After two worse years, the number of patent applications in the Netherlands rose again in 2021. And that recovery is largely due to innovative companies in Brabant. Most of the new inventions were made in Eindhoven, which is even third in the ranking of all European cities.
With a patent, also known as a patent, you claim a specific invention as a company. You thus prohibit another party from copying that product in exactly the same way.
The number of applications in the Netherlands has fallen sharply in recent years, partly due to the corona crisis (almost 3 percent in 2019, even 8 percent in 2020). But in the past year, the innovative sector seems to be slowly picking up steam again, with growth of more than three percent. This is according to a report by the European Patent Office (EPO).
Brabant at the top
Of all those Dutch applications, more than half came from Brabant. This is not surprising: our province has been responsible for a large part of the patents in our country for many years. If we look at the top five of Dutch cities with the most inventions, we see not only frontrunner Eindhoven, but also Bergen op Zoom (3) and Veldhoven (4).
But we also do well outside the national borders. In a ranking of all cities in the European Union, we find Eindhoven in third place behind Munich and Paris. The city is even in eighth place worldwide.
Philips rises
Eindhoven owes this in large part to Philips. The company applied for the most patents of all Dutch companies. In the field of medical technology, Philips is even the worldwide number one, ahead of Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson from the United States.
One such new technological tour de force from Philips is a kind of game computer for surgeons. It is mainly used for heart surgery. Using special catheters, the surgeon can zoom through a patient’s blood vessels and thus significantly reduce the cutting effort.
From leaflets to baby bands
But of course it’s not just Philips where things are invented. The High Tech Campus is full of companies such as ASML and NXP, but also many smaller startups. For example, Pharmi came up with a digital pharmacist, who should help people with often incomprehensible leaflets.
And at Bambi Medical they developed the Bambi Belt, which should prevent premature babies from being covered with plasters full of sensors. A soft, skin-friendly belt should take over these functions.