Australian IP report 2025
Origins of patent applications
Resident and non-resident applications
The decline in standard patent filings in 2024 was entirely attributed to reduced filings by non-residents (entities outside Australia). These account for 91.5% of annual standard patent filings in Australia. In 2024, non-residents filed 3.7% fewer applications than in 2013 (27,900 in total).
In contrast, applications by Australian residents increased by 0.9%, to 2,578 in total (Figure 2.2). This follows several years of volatility in resident applications, due largely to a policy change to the patent system (see the Australian IP Report 2023 for more details).
Figure 2.2 Standard patent applications in Australia by residency, 2015 to 2024
In Australia, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an increasingly important engine of innovation. Over the past 2 decades to 2022, the share of employing SMEs in the Australian economy that hold patents has risen, from 0.13% in 2002 to 0.22% in 2023. The same pattern is not observed for large firms, for which the share with patents has declined. These trends are consistent with observations on R&D expenditure, which underpins patenting activity. Today, SMEs account for around 55% of R&D expenditure in Australia, up from 30 to 40% before 2015.
Consistent with these trends, in 2024 standard patent filings from Australian SMEs and individuals expanded, by 1.9% and 3.9%. Filings from these applicants now comprise 87.2% of total resident filings. Applications by large firms fell by 6.9% from their level in 2023.
Overseas locations of origin
Effective patent laws encourage inward transfer of technology and foreign direct investment.1 Through these effects, patents facilitate vital access to global technologies for Australian businesses and consumers.
As shown in Figure 2.3, the lead overseas origins for standard patent filings in Australia are the United States (US residents are named as applicants on 42.7% of total filings), China (8.5%), Japan (5.0%), the United Kingdom (4.7%) and Switzerland (4.3%).2
Figure 2.3 Leading overseas locations of origin for standard patent applications in 2024, and high-volume locations with the greatest relative growth or decline in 20243
In 2024, US filings fell for the second consecutive year, down by 6.2% from 2023 level. The decline represents a correction from significant growth during the COVID-19 shock.
China-origin filings reached a new record level, rising by 5.2% on their previous record in 2023. Over the 5 years to 2024, filings from China have grown at an annual average rate of 7%. This represents a significant tapering from the 30% average annualised growth over the 5 years to 2019. A likely contributing factor has been the sharp slowdown in venture capital (VC) investment in China over 2022–2023, which has slowed technological innovation and new business creation.4
- Lee, J. Y. & Mansfield, E. (1996). Intellectual property protection and U.S. foreign direct investment. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 78(2), 181–186.
- A country’s count of applications includes single party applications originating from that country and multi-party applications with at least one co-applicant from that country. Where an application names multiple applicants from a given country of origin, that application is counted only once toward that country.
- High volume locations are defined as those above the mean for total number of applications received in 2023.
- For analysis of the rise in China’s venture capital industry see Lerner, J., Liu, J., Moscona, J., Yang, D. Y. (2023). Appropriate entrepreneurship? The rise of China and the developing world. NBER Working Paper 32193.