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Norway's inventors lag far behind neighbours

The Local Norway
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Norway's inventors lag far behind neighbours
A Wheeko snake robot developed by the Centre for Advanced Robotics, a collaboration between NTNU Trondheim and Sintef. Photo: Sintef

Norway's scientists and inventors are being blown out of the water by their more ingenious Nordic neighbours, according a new report from the European Patent Office which ranks Sweden, Finland, and Denmark all in the top five.

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Norway managed to file just 108 patents per million inhabitants to the European Patent Office in 2013, putting it in 14th place worldwide, and well behind it's neighbours. 
 
Sweden, in contrast, was ranked second worldwide after Switzerland, filed 402 patents per million inhabitants, Finland came third with 360 patents, while Denmark came fourth with 347. 
 
"This is proof that companies from around the world continue to see Europe more and more as a premier hub for innovation," EPO President Benoît Battistelli, said in a press release. "The strong position of European companies in patent-intense technologies also underlines the central role these industry sectors play in generating employment and growth in the EU economy."
 
Not a single Norwegian company featured in the list of top patent filers, while Sweden's Ericsson came in 10th place behind Korea's Samsung in first, Germany's Siemens in second place, and Philips from The Netherland in the third position. 
 

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