Britain lagging behind France and Germany on innovation

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.

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Globally, patent volume reached a new high in 2014, with over 2.1 million unique inventions published over the last year. The industries showing the largest growth in patent volume were food, tobacco and beverage fermentation (21pc), pharmaceuticals (12pc); cosmetics (8pc) and biotechnology (7pc).

However, the innovation growth rate has slowed, with worldwide patent volume increasing just 3pc over the last year – the slowest rate of growth since the end of the global recession in 2009. The total volume of new scientific research decreased 23pc over the same period.

"While the impact is still to be determined, one thing we know with certainty is that innovation is a key driver of economic success and growth," said Basil Moftah, president of Thomson Reuters IP & Science.

"Although a slowing of the pace of innovation could be a result of other factors, like changes to patent legislation, if the trend continues it will be something corporations and governments will want to pay close attention to."

A Government Spokesperson said: “A patent is not the only way to protect innovation in the UK. Many highly innovative firms recognise that patents are not always the best way, especially when the product life cycle is short, and often opt for alternative mechanisms, for example confidentiality agreements.

“Investing in innovation is a key part of our long-term economic plan. Last year we announced £67 million of funding to support British businesses and scientists to bridge the ‘valley of death’ that lies between research and the marketplace. This includes £50million to seven new areas of technology where Britain is well positioned to take a leading role in the future like 3D printing of human organs and better drugs. We are also investing in a network of catapult centres. These innovation centres, part funded by the Government, help businesses and researchers bring new products to commercialisation more quickly.”

Thomson Reuters' full report, The Future Is Open: 2015 State of Innovation, is available here.