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Figure 0.8 Aggregated patent publications per sub-sector 1986-2012 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 biofilms biocides genetics enzymes products drugs cosmetics energy 50 0 Patents in the blue biotech sub-sectors Patents were filed in all sub-sectors of the Blue Biotechnology sector, with a strong focus on health topics covering 56% of all patents (Figure 0.9). As most of the patents deal with compounds or genes with more than one application field rather than with specific production processes, many patents belong to more than one sector. For instance, the topic “natural products” contains more or less all other topics; as a result, the patents on natural products belong on average to three of the sub-sectors. The patents on genetic material and tools for molecular research and development were assorted separately, when affiliation to one of the sub-sectors was not possible. Figure 0.9 Distribution of patents across sub-sectors Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology 103 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

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