Patent statistics at Eurostat : mapping the contribution of SMEs in EU patenting

This edition of the Eurostat's Manuals and Guidelines series is dedicated to the production and dissemination of enhanced statistics that measure SMEs' involvement in inventive activity in the European Union through patenting. Investment in science, technology and innovation is one of the EU's central policy areas. It is an important driver for the Europe 2020 growth strategy and is essential to economic growth and the development of the knowledge-based economy. The Europe 2020 strategy sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century. It aims to turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Knowledge creation and innovation dynamics stem from the activities of a variety of actors, including firms, universities, entrepreneurs, and public and private research institutes. Patents are generally used to protect R&D results, but they are also valuable as a source of technical information without which ideas may need to be re-invented and re-developed. Eurostat collects data in the areas of science, technology and innovation that are used both by policymakers and scientists. Patent statistics are recognised as a highly valuable data source for assessing innovative performance and for monitoring, evaluating and even forecasting firms' technological activities, regardless of their size. Given SMEs' contribution in developing technology and high R&D productivity, it is very useful to establish the extent to which they are involved in innovative activities across countries. This publication assesses the feasibility of identifying SMEs' contribution to technological development by measuring their share of total patent activity. The challenge for the project was linking corporate patent applicants to business registers and then classifying patent applications according to firm size. In terms of methodology, the project's contribution is that it demonstrates the feasibility of deriving SME patent indicators from SME shares in patent portfolios. It also points to potential future improvements by showing that the automated matching of patent applicants with information in business registers needs to be complemented with additional procedures to obtain accurate estimates and reliable statistics. By showing how SMEs' involvement in EU technological activities can be monitored on the basis of relevant patent statistics, the methodology described in this publication marks a major step forward.