Fig. 3.

Number of granted patent families (a) and the total patent families (b) for the top five priority countries, by years. a: Main countries with source of inventions are the United States and the European Union-European Patent Office. Record numbers refer to the number of granted patent families. Priority countries are: US (United States), EP (European Union-European Patent Office), KR (Korea), JP (Japan), GB (Great Britain). b: Main countries with source of inventions are the United States and China. Record numbers refer to the number of patent families. Priority countries are: US (United States), CN (China), JP (Japan), EP (European Union-European Patent Office), GB (Great Britain)