As technology rapidly transforms industrial sectors and everyday life, new ideas and methods continually replace old ones, driving economic growth and improving living standards worldwide. The importance of this innovation-driven renewal was highlighted by the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt, who demonstrated how innovation sustains long-term growth.

The blue bioeconomy is driven by the same dynamic, with innovation acting as a catalyst for transformation and future success. Its evolution can be tracked through intellectual property, with patents revealing where new ideas emerge and how they spread through technology and the economy.

Based on this premise, the B2E CoLAB is conducting a retrospective analysis of Portuguese priority patent applications (2004-2024). The study covers two decades of innovation, aiming to identify key strengths and weaknesses and provide practical recommendations to help consolidate and accelerate Portugal’s technological advantage, transforming it into investable and export-ready solutions in the next decade.

Preliminary results show that, over the past twenty years, 70 patent families have originated in the portuguese blue bioeconomy ecosystem. While their respective internationalization strategies vary, the PCT route remains the most common, with the main target markets encompassing the United States, China, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Australia, India, and Russia.

These families represent a total of 239 patent applications. Most are still under review. Forty-three applications have been withdrawn, abandoned, or not pursued, and at least thirteen have expired due to non-payment or abandonment. Of these, 49 have been granted and remain active, constituting the current core of the blue bioeconomy patent landscape in Brazil.

The next B2E CoLAB study will delve deeper into this analysis, exploring the distribution of patent applications along the blue bioeconomy value chain, their respective Technology Readiness Level (TRL), and the companies driving innovation. Together, this information will help identify where the next wave of blue innovation in Portugal is already emerging.