Company profile · Airbus SE · 2014–2024
Airbus starts fewer patent families a year than in 2014, and files more of them at the EPO.
8,608 DOCDB patent families and 22,064 applications across 35 patent offices. Families with an EP application rose from 52.9% to 67.4% between the 2014–2018 and 2019–2022 cohorts.
- Data
- EPO PATSTAT Global, Spring 2026 (patstat_2026a)
- Unit
- DOCDB family, by earliest Airbus application
- Scope
- Airbus-branded applicant names · patents of invention
- Queries
- 10, all published
Commercial aircraft 589 → 467 · Defence and space 219 → 40 · Helicopters 115 → 29 families, 2014 → 2024
- −4.0%
a year: the compound change in new families from 2014 (957) to 2022 (691).
Filing trend - 67.4%
of the families first filed 2019–2022 carry an EP application, against 52.9% of the 2014–2018 cohort.
Offices - 4.2%
of the 2019–2022 cohort carries hydrogen or fuel-cell codes, up from 1.1%.
Themes - 304
families (3.5%) name a co-applicant from outside the Airbus group.
Partners - 30
families name an inventor in China, the fourth largest filing office with 2,743 families.
Inventors
01 · Filing trend
Airbus starts fewer new families a year than in 2014
2014–2016
Roughly 960 new families a year: 957, 961 and 970.
2017–2019
779 and 780 in 2017 and 2018, then 885 in 2019.
2020–2022
Between 612 and 691 a year. Over complete filing years, 2014 (957) to 2022 (691), the compound annual change is −4.0%.
Read with care
2023 and 2024 are provisional: applications publish about 18 months after filing. The 2024 application count is a lower bound. No growth statement in this report ends in either year.
New patent families by year of first Airbus application
Data table: filing trend 2014–2024
| Year | New patent families | Applications filed that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 957 | 2,680 |
| 2015 | 961 | 2,598 |
| 2016 | 970 | 2,196 |
| 2017 | 779 | 2,098 |
| 2018 | 780 | 2,355 |
| 2019 | 885 | 2,248 |
| 2020 | 612 | 1,666 |
| 2021 | 647 | 1,771 |
| 2022 | 691 | 1,915 |
| 2023* | 736 | 1,757 |
| 2024* | 590 | 780 |
| Total | 8,608 | 22,064 |
Query 2Each family counts once, in the year of its earliest Airbus application. Applications are counted in the year they were filed.
02 · Filing entities
Defence and space names file less, group names file more
Commercial aircraft
Commercial-aircraft entities carry 5,740 of 8,608 families and stay between 387 and 657 a year.
Defence and space
Families under defence-and-space entity names fall from 219 (2014) to 40 (2024).
Group and holding
Families under plain group or holding names rise from 79 (2020) to 147 (2021) and stay at 89 or more. Both series move in opposite directions in the same years, which is what a reassignment of the filing entity would look like.
What is filed
Helicopter entities fall from 115 to 29. The subject matter moves more gently: B64G (cosmonautics) goes from 3.9% of the 2014–2018 cohort to 2.9% of the 2019–2022 cohort.
Patent families per year by filing entity group
Data table: families by filing entity group
| Year | Commercial aircraft | Defence and space | Group and holding | Helicopters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 589 | 219 | 98 | 115 |
| 2015 | 558 | 250 | 86 | 115 |
| 2016 | 592 | 227 | 94 | 100 |
| 2017 | 474 | 149 | 89 | 107 |
| 2018 | 550 | 108 | 70 | 89 |
| 2019 | 657 | 115 | 98 | 76 |
| 2020 | 387 | 87 | 79 | 91 |
| 2021 | 429 | 90 | 147 | 70 |
| 2022 | 490 | 93 | 141 | 60 |
| 2023* | 547 | 66 | 125 | 47 |
| 2024* | 467 | 40 | 89 | 29 |
| Total | 5,740 | 1,444 | 1,116 | 899 |
Query 2Grouped from han_name; the groups sum to 9,199 assignments against 8,608 families
This measures the applicant on the paperwork, not where the work is done. A family filed jointly by two group companies counts in both groups. Movements between groups can reflect a change in which legal entity signs the filing as much as a change in activity. Read the entity series as a record of who files, and B64G as the record of what is filed.
