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The airbag, stethoscope and bicycle are all inventions we use daily and rely on. They were all invented in Europe. It’s fair to say Europe’s inventions are pretty influential. Some inventions are claimed by several countries, while some aren’t claimed at all. We did research to find out each European country’s most influential innovation and which countries are patenting their inventions the most.
The UK has contributed many inventions on the list, but one of the most influential ones is penicillin, invented 91 years ago by the Scot Alexander Fleming. It has since saved millions of lives across the globe.
We have compiled our list of the most influential inventions from around Europe below. From the Armenian-inspired colour TV, to Velcro from Switzerland, check out our interactive map below and test your memory with our fiendishly difficult quiz.
| Country | Invention | Name of inventor | Year on invention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | Colour television | Hovannes Adamian | 1928 |
| Austria | Snow Globes | Erwin Perzy | 1900 |
| Austria | PEZ | Eduard Haas | 1927 |
| Austria | Psychoanalysis | Siegmund Freud | 1856-1939 |
| Belarus | MINSK computers | Byelorussian SSR | 1959 |
| Belgium | Saxophone | Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax | 1846 |
| Belgium | BMI | Lambert Adolphe Quetelet | 1832 |
| Belgium | Bakelite (Plastic) | Leo Henricus Baekeland | 1909 |
| Bulgaria | Air bag | Assen Jordanoff | 1957 |
| Croatia | Finger print recognition | Ivan Vučetić | 1891 |
| Cyprus | Halloumi | ||
| Czech Republic | Sugar cubes | Jakub Kryštof Rad | 1843 |
| Czech Republic | Contact lenses | Otto Wichterle | 1961 |
| Denmark | Lego | 1958 | |
| Denmark | Dry cell batteries | Frederik Louis Wilhelm Hellesen | 1887 |
| Estonia | Skype | Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla and Priit Kasesalu | 2003 |
| Finland | Reflector | Arvi Lehti | 1973 |
| France | Stethoscope | René Laennec | 1816 |
| Germany | Printing press | Johann Gutenberg | 1439 |
| Greece | Olympic games | Pierre de Coubertin | 776 BC |
| Hungary | Rubik's cube | Ernő Rubik | 1974 |
| Iceland | |||
| Ireland | The submarine | John Philip Holland | 1878 |
| Italy | Jacuzzi | Candido Jacuzzi | 1949 |
| Italy | Radio | Guglielmo Marconi | 1901 |
| Latvia | Aeromotowagon | Valerian Abakovsky | 1917 |
| Lithuania | The office breathalyser | Vilnius Gediminas Technical University | 2016 |
| Luxembourg | Science fiction magazines | Hugo Gernsback | 1926 |
| Malta | The Spiteri Water Pump | Joe Spiteri | |
| Netherlands | The Fahrenheit scale | Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit | Early 1700s |
| Norway | Cheese slicer | Thor Bjørklund | 1925 |
| Poland | Pleograph | Kazimierz Prószyński | 1894 |
| Portugal | Lobotomy | Antonio Egas Moniz | 1935 |
| Romania | Fountain pen | Petrache Poenaru | 1827 |
| Russia | Radio receiver | Alexander Stepanovich Popov | 1896 |
| Serbia | Strawberry tree | Milos Milisavljevic | 2011 |
| Slovakia | The first helicopter | Ján Bahýľ | 1895 |
| Slovenia | Talking Tom-app | Samo Login | 2010 |
| Spain | Mop | Manuel Jalón Corominas | 1956 |
| Sweden | Dynamite | Alfred Nobel | 1867 |
| Sweden | Lap and diagonal belt | Bröderna Ottosson | 1956 |
| Switzerland | Velcro | George de Mestral | |
| Switzerland | Swiss Army Knife | Karl Elsener | 1886 |
| Switzerland | Aluminium foil | Heinrich Alfred Gautschi | 1905 |
| Turkey | DNA repair | Aziz Sancar | |
| Ukraine | X ray | Ivan Puluj | 1881 |
| United Kingdom | Penicillin | Alexander Fleming | 1928 |
| United Kingdom | Matches | John Walker | 1826 |
| United Kingdom | The Spinning Frame | Richard Arkwright and John Kay | 1769 |
| United Kingdom | Bicycle | Harry John Lawson | 1885 |
| United Kingdom | Automatic Kettle | Russel Hobbs | 1955 |
| United Kingdom | Steam engine | ||
| United Kingdom | Steam engine | ||
How do patents work?
Patents are used to make sure an invention can’t be made, used or sold by anyone without the inventor’s consent. To qualify for a patent the inventor must show that the product is new to the market and can be used for completing a task. This must be shown to the patent office. If an inventor wants to have a patent, that person has to apply to the patent office in the country the patent would be active in or the European Patent Office, which caters to several countries.
In 2018, 3,326,300 patent applications were filed to patent offices worldwide, which is more than ever before. The Chinese patent office was getting the most work, as almost half (46.36%) of all patents were filed there – 1,542,002 applications. Out of the top 20 countries with the most patent applications, 10 offices were located in Asia, 5 in Europe, 2 each from North and South America and 1 office in Australia.
Only 1,422,800 patent applications were granted around the world in 2018, meaning just 42.77% of applications were approved.
European patents
The European Patent Office gets the most applications of all offices in Europe and it received 174,397 applications (5.24% of all applications) during 2018. Germany is the country that applies for the most patents and it applied for 67,898 in 2018, equal to 2.04% of all applications worldwide. Third is the United Kingdom, with 20,941 applications, followed by France, which applied 16,222 times. Italy was the final country in the top 20, with 9,821 applications.
Top 5 countries with most patent applications
1. China: 1,542,002
2. United States: 597,141
3. Japan: 313,567
4. Korea: 209,992
5. European Patent Office: 174,397
(12. United Kingdom: 20,941)
Top 5 countries with most trademark applications
1. China: 7,365,522
2. United States: 640,181
3. Japan: 512,156
4. EUIPO: 392,925
5. Iran: 384,338
(13. United Kingdom: 198,125)
Quiz time!
Do you remember where the inventions come from? Test your skills and knowledge here.
Sources
- WIPO
For all media enquiries, please contact
Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
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