Joint EUIPO/EPO IP Contribution Report

February 08, 2021 About the EUIPO

Joint EUIPO/EPO IP Contribution Report

By effectively protecting their intellectual property, innovative companies can secure financing, grow, collaborate and create value. But how does owning intellectual property rights (IPRs) impact their performance?

This joint report by the EUIPO and the European Patent Office (EPO) delves deeper into the role of IPRs by analysing a representative sample of over 127 000 European firms from all 28 EU member states as of 1 January 2020. According to this analysis, firms that own IPRs generate 20% higher revenues per employee than their counterparts without an IP portfolio. Firms that own IPRs also pay on average 19% higher wages than firms that do not.

The report also includes an econometric analysis which makes it possible to isolate the effect of IPR ownership from other factors such as the size of a firm or the countries and sectors in which it operates. The results confirm the positive association between IPR ownership and economic performance, with revenue per employee 55% higher for IPR owners than for non-owners.

A more detailed analysis of the overall picture reveals significant potential, especially when it comes to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although fewer than 9% of European SMEs rely on IPRs, this subset of companies appears to generate 68% higher revenues per employee than SMEs without IPR portfolios.

All Observatory studies and reports can be found on the Observatory Webpage here