On March 7, 2018 the EPO published its Annual Report for 2017 which is available on its website (www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annula-report/2017.html).The report shows a general growth in european patent filings and grants by the EPO, especially in our country, posting growth of +4,3%.On a world-wide level the countries that have highest number of patent applications at the EPO are Germany, Japan, France and China. It’s interesting to note instead that applications in the Republic of Korea, after two consecutive years have declined in 2017.The Chinese company Huawei filed most of the patent applications at the EPO, followed by Siemens Germany and LG Korea. Medical technology remains the sector with the highest number of patent applications followed by Digital communication and Computer technology.