Fig. 5.

Number of granted patent families (a) and the total patent families (b) for the technological subdomains over time. a: The main technological subdomains are pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, organic fine chemistry, analysis of biological materials, basic materials chemistry and medical technology. Contininous growth can be observed especially in the field of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, organic fine chemistry. Record numbers refer to the number of granted patent families. b: The main technological subdomains are pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, organic fine chemistry, analysis of biological materials, basic materials chemistry and medical technology. Contininous growth can be observed especially in the field of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, organic fine chemistry between 1985 and 2011 followed by stagnations/slight decline. Record numbers referring to the number of patent families