Over the past two-plus years of war in Ukraine, the economy of Ukraine has been hindered on multiple fronts due to Russian attacks on infrastructure, civilian housing, and businesses across the entire country. From direct strikes on the Port of Odessa, to strikes on energy infrastructure and power generation, Ukraine has been forced to endure constant resistance to maintain a status quo for it’s people and it’s economy. Since the beginning of the war, it has been a non-stop blitz on non-military targets that has stymied growth and forced limited expansion in the economy. However, despite the set backs and resistance, Ukraine has continued to innovate and grow it’s economy in sectors that are thriving due to the war. From invention of novel applications of hardware to the founding of new businesses and industry under new Intellectual Properties, Ukraine’s creativity has not been stopped, but has merely pivoted to the areas of need that have been identified.
Since February of 2022, Ukraine has continued to receive applications for inventions, copyrights, trademarks, and industrial designs, all despite being engaged in a defensive war on it’s own territory. When the full invasion of Ukraine by Russian occurred in late February of that year, the Ukrainian Patent System was in the midst of transitioning to a new, EU compliant, format called ‘Ukraine National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO). This transition was completed in the last quarter of 2022 and created an office of registration for Ukraine that would comply with the EU established guidelines for IP rights. With this transition, Ukraine’s offices that received and reviewed all applications for Patents, Copyright, Trademarks, and Industrial Designs, continue to review and approve/deny applications. The only change was that the offices began to receive more electronic filings than previous years. The number of electronic filings made up nearly half of the total filings (45.2%) of all submissions to Ukrpatent. The increase in e-filings is most likely due to the needs to expedite the approval process in order to help maintain innovation and growth in the economy. This change has allowed for the economy to continue to grow despite having a good portion of it’s Eastern Territory occupied by foreign invaders.
Over the course of 2022, Ukrpatent received more than 28,000 applications for Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, and Industrial Designs. With the vast majority, over 75%, being applications for Trademarks (23,000+). It is unclear as to why the bulk of submissions from 2022 were for Trademarks, regardless Ukrpatent was able to still receive these submissions and evaluate and pass judgment on these submissions. For the total number of submissions for Trademarks to Ukrpatent, 16,095 were filed under the local (Ukraine) procedures to request Trademark protections. Alongside local procedure filings, 338 filings were submitted through Madrid WIPO in order to comply with EU standards to ensure enforcement outside of Ukraine and across the EU. All of these submissions were generated by residents of Ukraine during the course of 2022. Foreign submissions, which totaled 6,567 filings, were generated and sent to Ukraine to comply with the local procedures. Germany, China, United States, Italy, and France were the top five foreign sources of Trademark submissions with 974 (14.1%), 826 (11.9%), 653 (9.4%), 400 (5.8%), and 395 (5.7%) respectively. All this data points to a continued operation of Ukrainian and foreign investment into business and the economy by way of registering new Trademarks.
Patent submissions show a similar trend of continued innovation and growth over the course of 2022 and into 2023, with 2,760 filings during the recorded time. Now, the number of Patent submissions did drop by 18.6% as compared to 2021 which is statistically significant, indicating some event or cause that would reduce the number. However, in this case, speculation as to the cause or event is unnecessary due to the fact that the event/cause in question was reported on across the world (Russian Invasion). But, despite this drop in submissions, Ukrpatent has reported a steady flow of submissions since the beginning of the war and is recovering to prewar numbers. This is due to the fact that the future of the nation is no longer uncertain and Ukrainians and foreign entities feel there is a solid basis to think that Ukraine will continue to maintain it’s sovereignty. During 2022, Ukrpatent processed more than 2,700 applications and approved 1,566 and denied 630 of these submissions. When looking at the drop in patent submissions, the numbers are comparable to those of 2019/2020 when the world was impacted by COVID and the all the restrictions it brought about. However, just before the Russian invasion, Ukraine was seeing numbers comparable to pre-COVID times and was seeing increases in innovation and novel applications.
Industrial Designs and Utility Models also continued to be submitted to Ukrpatent for review. With 819 filings for new Industrial Designs, and just over 2,400 filings for Utility models being received over the course of 2022. of those 819 submissions for new Industrial Designs, 11% (90) were from foreign entities seeking protections for their designs inside Ukraine. With The United States leading with 18 (20%) submissions, followed by Cyprus and Switzerland at 9 each (9% for both). 656 applications were submitted by local residents, with 601 (91.6%) being submitted under the name of an individual citizen of Ukraine as opposed to the 55 (8.4%) applications submitted by legal entities. As for Utility Models, of the 2,400+ submissions, 97.9% were submitted by local residents to the Ukrpatent system. And the remainder 2.1% were submitted from foreign entities, with Cyprus, Poland, The United States, and Cameroon, leading the submission numbers for foreign entities.
With all of this data being presented, what can be drawn from it? Simply put, Ukraine has continued to pursue innovation and growth despite being entrenched in a war with a near-peer adversary with a manpower advantage of 8 to 1. Because of this continued pursuit of growth and economic stability, more and more foreign investment is being brought into the country. With Ukraine being able to hold it’s own on the battlefield, and by continuing to innovate and restructure it’s Intellectual Property laws, foreign businesses and individuals feel comfortable applying for protections inside Ukraine. As for the local residents who continue to file for protections, they believe that Ukraine is able to maintain it’s sovereignty and so they feel they are able to safely submit for a Patent, Trademark, Copyright, or Industrial design because of the fact that their government and military is able to ensure their labors are not in vain.
Due to the fact that by matching Russia on the battlefield, despite being outgunned, outnumbered, and hindered by hidebound commanders, there is a sense of belief that Ukraine is able to still operate as a functioning nation. This has resulted in a growing confidence at home and abroad which has slowly stimulated economic growth. Because of this confidence, the GDP of Ukraine, which took a massive hit in 2022 due to the invasion (a drop from 199.84 Billion USD to 160.5 Billion USD) has increased since that int ital drop due to invasion. With the GDP of 2023 being registered at 173.41 Billion USD and the projections for 2024 set to reach 186.05 Billion USD. And withing the next two years, by 2026, Ukraine is set to projected to reach a GDP of 206.63 Billion USD, which would surpass the previous 30 years since it’s independence from the Soviet Union, and surpassing it’s previous record of 199.84 Billion USD registered in 2021, just after the COVID pandemic.
All told, Ukraine looks to continue to innovate and grow it’s economy despite being forced to also fight a defensive war on nearly 10% of it’s total land and having lost it’s industrial heartland in the Donbas and along the Sea of Azov. And despite all of these obstacles and set backs, the Ukrainian people continue to branch into new sectors of technology and industry that were previously the province of military contractors and government research. A prime example is the rapid development and iteration of drones, from FPV, to reconnaissance, to suicide drones, Ukraine has taken the concept of remote warfare and industrialized the manufacture of these pieces of critical military hardware by producing hundreds of thousands of drones in past two plus years. And it is only a matter of time until Ukraine’s industrial capacity is reestablished and can be geared towards the production of it’s own homegrown military hardware, with the BTR-4E Butsefal Armored Assault Vehicle being a good example.
Overall, despite being embroiled in a war for it’s very survival, Ukraine and it’s citizens continue to adapt and innovate, with foreign investment beginning to come back into the country. And with local innovators and designers feeling confident that their works can be submitted and will be protected, the field of Intellectual Property and Innovation is continuing to grow. Looking to the future reveals potential for increased growth and development and a continued push to stabilize and grow the economy.
