Even in this challenging year, the spirit of innovation in Switzerland has remained intact. The thousandth invention this year was examined for its patenting potential in November at the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI). The IPI had already carried out one thousand assisted patent searches by November this year. This service supports inventors in finding out where they...

Innovative SMEs and start-ups continue to be seriously challenged by the coronavirus crisis. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) would like to continue to support them in this arduous marathon, which is why it is continuing its offer of assisted patent searches and assisted patent landscape analyses for CHF 100 instead of CHF 300 up until 30 June 2021. The demand...

The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) has updated its guidelines for the substantive examination of national patent applications. The new guidelines (PDF, in German, in French) will apply to all pending procedures from 1 January 2021. The updated guidelines define, in particular, the criteria for the examination of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) and...

The Federal Council wants to modernise the Swiss patent system and adapt it to international standards. It opened the consultation procedure on the partial revision of the Patents Act on 14 October 2020. The consultation proposes that a patent should only be granted if the invention to be patented is novel and innovative. This would lead to more legal certainty and increase the value of...

The new Swiss Cleantech Report has been published. It presents sustainable innovations from Switzerland developed by SMEs, research institutes and start-ups. Drones for sustainable agriculture, technologies for recycling specific components, state-of-the-art energy management systems and an electric aircraft are just some of the many projects from a total of five categories. High-quality Swiss...

Improving the capacity to store electricity is playing a key role in the transition to clean energy technologies. Between 2005 and 2018, patenting activity in batteries and other electricity storage technologies grew at an average annual rate of 14% worldwide, four times faster than the average of all technology fields, according to a joint study published today by the European Patent Office...

Switzerland is the most innovative country in the world for the tenth consecutive year. This is the result of the Global Innovation Index 2020 (GII), based on an assessment of 131 economies worldwide. Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom are next in the rankings. Compared to the EU, Switzerland outperforms in all areas. Switzerland exceeds expectations when it comes to...

Parallel to the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) 2020, the special event ‘SEF.Wachstum’ for young enterprises and SMEs will take place once again on 2 September 2020 in the afternoon. The programme includes inspiring presentations, for example by international negotiation expert and coach Matthias Schranner, as well as a panel discussion with Caspar Coppetti, co-founder of ‘On’. Within ten years, the...

Switzerland is a key location for innovation in the field of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. In fact, no other country applies to the European Patent Office (EPO) for as many 3D printing technology patents per capita and in relation to economic performance, a fact highlighted in a study published by the EPO on 13 July. Here is an overview of the results of the study: No other...

During the coronavirus crisis, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) supported SMEs and start-ups by providing free assisted patent searches. In an interview, the deputy head of the patent division takes stock, speaks about online meetings being occasionally interrupted by children making noise and praises SMEs’ innovative strength. Read the interview on our blog.