Trends Report on Patents and Utility Models in Spain.
We analyzed 8,677 patent records, including translations of European patents obtaining protection in Spain and utility model registrations, from January 2025 through May 2026. These are the key findings of our study.
1. Spanish Inventors and Residents in Spain Account for Only 20% of the Country’s Innovation Landscape.
Based on our analysis of patent records published in the BOPI, it is striking that non-Spanish European patent records account for 79.1% of all publications, leaving utility models and patents filed by Spanish inventors and residents in the country representing only around 20% of the protected innovation landscape.
Unfortunately, only 5.3% of the records published during this period are patents, while utility models—although subject to a less rigorous registration process—remain the preferred form of protection among inventors in Spain, accounting for 13.9% of all records.
2. Organizations in Spain File Patents, While Individual Inventors Register Utility Models.
Nearly 80% of patents filed in Spain are backed by technology companies, universities, and research centers. However, in the case of Utility Models, the situation is reversed. Individual inventors account for nearly 60% of the Utility Models granted between 2025 and May 2026.
It is understandable that the Utility Model is the preferred form of protection among independent inventors working on their own in Spain. Lower costs, more flexible requirements, and the absence of substantive examination prior to grant may help explain this trend.
However, the information available to us at Let’s Prototype does not fully support these seemingly logical conclusions. According to our own surveys, most individual inventors who register a Utility Model do not actually understand the differences between patents and Utility Models. Instead, they simply choose this type of protection because it is the option recommended by the advisors they have chosen.
3. Most Active Companies, Individual Inventors, and Patent Agents in Spain’s BOPI.
The foreign companies with the highest number of European patents taking effect in Spain are three Asian companies in the telecommunications industry: Vivo Mobile Communication, Huawei Technologies, and ZTE Corporation. Together, they account for 465 patents during the 18-month period analyzed.
It is essential for inventors to understand that multinational companies do not typically register or acquire Utility Models. Instead, they generally protect their innovations—or acquire solutions—through patents. The activity of these telecommunications giants further reinforces this point.
Therefore, registering a Utility Model with the goal of selling it to a multinational company is highly unlikely to succeed.
We also have a top three ranking of organizations filing patents in Spain. SEAT, S.A. ranks second during the 18-month period analyzed, with 12 patents granted. The Polytechnic University of Valencia ranks third, with a total of 10 patents, while the Asian company Guangdong Bruno Recycling takes first place with 22 patent registrations taking effect between 2025 and the first half of 2026.
La Fábrica de Inventos is a particularly interesting case, with some noteworthy figures. The company appears as the representative for at least 184 Utility Model registrations, of which 178 belong to individual inventors and 6 to companies. These figures indicate that La Fábrica de Inventos is chosen far more frequently by independent inventors than by organizations and companies professionally engaged in innovation.
4. Spanish Provinces with the Highest Concentration of Patent and Utility Model Filings.
Madrid is the province with the highest number of patents registered during the period analyzed. However, it tied with Barcelona in the number of Utility Models registered over the same period.
It is particularly noteworthy that there is a significant gap between the number of Utility Model and patent filings across Spain’s top 10 regions for innovation registrations. None of the provinces in this ranking, regardless of the strength of its industrial base, recorded more patents than Utility Models.
This is an increasingly pronounced trend. From our perspective, this unfortunate trend does not reflect a lack of talent in Spain or an inability to obtain strong patents with a high likelihood of success. We believe the real weakness in Spain’s innovation ecosystem lies in the lack of education and realistic information about the practical implications and differences between these forms of intellectual property protection.
5. Most Attractive Industries in Spain’s Patent Landscape.
In Spain, the automotive industry is the leading hub of innovation, as measured by patent and Utility Model filings. This industry not only attracts significant interest from local entrepreneurs and companies, but also accounts for a substantial volume of foreign patents whose owners choose to extend their protection to the Spanish market.
It is also true that the differences among other sectors—such as materials, chemicals, energy, construction, agriculture, and food—are relatively small.
Patents Granted to Spanish Companies and Institutions by Industry
When we analyze patents granted specifically to Spanish companies and institutions, the landscape of industries driving innovation changes considerably. Instead of automotive, national patent filings place the energy and battery industries at the forefront, while innovation in materials falls toward the lower end of the leading sectors represented.
Patents Granted to Individual Inventors in Spain
Taking the analysis one step further, when we focus specifically on patents granted to individual inventors in Spain during this period, innovation in agriculture and food emerges as the leading industry. The ranking of the top industries represented in patents granted to individuals also highlights other particularly interesting sectors, such as technologies applied to healthcare.
Trends and Leading Industries Represented by Utility Models Filed by Companies in Spain.
Spanish companies also register Utility Models, although to a lesser extent. Among the companies that choose this form of protection, new sectors appear in the ranking, including packaging and containers, home furniture, sensors, and consumer electronics.
Top Industries Represented by Utility Models Filed by Individual Inventors.
As we have already seen, the Utility Model is the form of protection most commonly chosen by individual inventors working on their own. In this context, safety is the most prominent industry, encompassing personal safety sensors, wearables, and other solutions that seek to apply existing technologies to protection. Home consumer products and electronic devices also represent key areas of interest for individual inventors in Spain. It is also noteworthy that sports and leisure emerge among the industries targeted by individual inventors filing Utility Models, while these sectors have not appeared prominently among either major technology companies or individual inventors who choose to file patents.
7 Key Conclusions from the Patent and Utility Model Landscape in Spain
- Spain’s Official Industrial Property Bulletin does not provide a fully transparent measure of domestic innovation. More than 80% of the records published over the nearly 18-month period analyzed relate to foreign filings taking effect in Spain, rather than inventions originating in Spain.
- Chinese technology multinationals dominate foreign patent protection in Spain. These companies have a particularly strong presence in Spain’s telecommunications industry.
- The top three patent applicants in Spain include a foreign company in first place, in this case with a clear focus on the battery recycling industry. SEAT and the Polytechnic University of Valencia complete the ranking.
- The Utility Model is the most widely used form of protection among individual inventors. Around 60% choose this route, and a significant proportion also select La Fábrica de Inventos as their advisor for the registration process. According to the data we have been able to access, nearly 97% of the filings handled by the company correspond to individual clients, while companies account for less than 3%.
- Across Spain’s main industrial regions, Utility Models are chosen more frequently than patents. In our interpretation, this trend appears to be driven more by a lack of information and education about intellectual property protection than by a lack of novelty in Spanish inventions.
- Two particularly notable gaps stand out in our analysis. Telecommunications and artificial intelligence are largely absent among the areas targeted by Spanish companies and individual inventors seeking industrial property protection in Spain.
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