Insight into plant biotechnology

Ensuring food security and a more sustainable future

Biotechnology is behind some of the most transformative innovations of our time. Our response to global health challenges has been enhanced by technologies such as mRNA vaccines, targeted immunotherapies, tools to counter antibiotic resistance, gene-based testing for breast cancer, and genetically modified mosquitoes to control yellow fever. If biotechnology can transform how we fight disease, what could it do to secure the production of fruits, nuts, vegetables and cereals, making them more drought- and pest-resistant, while reducing the use of chemicals in our food supply chains?

Biotechnology: the bigger picture

The field has demonstrated significant growth over the previous decade (from 5 724 European patent applications in 2015 to 8 203 in 2025). Though biotechnology applications saw a decline last year (-3.3%), the decrease primarily reflects fewer applications from the US (-9%). As for overall filings in 2025, European Patent Convention (EPC) member states were key contributors (42%), followed by the US (34%). Within Europe, Germany (23%), France (12%), Switzerland (12%) and Denmark (11%) lead. These figures reflect patent filings across all areas of biotechnology, including medical and plant technologies, as well as the smaller marine and industrial fields.

Plant biotech under the microscope

Plant biotechnology spans subfields for genetic modification techniques and plant-related innovations. While activity has fluctuated over the past decade, EPC member states (59%) have consistently contributed the largest share of filings, reaching their highest level in 2025. Within Europe, the Netherlands (28%), Germany (25%), Switzerland (17%) and France (9%) lead. Applications from the US (30%) form a significant share of total activity, while those from China (2%) and Japan (2%) remain stable compared to 2024.

One of the most notable developments in recent years has been the growth of CRISPR‑related filings. In 2012, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier published research showing that CRISPR, a naturally occurring bacterial defence mechanism, could be repurposed as a precise and programmable gene-editing tool – work that would earn them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. Patent applications covering CRISPR-enabled plant modification followed steadily, and the technology now represents a robust share of activity in the field. Public research bodies and academic institutes form an important part of the applicant group. These methods are increasingly shaping the direction of innovation and patenting in plant biotechnology.

Sowing the seeds for a thriving economy

According to an EU study published in 2025, Europe is the world’s second largest seed market, valued at around €7 billion and accounting for roughly 20% of global seed trade. Breeding is highly research intensive, with R&D spending averaging 16% of turnover across European breeding companies, levels comparable to the pharmaceutical sector.

Further, these technologies support multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals by enabling crops that better withstand drought and pests, deliver higher yields and offer enhanced nutritional value, while also contributing to biodiversity preservation and climate mitigation efforts. A 2021 European Commission study emphasised that such advanced plant technologies are essential for achieving the EU Green Deal’s sustainable and resilient agrifood ambitions.

The CPVO and plant variety rights

Unlike genetic modification, which changes DNA through microbiological processes, traditional breeding depends solely on selecting and crossing plants with favourable traits. For example, over time, purple carrots gave way to orange ones; and early white egg‑plants were eclipsed by the deep‑purple aubergines that became today’s standard. These improvements come from natural biological processes, which are treated as “essentially biological”. Under the EPC, neither these methods nor the plants produced solely through them can be patented. Instead, breeders protect and commercialise new varieties through plant variety rights, administered at EU level by the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO). While a plant variety right protects a single, specific plant variety, a patent offers protection for the underlying technical invention, such as a specific gene sequence or editing method, regardless of which plant variety it is placed in.

Patents for technical plant innovations

Modern biotechnology brings a new kind of plant innovation. Scientists can extract genes from one organism and insert them into another, a process that can introduce traits not otherwise found in the recipient species, or use tools like CRISPR to make precise, targeted edits to an organism's existing genome, which may or may not produce traits found in nature. These are technical processes.

Crucially, the engineered trait must provide genuine technical utility. The genetic modification should solve a problem or offer a meaningful improvement, such as drought tolerance, pest or disease resistance, reduced need for fertiliser, or enhanced vitamin content. Purely aesthetic traits, such as an unusual flower colour, generally do not meet patentability requirements. A visually detectable trait may still be patentable if it provides a verifiable technical advantage, for example, pigments that improve stress tolerance, UV protection or disease resistance. What matters under the EPC is not the appearance itself, but whether the trait contributes to a technical solution. As with any innovation, those related to plants need to be new, inventive and industrially applicable to be patentable.

Innovation-friendly framework

Alongside general patentability requirements, EPC contracting states have agreed specific rules for biotechnology, which  introduce the EU Biopatent Directive into the EPC legal framework. These rules set out what is patentable in relation to living matter, including plants and animals, and establish exclusions for ethical reasons.

The EPO maintains a clear legal and procedural framework for examining plant‑related biotechnological inventions. This includes guidance on what constitutes a patentable biotechnological invention and which processes fall under exclusions. The EPO ensures, through the use of disclaimers in patent claims, that patents for technically produced plants do not extend to plants carrying the same trait if they arise from purely biological processes.

To support thorough and accurate examination, the EPO exchanges data with the CPVO,  allowing examiners to check whether a plant characteristic is already present in registered or protected varieties. This information, alongside patent database searches, gives them a clearer view of the prior art and enables examiners to assess whether a claimed invention is truly novel and inventive.