inputs has been investigated extensively. Patents are often interpreted as an output indicator; however, they could also be viewed as an input indicator, as patents are used as a source of information by subsequent inventors.
Like any other indicator, patent indicators have many advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of patent indicators are :
However, patents are subject to certain drawbacks:
For further details on the methodology applied to patent indicators, please consult the following documentation :