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Patent Index 2024: Japan ranks 3rd in European patent applications

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European Patent Office received nearly 200 000 patent applications last year, with Japanese companies and inventors filing 10.6% of the total Electrical machinery/energy, transport and computers are leading technology fields for Japanese inventions Tokyo 1st in global city ranking  Sony Group is among the EPO’s Top 10 applicant companies Four Japanese companies among the EPO’s Top 25 applicants worldwide.

MUNICH and TOKYO, March 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — According to the latest Patent Index 2024, published today by the European Patent Office (EPO), Japan ranked third worldwide, following the United States and Germany. In 2024, Japanese companies and inventors filed a total of 21,062 patent applications, accounting for 10.6% of all filings at the EPO. While this represents a  2.4% decrease compared to 2023, Japan remains a powerhouse in technological advancements. Overall, the EPO received 199,264 patent applications worldwide last year, maintaining a steady level of patenting activity comparable to 2023 (199,452 applications), following three years of significant growth.

“Despite political and economic uncertainties, companies and inventors from around the world filed a high number of patents last year, underlining their technological prowess and their continued investment in R&D,” said EPO President António Campinos. “The EPO’s patent data is a clear roadmap for industry, policy, and investment priorities – tracking global innovation trends and offering insights into European patent application activity across industries and regions.” 

Japanese companies excel across key technological sectors

Japanese companies remain leaders in multiple high-growth industries. Japan’s leading field for European patent applications, electrical machinery, apparatus, energy,  saw a total of 2,077 Japanese patent applications, an 8.4% increase compared to 2023. In the area of battery technologies (an important sub-field of electrical machinery), Japanese companies filed 20% more patent applications at the EPO in 2024 compared to 2023. Japan’s second most important field, transport  – which covers automotive, aircraft/aerospace and rail technologies, also experienced growth from Japan, with 1,357 applications, marking a 3.7% rise. The number 3 field was computer technology, with Japanese companies filing 20% more patent applications in several AI-related sub-fields..

Sony Group among the Top 10 in patent applications in Europe

Four Japanese companies ranked among the top 25 patent filers at the EPO. Sony Group led the way with 1,307 applications, securing the 9th position worldwide, up from 10th in 2023. It was followed by Panasonic with 990 filings, Canon with 760 applications, while Hitachi contributed 653. Sony was no. 7 applicant overall at the EPO in computer technology. 13th in measurement and 14th in digital communication. Toyota also made significant strides, ranking no. 4 for vehicle technology (an important sub-field of transport) and second in electric propulsion (electric vehicle) technology, with a notable 12.7% increase in patent applications compared to the previous year.

Japan also showed continued strength in innovation in battery technologies; in the battery-related sub-field of electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy, Japan placed three companies in the global top 10: Panasonic (4th place, 279 patents), Prime Planet Energy (8th place, 85 patents), and Toyota Motor(10th place).

Tokyo 1st in city ranking: Japan’s innovation hub and leading patent contributor

The Tokyo metropolitan area plays a pivotal role in driving Japan’s global technological presence, and it is Japan’s leading prefecture with a total of 11,592 patent applications at the EPO.. Tokyo is also the second largest region worldwide for European patent filings at the EPO, behind the US state of California and ahead of Guangdong (CN), Île-de-France (FR) and Bavaria (DE). Tokyo also leads the worldwide city ranking at the EPO.  Its dominance in patent filings spans a diverse range of industries, including electronics, AI, clean energy, and mobility solutions. Following Tokyo, Osaka ranks second among prefectures, with 2,979 patent applications, while Aichi takes third place with 1,447 applications, marking an impressive 21.9% growth. 

Unitary Patent gains in popularity in its second year

The Unitary Patent system, launched in 2023, continues to gain momentum, offering innovators from around the world simpler and more accessible patent protection across 18 EU Member States with a single request to the EPO. Unitary protection was requested for 25.6% of all European patents granted by the EPO in 2024 totalling over 28,000 requests. Patentees from EPO member states had the highest uptake rate, with 36.5% of their European patents transformed into Unitary Patents, followed by those from Republic of Korea (18.9%), China (17.9%), the US (16.0%), and Japan (7.9%, up from 4.9% in 2023).

Further information

View the Patent Index 2024 in fullExplore and customise statistics in our Statistics & Trends CentreAccess Unitary Patent statistics via our dedicated dashboard Download datasets (MS Excel) in the Download data section of our statistics pageCheck patent trends on the go with the EPO Data Hub mobile appRead studies on innovation trends at the Observatory on Patents and Technology EPO’s support for SMEs, universities, non-profit organisations and other smaller applicants

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Official hashtag: #EPOPatentIndex

About the EPO
With 6 300 staff members, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Headquartered in Munich with offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna, the EPO was founded with the aim of strengthening co-operation on patents in Europe. Through the EPO’s centralised patent granting procedure, inventors are able to obtain high-quality patent protection in up to 45 countries, covering a market of some 700 million people. The EPO is also the world’s leading authority in patent information and patent searching.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/patent-index-2024-japan-ranks-3rd-in-european-patent-applications-302414573.html

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

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New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry 

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry. 

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedInXFacebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

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SOURCE Air Products

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