Thuringia recorded 4.2 patent applications per 1,000 students between 2018 and 2022, placing it second behind Saxony (5.4). The German average is 2. In the evaluation of individual universities, the Technical University of Ilmenau made a leap: with 18 applications, it moved up to second place, with around 12 patents recently coming from the Thuringian university town. Hannover Medical School follows with 13 applications.
Almost every third university patent is created in cooperation with partners – among other patent applicants in Germany, only about every twentieth. Large German corporations are particularly often involved, participating in more than a third of all university cooperations. "Whoever files a patent today often brings a new product to market tomorrow. For companies, universities are thus important idea factories“, says IW expert Oliver Koppel.