Largest single applicant names (harmonised), patent families
- 01AIRBUS OPERATIONS GMBH2,394
- 02AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS2,094
- 03AIRBUS OPERATIONS LTD1,026
- 04AIRBUS DEFENCE & SPACE GMBH701
- 05AIRBUS SAS669
- 06AIRBUS HELICOPTERS637
- 07AIRBUS OPERATIONS LIMITED303
- 08AIRBUS DEFENCE & SPACE SAS300
- 09AIRBUS OPERATIONS SL281
- 10AIRBUS HELICOPTERS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH272
- 11AIRBUS254
- 12AIRBUS OPERATIONS SLU212
- 13AIRBUS FRANCE155
- 14AIRBUS OPERATIONS, S.L.151
- 15AIRBUS SAFRAN LAUNCHERS SAS137
Query 2PATSTAT harmonisation is incomplete: LTD and LIMITED, SL and S.L. remain separate. Counts are non-exclusive.
03 · Offices
The EP route rose from 52.9% to 67.4% of families
The US office has 5,481 families and the EPO 5,075 (59.0%). 927 families (10.8%) carry a PCT application, and 5,909 of 8,608 (68.6%) are filed at more than one office. Between the 2014–2018 and 2019–2022 cohorts the EP share rises by 14.5 percentage points, against the maturity bias. The German office falls from 21.9% to 13.5%; China rises from 31.1% to 35.6% and is the fourth most used office, with 2,743 families.
Families by filing office, 2014–2024
Data table: families by filing office
| Office | Patent families | Applications | Share of 8,608 families |
|---|---|---|---|
| US — United States | 5,481 | 5,678 | 63.7% |
| EP — European Patent Office | 5,075 | 5,257 | 59.0% |
| FR — France | 3,042 | 3,056 | 35.3% |
| CN — China | 2,743 | 2,783 | 31.9% |
| DE — Germany | 1,404 | 1,409 | 16.3% |
| GB — United Kingdom | 1,186 | 1,203 | 13.8% |
| WO — PCT | 927 | 940 | 10.8% |
| CA — Canada | 506 | 513 | 5.9% |
| ES — Spain | 506 | 512 | 5.9% |
| KR — Korea | 217 | 223 | 2.5% |
| JP — Japan | 153 | 158 | 1.8% |
| PL — Poland | 83 | 83 | 1.0% |
| AU — Australia | 65 | 66 | 0.8% |
| BR — Brazil | 48 | 49 | 0.6% |
| RU — Russia | 35 | 35 | 0.4% |
Query 2A family counts at every office where it has a member
Share of cohort families filed at each office (%)
Data table: office share by cohort
| Office | Families 2014–2018 | Share of 4,447 | Families 2019–2022 | Share of 2,835 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | 3,026 | 68.0% | 1,880 | 66.3% |
| EP | 2,351 | 52.9% | 1,910 | 67.4% |
| FR | 1,688 | 38.0% | 977 | 34.5% |
| CN | 1,382 | 31.1% | 1,008 | 35.6% |
| DE | 974 | 21.9% | 383 | 13.5% |
| GB | 521 | 11.7% | 445 | 15.7% |
| WO | 472 | 10.6% | 401 | 14.1% |
| ES | 320 | 7.2% | 175 | 6.2% |
| CA | 346 | 7.8% | 142 | 5.0% |
| KR | 138 | 3.1% | 56 | 2.0% |
Query 2Cohorts of 4,447 and 2,835 families; both stop at 2022
Cohort maturity affects the cohort chart. A family first filed in 2014 has had about twelve years to add foreign members; one first filed in 2022 has had about four, and national or regional entry from a PCT application typically happens at around 30 months. The 2019–2022 cohort is under-counted at every downstream office. Shares that rise against that bias (EP, CN, GB, WO) are the robust readings. DE is largely a first-filing office, so its share is barely truncated. The US figure of 66.3% for the later cohort is a lower bound and should not be read as a decline.
