It’s often said that innovation is in the DNA of Signify. But how do you measure just how innovative a company is? One way is to look at the number of patent applications. 

Today, the European Patent Office (EPO) issued its annual patent statistics report and Signify is ranked 26th of the top 100 companies making patent applications in 2019. We were also in the top 10 of European-headquartered companies making the most patent applications.

António Campinos, President of the EPO wrote to our CEO, Eric Rondolat to congratulate him and Signify on what he described as a “remarkable achievement.”

In 2019, Signify made 656 patent applications to the EPO. The Munich-headquartered EPO enables inventors to obtain high-quality patent protection in up to 44 countries, covering a market of some 700 million people.
 

Last year, it received a total of 181,000 applications, 4% more than in 2018. The top patent applicant was China’s Huawei. Overall, the biggest trend in 2019 was a surge in patents for digital technologies. No massive surprises there.

Our research focus

This latest accolade underlines our world leadership in lighting and continued investment in research. Our focus is on fundamental lighting research and the impact of light on people, in agriculture and in bringing light to the Internet of Things – for smart cities, offices and homes – and light as a means of communication, such as LiFi.

Signify holds more than 19,500 patents. These cover everything from LED modules, lamps and drivers to luminaires and advanced lighting systems and applications. Some of these products are currently on the market, but a substantial part of our IP portfolio is future-proof, covering products still in development and in different stages on product and business roadmaps.

Recently, PatentSight ranked Signify 68th in the top 100 global companies with the strongest IP portfolio in its 2019 index of digital innovation leaders. Today, the EPO reaffirmed Signify’s innovation leadership. You can download its top 100 list here and find out more about the EPO Patent Index 2019 here.