In recent times, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) has focused its efforts on reducing patent processing times in Mexico. As a special measure, recent efforts have focused on granting applications filed by Mexican applicants and independent national inventors.
In this regard, it is important to note that, according to data available from the IMPI and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), approximately 93% of all patent applications filed in Mexico correspond to foreign applicants and companies. Therefore, in general, measures to try to speed up patent processing had not been directed at the smaller fraction of these, which is why some special measures have been recently taken focusing on the 7% of national applications filed in Mexico.
In this regard, the IMPI has set a goal of ending 2025 as the year with the highest number of national patents granted in Mexico, with a specific target of 1000 grants. In 2024, 706 patents were granted to applicants, which was the best year on record for IMPI in terms of granting Mexican patent applications, already showing significant growth in the patenting of Mexican inventions.
For this reason, at the end of October 2025, the Seminar on Strategies for Strengthening the Innovation Ecosystem in Mexico (SEFEIM) was launched with the aim of strengthening cooperation between institutions, industry, research, and private sector in general.
This seminar, organized in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), has as its main objective to encourage research, increase technology transfer, and competitiveness through the generation of intangible assets. The Global Innovation Index (GII) will be considered essential as a reference for SEFEIM, as it is an international benchmark for measuring performance of countries regarding innovation.
In relation to the GII 2025, Mexico ranked 58th globally, maintaining a stable position compared to 2024, when it ranked 56th. Mexico continues to be the third most innovative country in Latin America, preceded by Brazil and Chile.
However, the IMPI highlights that in 2025 Mexico City entered for the first time in the top 100 global innovation clusters, ranking 79th. This ranking of innovation clusters identifies the areas with the highest density of innovative activity in the world, and is determined mainly by activity in patent applications, scientific publications, and venture capital.
The available assessments make it clear that there is still a long way to go to position Mexico in the most relevant places regarding international innovation, but there is undoubtedly clear progress aimed at promoting industrial property protection as key to technological and economic development, strengthening the confidence of both international and national applicants.
https://www.wipo.int/publications/es/details.jsp?id=4808&plang=ES
https://www.wipo.int/en/web/global-innovation-index/2025/innovation-clusters
https://egade.tec.mx/es/blog/egade-resalta-el-avance-de-mexico-en-el-global-innovation-index-2024
Luis Fernando Granados
fgranados@uhthoff.com.mx
