Siemens has filed 4,600 patent applications in fiscal 2012 (October to September), which is seven per cent higher than last year.
The company’s patent portfolio comprises 57,300 patents worldwide compared with 53,800 a year-ago. The number of invention disclosures submitted also reached a new high of 8,900.
An invention disclosure is a confidential submission made by a scientist or engineer for use by his company's patent division or by an external patent attorney to determine whether the company should seek patent protection for his work.
Twelve successful researchers and developers whom Siemens honoured as ‘inventors of the year 2012’ in Munich on December 13 account for 613 invention disclosures and 734 individual patents.
Siemens said the number of invention disclosures exceeded the prior-year figure by five per cent, rising to more than 8,900 inventions or about 41 per workday. Each of the company’s 29,500 R&D employees discloses an average of more than twice as many inventions as 10 years ago. As a result, the number of first patent filings in fiscal 2012 rose seven per cent y-o-y to about 4,600 or nearly 21 per workday.