Data on patent applications for 2016 suggests that the clean Alpine air is good for the brain. Almost 50,000 patent applications were filed at the German Patent Office (DPMA) last year, making it a record year. While in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg there were 132 patents registered for every 100,000 inhabitants, in poor northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 7 patents were registered for every 100,000 inhabitants. Bavaria was a close second to its neighbour in the south, with 124 patents registered per 100,000 inhabitants. “Hobby inventors registered less than 10 percent of the total number, " Knüfermann added, "but they were spread out across Germany.”

Source: The Local March 02, 2017 14:26 UTC