mpho-mafata/South-African-patenting-trends

Codes for patent statistics for South Africa # South African patenting trends based on the European Patent Office (EPO)’s worldwide patent statistical database (PATSTAT) Mpho Mafata (orcid.org)1,2* and Ian van der Linde (orcid.org)1 1. Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science, and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch University, Krotoa building, Victoria Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 7600 2. DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (SciSTIP), Stellenbosch University, Krotoa building, Victoria Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 7600 * Corresponding author: mafata@sun.ac.za __Keywords__: Patents, bibliometrics, patent indicators, South Africa, PATSTAT. ## Abstract In this study we describe South African patenting trends based on data from the European Patent Office’s (EPO) patent statistics (PATSTAT) database. The first section intended to approximate the intensity and appetite for patenting. In this section we counted the number of patent families and the number of applications per patent office/authority. The second section was an exploration of the types of patents and the types of technology being patented. In the third section we explored the patenting networks of South African inventors. The South African patenting landscape within PATSTAT indicated majority patents are filed locally with a trend towards sustained filings at the major patenting offices (the United States patenting office – USPTO and the EPO) and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filings since 2000. The majority of granted patents were utility patents/patents of invention under the cooperative patent classification (CPC) categories of human necessities, and physical/chemical processes, with a steep decline in inorganic chemistry over time. The collaborators on patents were mainly located in United States (US) followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. Generally, there were major declines in filings at international offices …