The invisible hand of trust in the European patent system

Health · Published 18 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When a patent examiner cites an applicant's work, it is more than just a technicality. It reveals a hidden layer of professional trust that fluctuates based on nationality, economic strength, and the specific borders of the European Patent Organisation.

The European Patent Office (EPO) functions as the executive body of the European Patent Organisation, tasked with studying applications to decide whether to grant patents. While the EPO provides a single grant procedure, the resulting European patents are actually a bundle of national patents rather than a single, uniformly recognized Europe-wide entity. This complex structure is managed by a diverse workforce; as of late 2019, the EPO employed 6,608 people from 35 different nationalities, with 74% working outside their home countries.

Beyond the administrative mechanics, a subtle sociological dimension exists within the examination process. Research into over 3,500,000 citations between 199 and 2007 suggests that when examiners include applicant citations in their reports, it serves as an indicator of 'examiner trust.' This trust is not distributed randomly; examiners show higher levels of trust toward applicants from economically or scientifically powerful nations, as well as those from the same country as the examiner or from member states of the European Patent Organisation.

This dynamic of trust and innovation is mirrored in the broader landscape of emerging technologies like Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). In the BCI field, a significant disconnect exists between scientific discovery and technical application. While scientific research shows sustained growth in disruptiveness, technological development via patents has shown a pattern of fluctuation. This asynchrony is exacerbated by a significant knowledge transfer lag, averaging about 8.8 years, which presents a major challenge for converting laboratory breakthroughs into clinical tools.

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