The European Patent Office (EPO) has published the statistics for patent applications originating from Switzerland in its Annual Report 2017. For the second time, three higher education institutions (EPFL, ETH and the University of Zurich) were among the top 20 Swiss applicants. The company Roche, however, remains the most active patent applicant. The canton of Vaud is again the canton with the highest number of applications. Zurich, however, has dropped in the city rankings with a third fewer patent applications than in the previous year. Although Switzerland remains the country with the highest per capita patent activity, it has been overtaken at the EPO by China and has now dropped to sixth position in the country rankings. You can find detailed information on the development of Swiss patent applications at the EPO and on the annual results and statistics directly on the EPO website.