04 · Technology
Two aircraft subclasses carry the portfolio
B64D (equipment fitted in or to aircraft) appears on 3,276 families (38.1%) and B64C (aeroplanes; helicopters) on 3,148 (36.6%). Ground and deck installations (B64F) follow at 962. Below that the profile is that of an aerospace supplier: plastics shaping (B29C, 773), digital data processing (G06F, 464), gas-turbine plants (F02C, 441) and fastening elements (F16B, 391). In the WIPO 35-field view, Transport covers 5,769 families (67.0%) and Mechanical elements 1,267 (14.7%).
Most frequent IPC subclasses, patent families (non-exclusive)
Data table: IPC subclasses
| IPC subclass | Title | Families | Share of 8,608 | 2014–2018 cohort | 2019–2022 cohort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B64D | Equipment for fitting in or to aircraft; flight suits; parachutes | 3,276 | 38.1% | 1,625 | 1,133 |
| B64C | Aeroplanes; helicopters | 3,148 | 36.6% | 1,648 | 1,100 |
| B64F | Ground or aircraft-carrier-deck installations | 962 | 11.2% | 452 | 371 |
| B29C | Shaping or joining of plastics | 773 | 9.0% | 470 | 225 |
| G06F | Electric digital data processing | 464 | 5.4% | 283 | 120 |
| F02C | Gas-turbine plants; air intakes for jet-propulsion plants | 441 | 5.1% | 193 | 163 |
| F16B | Devices for fastening or securing constructional elements | 391 | 4.5% | 204 | 129 |
| B32B | Layered products | 365 | 4.2% | 235 | 100 |
| G05D | Systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables | 360 | 4.2% | 208 | 110 |
| G08G | Traffic control systems | 329 | 3.8% | 193 | 95 |
| G01C | Measuring distances, levels or bearings; surveying; navigation | 281 | 3.3% | 178 | 83 |
| B64G | Cosmonautics; vehicles or equipment therefor | 281 | 3.3% | 174 | 81 |
| F02K | Jet-propulsion plants | 280 | 3.3% | 164 | 91 |
| H04L | Transmission of digital information | 270 | 3.1% | 153 | 91 |
| F16L | Pipes; joints or fittings for pipes | 259 | 3.0% | 115 | 84 |
| B29L | Indexing scheme relating to particular articles (plastics) | 247 | 2.9% | 144 | 85 |
| G01S | Radio direction-finding; radio navigation; radar | 237 | 2.8% | 137 | 72 |
| H04B | Transmission | 226 | 2.6% | 118 | 80 |
| G01N | Investigating or analysing materials | 217 | 2.5% | 143 | 55 |
| H01M | Batteries and processes for direct conversion of chemical into electrical energy | 214 | 2.5% | 69 | 94 |
| G01M | Testing static or dynamic balance of machines or structures | 198 | 2.3% | 92 | 73 |
| F01D | Non-positive-displacement machines or engines | 178 | 2.1% | 102 | 55 |
Query 3IPC symbols aggregated across all family members
WIPO technology fields, patent families (non-exclusive)
Data table: WIPO technology fields
| Technology field | Families | Share of 8,608 | 2014–2018 cohort | 2019–2022 cohort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transport | 5,769 | 67.0% | 2,916 | 2,005 |
| Mechanical elements | 1,267 | 14.7% | 639 | 418 |
| Measurement | 1,148 | 13.3% | 662 | 351 |
| Other special machines | 916 | 10.6% | 554 | 271 |
| Control | 809 | 9.4% | 448 | 258 |
| Engines, pumps, turbines | 797 | 9.3% | 419 | 267 |
| Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy | 773 | 9.0% | 360 | 268 |
| Computer technology | 681 | 7.9% | 367 | 220 |
| Surface technology, coating | 488 | 5.7% | 295 | 151 |
| Machine tools | 425 | 4.9% | 248 | 131 |
| Telecommunications | 381 | 4.4% | 203 | 143 |
| Digital communication | 350 | 4.1% | 199 | 119 |
Query 3A family counts in every field it carries
05 · Technology shift
H01M doubled its share while plastics and layered products lost ground
The airframe core holds: B64D moves from 36.5% to 40.0% of cohort families and B64F from 10.2% to 13.1%. Plastics shaping (B29C) falls from 10.6% to 7.9%, layered products (B32B) from 5.3% to 3.5% and materials investigation (G01N) from 3.2% to 1.9%. H01M doubles its share from 1.6% to 3.3%, on 69 and 94 families. Gas-turbine plants (F02C) rise from 4.3% to 5.7%.
