A recent article in The Telegraph bemoaned the state of innovation in the United Kingdom, stating that Germany and France are filing a much greater volume of patents according to author Sophie Curtis:

"The study found that, despite the last government’s efforts to boost innovation through Patent Box legislation, the UK filed just 6,619 patents last year compared to 56,492 in Germany and 11,595 in France."

The article is unclear on where these statistics are compiled from, as they do not match any of the figures listed in the Thomson Reuters study linked from the content.

In an effort to better assess the state of innovation in the UK, we have put together the following infographic based upon the latest release of patent application, publication, and grant data from the United Kingdom's Intellectual Property Office. Some highlights from the report on 2015 patent stats in the graphic below include:

• 22,801 patent applications were filed with the IPO in 2015, with 14,780 of the applications originating from the UK (over 66% of applications)
• Patent application volume over the last five years has been steady, reaching a high of 23,229 applications in 2012 and a low of 22,256 applications in 2011
• Of the top six organizations responsible for patent filings with the IPO in 2016, four are British companies headquartered in the United Kingdom:
  • BAE Systems: Global HQ in London
  • ARM Limited: Global HQ in Cambridge
  • Jaguar Landrover: Global HQ in Whitley
  • Rolls Royce: Global HQ in Goodwood

Looks like perhaps innovation in the United Kingdom maybe be much healthier than given credit for by some:

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<a href="https://www.innovate-design.co.uk/patent-stats-uk-ipo-2015/ "><img src="https://www.innovate-design.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2015-UK-IPO-Stats-Infographic.jpg" alt="UK IPO Patent Stats for 2015 [Infographic]" width="600" border="1" /></a><br />&copy; 2016 <a href="https://www.innovate-design.co.uk">Innovate Product Design</a>