A total of 159,353 patent applications were filed to the European Patent Office last year, close to the record-high of 160,004 set in 2015.

Among the top 10 companies that filed the most patent applications were four companies from Europe, three from the US, two from South Korea and one from China. Let us take a look at these leading innovators.

No 10 Robert Bosch

Applications: 1,327

Country: Germany

The steering wheel sits in a concept car created by Robert Bosch GmbH on the second day of Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, Feb 28, 2017. [Photo/VCG]