Share of cohort families carrying each IPC subclass (%)
Data table: subclass share by cohort
| IPC subclass | Families 2014–2018 | Share of 4,447 | Families 2019–2022 | Share of 2,835 | Change (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B64D Equipment fitted in or to aircraft | 1,625 | 36.5% | 1,133 | 40.0% | +3.5 |
| B64C Aeroplanes; helicopters | 1,648 | 37.1% | 1,100 | 38.8% | +1.7 |
| B64F Ground or deck installations | 452 | 10.2% | 371 | 13.1% | +2.9 |
| B29C Shaping or joining of plastics | 470 | 10.6% | 225 | 7.9% | −2.7 |
| G06F Electric digital data processing | 283 | 6.4% | 120 | 4.2% | −2.2 |
| F02C Gas-turbine plants | 193 | 4.3% | 163 | 5.7% | +1.4 |
| B32B Layered products | 235 | 5.3% | 100 | 3.5% | −1.8 |
| H01M Batteries; direct conversion of chemical into electrical energy | 69 | 1.6% | 94 | 3.3% | +1.7 |
| G01N Investigating or analysing materials | 143 | 3.2% | 55 | 1.9% | −1.3 |
| B64G Cosmonautics | 174 | 3.9% | 81 | 2.9% | −1.0 |
Query 3H01M and G01N rest on fewer than 150 families per cohort: read them as direction, not magnitude
06 · Themes
Hydrogen and fuel-cell families rose from 1.1% to 4.2% of the cohort
Families with an aircraft power-plant installation code (B64D 27) move from 5.9% to 10.4%: 263 against 294 families, on a cohort that is itself 36% smaller. Hydrogen and fuel-cell codes (H01M 8, C01B 3, F17C) move from 49 to 119 families. Learning-model computing (G06N) goes from 16 to 40 families, 0.4% to 1.4%.
Share of cohort families carrying each theme (%)
Data table: themed areas by cohort
| Theme (codes matched) | Families 2014–2024 | 2014–2018 cohort | Share of 4,447 | 2019–2022 cohort | Share of 2,835 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft power-plant installation (B64D 27) | 682 | 263 | 5.9% | 294 | 10.4% |
| Hydrogen and fuel cells (H01M 8, C01B 3, F17C) | 265 | 49 | 1.1% | 119 | 4.2% |
| Electrical power supply and conversion (H02J, H02K, H02M, H02P) | 218 | 95 | 2.1% | 76 | 2.7% |
| Additive manufacturing (B33Y, B22F 10) | 214 | 130 | 2.9% | 69 | 2.4% |
| Unmanned aircraft (B64U and B64C 39/02) | 186 | 116 | 2.6% | 63 | 2.2% |
| Batteries and electric storage (H01M 4, H01M 10, H01M 50) | 92 | 44 | 1.0% | 34 | 1.2% |
| AI and machine learning (G06N) | 79 | 16 | 0.4% | 40 | 1.4% |
| Climate-change mitigation, aeronautics (Y02T 50) | 1,096 | — | — | — | — |
Query 5IPC and CPC matched together. Themes overlap; the smallest rest on fewer than 50 families per cohort.
