IPR-intensive industries and economic performance in the European Union

The present report, drawn up as a joint EUIPO-EPO project, is the fourth industry-level IP Contribution study resulting from this collaboration, following a first study published by the two offices in 2013 and updates released in 2016 and 2019 . It aims to provide an updated assessment of the combined contribution of industries that make intensive use of the various types of IPRs to the economy of the EU as a whole and of individual European countries. Although this report quantifies the collective contribution of IPR-intensive industries, it does not claim to show causal relationships between IPRs and economic variables.The study covers a broad range of IPRs - trade marks, patents, designs, copyright, geographical indications and plant variety rights - and considers a variety of economic indicators, in particular GDP, employment, external trade and wages.