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Germany ranks 8th in World Intellectual Property Organization‘s list of most innovative states – DPMA President: innovation system is stable, productive and efficient, yet there are risks due to digitisation deficit

Germany ranks 8th in World Intellectual Property Organization‘s list of most innovative states – DPMA President: innovation system is stable, productive and efficient, yet there are risks due to digitisation deficit

Press release of 27 September 2023

Munich/Geneva. A particularly high number of patent and design applications, successful trade mark holders, high investment in development and significant scientific publications: Germany has defended rank 8 in the Global Innovation Index 2023, ranking the most important economies, with top results for important indicators. "Once again, the Global Innovation Index shows that Germany’s innovation system is stable, productive and very efficient. It is based on strong, innovative companies on the one hand and reliable state institutions on the other hand," DPMA President Eva Schewior said about the study published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Wednesday (27 September) in Geneva. Germany had also ranked 8th in the previous year.

WIPO considers the particularly high number of patent applications filed in several states at once to be a strong point, among others, of the German innovation system. The number of product designs applied for as well as the value of the most important trade marks in Germany are also remarkably high. According to WIPO, the most valuable German trade marks are Deutsche Telekom (62.9 billion USD), Mercedes Benz (58.8 billion USD) and Allianz Group (48.4 billion USD). The notably high number of scientific works, often quoted in renowned publications, is also regarded as a sign of high innovation capacity in Germany by WIPO. In addition, German companies invest particularly high amounts of capital in research and development, by international comparison. The German companies making the highest investments are Volkswagen (rank 7, globally), Mercedes-Benz (14), BMW (21) and Robert Bosch (26).

According to the study, the German innovation system also stands out due to its particularly high efficiency by international comparison: While the country takes rank 13 internationally (2022: 12) in investments in the innovation system (innovation input), it ranks 6th (2022: 7th) when it comes to the return (innovation output).

Weaknesses: education and digitisation

However, according to WIPO, the strong points of the German innovation system are accompanied by some weaknesses. For instance, WIPO only ranks Germany 36th in education spending, and even 47th regarding the pupil-teacher ratio. Germany also misses the top ranks in several categories concerning digitisation and digital technologies, for example in access to and use of information and communication technologies as well as mobile app creation. "The study shows that we are not in the top leagues in basic digitisation areas. That is a considerable risk to our future innovation capacity," the DPMA President highlights.

WIPO also classifies the most innovative regions in the world in science and technology clusters. This year, there are nine German clusters among the top 100. The top-ranking German region is Munich (rank 22). Cologne ranks 25th, Stuttgart 29th. The top 5 ranks are located in Asia, with Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan) at the top, followed by
Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China) on rank 2 and Seoul (Republic of Korea).

For the Global Innovation Index, WIPO examines the innovative capacity of a total of 132 economies on the basis of about 80 indicators.

The German Patent and Trade Mark Office

Inventiveness and creativity need effective protection. The DPMA is the German centre of expertise for all intellectual property rights – patents, utility models, trade marks and designs. As the largest national patent office in Europe and the fifth largest national patent office in the world, our office stands for the future of Germany as a country of inventors in a globalised economy. Its staff of just under 2,800 at three locations – Munich, Jena and Berlin – provide services to inventors and companies. They implement federal innovation strategies and develop the national, European and international protection systems.

Picture: istock.com/ismaiglov

Last updated: 27 September 2022