Two data-quality notes. 1,096 families carry a Y02T 50 tag (climate-change mitigation in aeronautics); Y tags are a secondary, CPC-only scheme with incomplete coverage of recent years, so only the total is reported. The unmanned-aircraft theme unions B64U, introduced in 2023, with its predecessor B64C 39/02.
07 · Grants
81.0% of US applications filed 2014–2019 are granted, 24.9% of German ones
Among offices that examine substantively, the cohort reaches 81.0% at the USPTO (2,600 of 3,210 applications), 82.6% at the French office (1,665 of 2,016) and 76.3% at the EPO (2,027 of 2,658). China sits at 59.3% (875 of 1,475), Japan at 64.2% and Canada at 54.3%. These are individual applications, not families: a family granted in one office and refused in another counts in both.
Grant rate of applications filed 2014–2019, as of Spring 2026 (%)
Data table: grant rate by office
| Office | Applications filed 2014–2019 | Granted | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| US — United States | 3,210 | 2,600 | 81.0% |
| EP — European Patent Office | 2,658 | 2,027 | 76.3% |
| FR — France | 2,016 | 1,665 | 82.6% |
| CN — China | 1,475 | 875 | 59.3% |
| DE — Germany | 1,165 | 290 | 24.9% |
| GB — United Kingdom | 682 | 105 | 15.4% |
| ES — Spain | 377 | 375 | 99.5% |
| CA — Canada | 359 | 195 | 54.3% |
| KR — Korea | 146 | 114 | 78.1% |
| JP — Japan | 120 | 77 | 64.2% |
Query 2Offices with at least 100 applications in the cohort. A pending application counts as not granted.
A grant rate here is an outcome count, not a quality score. The spread from 15.4% to 99.5% reflects office procedure as much as the inventions. The priority-filing route may explain DE and GB; this report cannot confirm it. WO is excluded: its 7 recorded grants out of 509 applications would read as a 1.4% rate.
08 · Partners
Only 304 families, 3.5%, name a partner from outside the group
1,164 families (13.5%) carry at least one application with more than one applicant. Of these, 860 carry no applicant this report counts as external. Among external partners, public research leads: CNES (23 families), CNRS (19), Fraunhofer (15) and DLR (14). The PATSTAT sector field marks 92 of the 304 families as government or non-profit and 42 as university.
External co-applicants by shared patent families
Data table: external co-applicants
| Co-applicant (harmonised name) | PATSTAT sector | Shared families | 2014–2018 cohort | 2019–2022 cohort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) | Gov / non-profit | 23 | 13 | 7 |
| ArianeGroup SAS | Company | 20 | 18 | 2 |
| CNRS | Gov / non-profit | 19 | 16 | 1 |
| Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft | Gov / non-profit | 15 | 7 | 6 |
| Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) | Gov / non-profit | 14 | 8 | 4 |
| C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership | Company | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Bombardier Inc. | Company | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Short Brothers PLC | Company | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| STELIA Aerospace | Unknown | 9 | 3 | 6 |
| CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) | Unknown | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| Vibro-Meter SA | Company | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH | Company | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| ArianeGroup GmbH | Company | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Hydac Technology GmbH | Company | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| University of Surrey | University | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| The Manufacturing Technology Centre Ltd | Unknown | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Manufacturing Technology Center Limited | Unknown | 5 | 0 | 1 |
Query 4Matched on the application, with every Airbus name variant, Latin and non-Latin, excluded from the partner side
Families with an external co-applicant, by the partner's PATSTAT sector
| PATSTAT sector of the co-applicant | Families |
|---|---|
| Company | 145 |
| Government / non-profit | 92 |
| Unknown | 78 |
| University | 42 |
| Individual | 13 |
| Government / non-profit and university | 2 |
| Not set | 4 |
| Distinct families with an external co-applicant | 304 |
Query 4Sector rows sum to 376 against 304 families: a family with partners in two sectors counts in both
Partner names are PATSTAT's harmonised names, shown as recorded: The Manufacturing Technology Centre Ltd and Manufacturing Technology Center Limited are the same organisation recorded twice. ArianeGroup and STELIA Aerospace appear as external partners because the report scopes Airbus by the name on the application, not by ownership. The same joint venture sits on both sides of that boundary: filings under ArianeGroup are external, filings under its pre-2017 name Airbus Safran Launchers SAS are in scope, with 137 families.
