Patent tip: Are patents good for us?

On the Wipo website [1], some neat patent statistics are published, from 1980 onward for all countries in the world. If we plot the figures of the granted patents in some of the globe's most influential countries against a their national wealth indicators, in this case the GDP per person in 2005 $ ppp (obtained from the Gapminder database [2]), the following plot emerges:

In all these countries, a positive correlation exists between the number of granted patents and the local wealth. Apparently inventing and protecting is not only good for the patent stakeholders, also good for the economy at large.

Good to consider when arguing against the patent system.

I wish you all happy inventing,

Hendrik de Lange
Dutch and European patent attorney

Sources: 

[1] WIPO IP Statistics Data Centre: http://ipstats.wipo.int/ipstatv2/index.htm

[2] Gapminder:  https://www.gapminder.org/data/