Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Economic Affairs, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, said on 12 March: “The annual statistics for 2024 published by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office impressively demonstrate Baden-Württemberg's leading position in terms of patent applications. Our global players play a significant role in innovation. Therefore, everything has to be done to prevent the relocation of research and development departments to other countries.” Effective protection of intellectual property is also playing an increasingly important role in enabling companies to secure their international competitiveness.
Minister Hoffmeister-Kraut: “In order to further increase the innovation dynamic in Baden-Württemberg, it is more important than ever to strengthen the innovative power of small and medium-sized enterprises. Technology transfer and cooperation between industry and science as well as the promotion of spin-offs play a decisive role in this.” With funding programs such as Invest BW or the state's Start-up BW campaign, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is helping to ensure that small and medium-sized companies find excellent conditions for their development and innovative capacity.
Facts and figures
With a total of 15,494 patent applications, the state was able to increase its previous year's figures (2023: 14,648 applications) by remarkable 5.7%. In relation to the number of inhabitants, Baden-Württemberg is also clearly leading with 137 applications per 100,000 inhabitants (2023: 130 applications per 100,000 inhabitants). Baden-Württemberg now accounts for around 39% of all German patent applications.
“The number of patent applications is a key indicator of the innovative strength of our companies. The significant increase in Baden-Württemberg is extremely encouraging, especially in regard to the current economic conditions, and a clear signal of the strength of our innovation system,” said Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut. “The growing proportion of patent applications in technologically demanding areas is particularly noteworthy. Our companies are thus proving that they are well positioned in important future fields despite the many challenges they face. This applies in particular to the automotive industry, which is currently undergoing profound structural change.”
Automotive manufacturers and their suppliers were also among the top patent filers in 2024. In particular, the large industrial companies play a key role in shaping innovation in the federal state - they account for more than half of all applications in Baden-Württemberg. According to the DPMA, Robert Bosch GmbH is leading the way (1st place with 4,496 applications), followed by Mercedes-Benz Group AG (3rd place with 2,138 applications), Porsche AG (4th place with 1,409 applications) and ZF Friedrichshafen AG (6th place with 1,175 applications). Technologically, the fields of transportation (3,482 applications), electrical machines and devices as well as electrical energy (2,273 applications) and measurement technology (1,463 applications) continue to dominate. According to the DPMA, developments relating to electromobility and infotainment systems in vehicles are the main drivers of increasing innovation activities.
Source: Press release Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism Baden-Württemberg