09 · Inventors
Inventors sit in the group's four home countries
France appears on 3,626 families (42.1%) and Germany on 3,428 (39.8%), followed by the United Kingdom with 1,164 (13.5%) and Spain with 567 (6.6%). The rest is a long tail: the United States on 91 families, India on 56, Canada on 42, China on 30. China is the fourth most used filing office, with 2,743 families, and the eighth inventor country in the table, with 30. The pattern is consistent with filing for market coverage rather than for locally generated inventions.
Families with at least one inventor in the country (non-exclusive)
Data table: inventor countries
| Country | Families with an inventor there | Share of 8,608 |
|---|---|---|
| FR — France | 3,626 | 42.1% |
| DE — Germany | 3,428 | 39.8% |
| GB — United Kingdom | 1,164 | 13.5% |
| ES — Spain | 567 | 6.6% |
| US — United States | 91 | 1.1% |
| IN — India | 56 | 0.7% |
| CA — Canada | 42 | 0.5% |
| CN — China | 30 | 0.3% |
| NL — Netherlands | 22 | 0.3% |
| IT — Italy | 15 | 0.2% |
| CH — Switzerland | 12 | 0.1% |
| AT — Austria | 12 | 0.1% |
Query 4The twelve rows sum to 9,065 against 8,608 families. Country of record, not workplace.
10 · How we counted
How the numbers were counted
- One family, one countA DOCDB family counts once, in the year of its earliest Airbus application, taken over all Airbus filings of the family. 8,608 families start in 2014–2024; the annual series sums exactly to that total. Applications (22,064) are counted in the year they were filed.
- The name as filedPATSTAT holds no company identifier. The scope is built on person_name with an Airbus-group brand: AIRBUS, EUROCOPTER, ASTRIUM, CASSIDIAN, EADS followed by a corporate word, European Aeronautic Defence and Space, and the non-Latin forms 空中客车 / 空中客車 / 空中巴士 / 空客, エアバス, 에어버스. The harmonised han_name is a cross-check only.
- Applicants, patents of inventionOnly the applicant role counts (applt_seq_nr > 0) and only ipr_type = 'PI'. The inventor role is used only for inventor locations.
- Every breakdown overlapsSubclasses, fields, offices, filing entities (9,199), inventor countries (9,065) and partner sectors (376 against 304) sum above the family total. No pie charts for that reason.
Checks and limits
- Family counts are a lower boundName harmonisation is never complete; Airbus filings under a name without a group brand are not reachable by this profile.
- han_name imports strangersThe harmonised name AIRBUS UK LTD is attached to person records reading AlliedSignal Ltd., AlliedSignal Limited, Allied Signal Limited and Honeywell UK Ltd., Bristol. In the other direction han_name recovers Dutch Space B.V. and PlantCML, Inc. as genuine members: 2 families, none unique to that route. Within the fixed scope han_name is used only to group filing entities.
- Non-Latin spellings searched separatelyChinese, Japanese and Korean applicant records are not harmonised onto a Latin han_name. 352 families carry an original-script Airbus record; 11 of them carry no Latin-script Airbus record. Without them, Airbus itself would surface as an external co-applicant.
