Britain is lagging behind European rivals on innovation, with both France and Germany filing significantly more patents in 2014 than the UK, according to a new study by Thomson Reuters.
The study found that, despite the last government’s efforts to boost innovation through Patent Box legislation, the UK filed just 6,619 patents last year compared to 56,492 in Germany and 11,595 in France.
Germany is the overall leader in automotive innovation in Europe, with companies like Bosch dominating as a component innovator. The top five beauty-related companies also hail from Europe, with France’s L’Oreal leading the pack.
However, in the UK, only three companies were highlighted as competing on the global innovation stage – Unilever, British American Tobacco and GlaxoSmithKline.
The findings highlight that the UK is strong in research and development – with several British academic institutions including the University of Reading, Imperial College London and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute given honourable mention.
However, innovators in other countries are securing patents to protect their inventions at a much higher rate. Graphene, for example, was invented in Britain, but most research into the new material, and the resulting patents, are now going abroad.
