Philips leads in medical technology patents filed at the European Patent Office

Philips is one of the leaders in medical technology patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO). With 683 MedTech patent applications in 2022, Philips was the top European applicant in the MedTech category, and the runner-up worldwide, according to EPO's Patent Index 2022. In total, Philips filed 1,338 patent applications at EPO, making it one of the top 10 patent filers overall.

“Healthcare is facing huge challenges around the world, from staff shortages to increasing costs and growing complexity,” said Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips. “At Philips, we are innovating closely with our customers to help address these challenges, partnering with hospitals to put people at the heart of healthcare and deliver imaging, therapy, and monitoring solutions. At the same time, we are innovating to enable people to live a healthy life and proactively manage their own health. As we continue our industry-leading level of investment in innovation, we’re growing our intellectual property portfolio and applying that knowledge to improve people’s lives.”

Some of Philips’ recent innovations include:
 

• Ultrasound Compact 5000: designed for portability and versatility with premium image quality and performance to facilitate first-time-right ultrasound exams for more patients.
• Spectral CT 7500 scanner, combined with the Azurion with FlexArm image-guided therapy system: a fully integrated hybrid angio CT suite solution for single-room, single-session diagnosis and treatment in areas such as oncology, stroke, and trauma care.
• IntelliVue MX750 and MX850 patient monitors: uniquely designed to support scalability, alarm management, cybersecurity, and enhanced infection prevention within the hospital.
• OneBlade 360 multi-purpose shaver: Philips introduced the new OneBlade 360, which features a new blade that adjusts to the curves of the face to enhance shaving comfort.
  

Philips is one of the world's leading innovators in health technology, investing more than EUR 1.7 billion annually in research and development to deliver patient- and people-centric innovation. The company’s IP portfolio comprises 56,000 patent rights, 33,000 trademarks, 114,000 design rights, and 3,200 domain names.

EPO received a total of 193,460 patent applications in 2022, marking a new record. According to the EPO's Patent Index 2022, patent filings grew 2.5% last year, after an increase of 4.7% in 2021 that followed a small dip in 2020.

For detailed statistics and supporting materials produced by the European Patent Office, see the EPO Patent Index 2022.