Two million innovations. Will your innovations be among the next million?

PCT Two Million

“WIPO has been a vital force in supporting innovation and disseminating new technologies” – Qualcomm Chairman, Paul E. Jacobs

In April 2011, the PCT - WIPO's international patent application filing system - celebrated a new milestone as it clocked up two million international patent applications.

In a ceremony at WIPO Headquarters on April 14, 2011, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry awarded a certificate to mark the two millionth filing toQualcomm, the US innovation company which has invented many of the wireless technologies that are at the center of the unprecedented growth in mobile voice, data and Internet services. Qualcomm began life in 1985 as a small start-up with seven people in San Diego, California. Today, the company's technologies are integral to mobile phones, tablet computers, e-readers, mobile applications and other wireless devices and services used by billions of people globally.

Qualcomm has filed more than 9,000 international patent applications. In a corporate video to mark the PCT Two Million the company's Chairman and CEO, Paul E. Jacobs, explains how the PCT - by providing a simple and cost effective way to file international patent applications - helps companies put their innovations into practice.

Internationel cooperation

The PCT is a successful example of practical cooperation in a multilateral environment. Its 142 Member States work with each other and with the WIPO Secretariat to make the system work, and work well.
Its success demonstrates its utility and the confidence which companies and individuals have in the system. It is also a tribute to the vision of the PCT’s founding fathers who, four decades ago, fore-saw the potential value in providing a global service for innovators to protect their inventions internationally.
WIPO continues to work with the Member States to further improve the functioning of the PCT system and to ensure that it meets the evolving needs of its users and partner patent offices. Current initiatives aim to increase both the quality of the work done under the PCT and work-sharing among patent offices in order to contribute to international efforts to tackle the backlog of unprocessed patent applications around the world.

Sharing knowladge

The information contained in the two million PCT applications form a unique global repository of technological knowledge. This knowledge - together with the information contained in national and regional collections of patent documents - is made freely available through WIPO's PATENTSCOPE®database. The resulting database is an important collection of information about the “state of the art” in all fields of technology.

Two million innovations
Will yours be among the next million?