The European Patent Office (EPO) has published the 2019 statistical report: 181,406 European patent applications were filed, 4% more than in 2018.
With 2% of filings, Italy ranks 6th in the ranking of the European Countries, after Germany (15%), France (6%), Switzerland (5%), the Netherlands (4%) and the United Kingdom (3%). 45% of applications come from Europe, while the rest come from the United States (25%), Japan (12%), China (7%) and South Korea (5%) and other Countries (6%). The three largest applicant companies are Huawei, Samsung and LG. The three technology areas with the most applications are: digital communication, medical technology and computer technology. 72% of the applicants are large enterprises, 18% are small and medium-sized enterprises and individual inventors, while 10% are universities and public research organizations.
Full statistics available at the link: https://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/statistics/2019.html