PDF, PCT Yearly Review - WIPO

7
SPECIAL THEME – THE CHANGING GEOGRAPHY OF THE PCT SYSTEM
The face of the world economy has changed much over the past two decades. Led by China and other Asian
economies, several middle income countries have grown at a persistently faster pace than have high income
countries. Their share of the global output has correspondingly increased. The recent financial and economic
crisis has only accelerated this trend; high income countries have experienced sharper declines and weaker
recoveries than the group of fast-growing middle income countries.
This Special Theme discusses how the shift in the world economy has shaped the geography of the PCT system.
To a significant extent, this is a story about the rise of East Asia. However, economic forces can only
partly explain the evolution of filings via the PCT system, and several considerations provide a more nuanced
view of East Asia’s ascendancy.
East Asia has become the main PCT filer
Until recently, the PCT system was mainly used by applicants from North America and Western Europe. In
2010, East Asia overtook them to become the subregion accounting for the most PCT filings (see figure 1).
Indeed, since the economic recovery that followed the dot-com recession, the major East Asian filers –
China, Japan and the Republic of Korea - experienced particularly rapid growth in applications. They continued
to increase their filings even during and after the most recent economic downturn – unlike North
America and Western Europe. From 2002 to 2010, the average annual growth rate of East Asia was 15.1%,
compared to 1.1% for North America and 3.1% for Western Europe.
Figure 1: PCT filing trends
60,000
Japan China Republic of Korea East Asia North America Western Europe
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Source: WIPO Statistics Database
Rise of East Asia reflected in economic fundamentals, but not fully
Economic fundamentals can, to some degree, explain why East Asia has emerged as the main PCT filer. Table 1
presents selected countries’ shares of total PCT filings, their shares of global gross domestic product (GDP)
and of worldwide research and development expenditure (R&D) for 1998 and 2008.