- Persons named Eads excludedA bare EADS token matches a further 251 person records in a blank or unknown sector, and the sampled names are natural persons. psn_sector = INDIVIDUAL marks only 13 records in the whole match set, so the pattern requires a corporate word after the token. The discovery pass returned 3,148 person records before this review.
- Design rights and utility models excludedThe ipr_type filter leaves out 127 utility-model and 40 design families with an Airbus applicant in the window.
- Separately branded subsidiaries outside the scopeMeasured in families the report does not contain: Premium AEROTEC 66, STELIA Aerospace 50, Aerolia 11, APWorks 7, Sogerma 1. 135 families in total, about 1.6% of the portfolio size.
- Joint ventures without an Airbus brand outside the scopeArianeGroup contributes 357 and MBDA 416 families whose applicants carry no Airbus-branded name. Airbus is one of several owners of both; counting those 773 families would credit the group with portfolios it does not hold alone. A joint venture filing under an Airbus-branded name is in scope: Airbus Safran Launchers SAS (137 families) and Airbus OneWeb Satellites SAS.
- Recent years are provisionalApplications publish about 18 months after filing, so 2023 and 2024 will rise. No growth rate ends in either year and no period boundary sits inside them; the cohorts stop at 2022.
- Later cohorts are less matureA family first filed in 2022 has had less time to acquire foreign members than one from 2014, which depresses downstream office shares in the 2019–2022 cohort. Rises against that bias are robust; falls at offices entered late are not necessarily real.
- Small classes read as directionH01M and G01N rest on fewer than 150 families per cohort; the smallest themes on fewer than 50.
- Code-defined themesThe patent set is defined by names, so the IPC and WIPO breakdowns need no code-set completion. The themes do: prefix matching is subtree-closed (H01M 8 captures every group beneath it); B64U is unioned with its predecessor B64C 39/02; no is_active filter, so retired symbols are kept. IPC and CPC are matched together. Y02T 50 is CPC-only and reported as a total.
- Grant rates are outcome countsNot a quality score: they vary with each office's procedure. One possible explanation for DE (24.9%) and GB (15.4%) is the priority-filing route, in which a national application secures a filing date and lapses once an EP or PCT continuation is on file; the report does not measure why applications end. WO is never granted and is excluded.
- Grant status is a snapshotA pending application counts as not granted. Grant rates use the 2014–2019 filing cohort for that reason and still carry a residual pendency effect. Applications filed from 2020 are still largely pending.
- RatesPCT rate = families with at least one WO member ÷ all families (927 ÷ 8,608). Grant rate = granted applications ÷ applications, per office, 2014–2019 cohort. Co-application rate = families with a co-applicant ÷ all families.
- External validation is limitedA timeboxed public-source search found no per-year family count for Airbus comparable with this definition. The plausibility check rests on internal consistency: the annual series sums to the total, and office and technology sub-totals behave as expected for a non-exclusive breakdown.
- Inventor countries are addresses of recordNot workplaces, and not populated for every inventor; families whose inventors carry no country are absent.
- EditionsCompiled on 15 August 2026 against PATSTAT Spring 2026 (patstat-mtc.patstat_2026a), classification labels from IPC 20260101 and CPC 202608. Re-running queries.sql against a later edition will not reproduce the numbers exactly.
The canonical scope, KPIs, annual series, offices, grants and filing entities
Query 2queries.sql · 10 queries · each carries the full scope CTE
Release protocol
- Agentsearch + draftBuilds the name scope and queries PATSTAT read-only. Every number comes from SQL.
- Checks13 rulesEvery claim must trace back to a query; chart and table must agree.
- Reviewsubject expertChecks scope, counts and wording before publication.
- Approvalsecond personA second person not involved in the report approves publication.
Next step
Which company should we profile for you?
A report like this one starts at 1,500 € plus VAT. Or learn to build it yourself on the EPO's Technology Intelligence Platform.