The UK leads Europe in generative AI patent applications, but Germany is closing the gap.
This is according to new data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations agency that tracks patents.
WIPO today released a report on 54,000 GenAI inventions over the 10-year period ending in 2023, with over 25% of them created in the last year alone.
The findings show that China has a significant lead in this field: Over the past decade, China has filed more than 38,000 GenAI patents, a staggering six times more than the second-placed United States, which filed 6,276.
The top five countries are South Korea (4,155 cases), Japan (3,409 cases), and India (1,350 cases).
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The UK came in sixth with 714 patents compared to Germany’s 708. However, Germany has published more patents than its European rivals in recent years.
GenAI inventions in Europe
Germany is also home to Siemens, Europe’s largest company by number of GenAI patent applications.
The Munich-based company owns a large portfolio of patents based on image and video data and is ranked 16th worldwide.
Meanwhile, the UK is home to many world leaders in GenAI research, with the University of Oxford, UCL, Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge all ranking in the top 20 for scientific publications – the only European institutions to make the list.
Notably, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is the only company to make it into the top 20. The tech giant ranks fourth with 556 papers, behind the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and Stanford University.
But when it comes to citations, Alphabet is the clear leader: Its GenAI publications have received more than 47,000 citations, nearly double the number of second-placed University of California, Berkeley.
The UK also dominates the citation rankings, with DeepMind, Imperial and UCL all ranking in the top 20. Again, this list does not include any other European organisations.
However, the continent is home to the top three inventor locations, including France, which ranks 10th with 305 patent applications.
Chinese institutions ranked relatively low in the number of citations to GenAI publications. Credit: WIPO
Global AI Trends
Although they fall short of China in total numbers, the three major European countries performed well per capita.
In WIPO’s view, all countries can benefit from the new data.
“This will help policymakers shape the development of GenAI for our common benefit and ensure that we continue to put humans at the heart of the innovation and creativity ecosystem,” said the agency’s director-general, Darren Tan.
“We believe this report will empower innovators, researchers, and others to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI and its impact on the world.”
