The SPTO in Figures 2025: A Record Year for Spanish Innovation Spanish innovation is facing one of the best moments in its recent history. 2025 has been a record year, as confirmed by the latest edition of “The SPTO in Figures,” the annual report that assesses the current state of the industrial property (IP) ecosystem in Spain.
While we recently learned that our country had broken its all-time record for applications filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) with a total of 2,255 and an annual increase of 2.9%, innovation in Spain has by no means lagged behind. Patent applications grew by 12.1% compared to the previous year, with a total of 1,450. This notable increase, combined with the all-time high in European patent applications, reflects the strong momentum currently driving Spanish innovation. In addition, utility model applications saw an 8.1% increase, reaching the third-highest figure in the last 10 years with 2,923! Trademark applications, meanwhile, recorded the best figure of the last decade, with a total of 57,158, representing an 11.5% increase compared to 2024. As for trade name applications, despite a slight 2.9% decline compared to the previous year, they maintain the positive trend that has seen them more than double since 2016, with over 15,000 applications in the last year. Applications for industrial designs grew by 14.8% compared to 2024, with a total of 16,032 registered. This is also a notable increase, representing the highest figure recorded since 2019 and exceeding the average for the past 10 years. Innovation and Gender Although Spain is a global leader in gender equality in the field of innovation—being one of the countries with the highest rates of female representation, far surpassing its neighbors—the study shows that the existing gender gap remains significant. Of all the inventors of patents registered in the past year, approximately one-quarter (24.6%) were women. This percentage is slightly higher—31.1%—when including applications that list at least one female inventor. However, female representation varies greatly across different sectors. There are several fields where effective parity is achieved and where women account for nearly 50% of inventors, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. With regard to trademarks, women accounted for 36% of all applications filed by individuals. In addition, there is an overrepresentation of applications by women in classes such as: oils and fats, waxes, fuels (64%), precious materials, jewelry, and watches (59.6%), or medical and veterinary services, agricultural services (56.8%). Finally, 38.3% of design applications filed by individuals were submitted by women. More information
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