Industries with an above-average ownership of IP rights per employee (IPR-intensive industries) accounted for a total of 82 million jobs and generated more than 47% of total economic activity (GDP) in the EU in the period 2017 to 2019, according to the fourth industry-level IP contribution study.

The study was published by the EPO and the EUIPO Observatory on 11 October 2022. It follows previous studies published in 2013, 2016 and 2019.

It covers IP rights including trade marks, patents, designs, copyright, geographical indications and plant variety rights and considers a variety of economic indicators, in particular GDP, employment, external trade and wages.

The study includes comparable data from Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK as well as EU member states. It also has a chapter on patents and trade marks relating to climate change mitigation technologies (CCMT), which indicates that sectors intensive in CCMT patents or green trade marks account for more than 14% of the EU’s GDP.

Among the study’s other findings are:

• IPR-intensive industries account for more than 75% of intra-EU trade
• Almost 7 million IPR-related jobs in the EU member states are created by companies from other member states
• IPR-intensive industries have a wage premium of 41% over other industries
• The relative contribution of IPR-intensive industries to the EU economy has increased since the previous study

You can read a summary of the study on the EUIPO website here and download the full report here. Information on other reports, including the previous IP contribution studies, is available here.