Our Vision 2010 strategy gives a greater emphasis to the role of Intellectual Property (IP). The new strategy program focuses on accelerating profitable and innovative growth of DSM’s specialties portfolio, which requires careful and pro-active management of our IP.

DSM currently owns more than 14,000 patents, covering about 2,600 individual inventions. In 2008 some 363 new patent applications were filed. Our patent activities cover some 100 countries across the globe. The strategic shift in DSM’s portfolio towards specialty products is also driving an increasing interest in trademarks and branding. DSM is now actively managing about 800 trademarks. DSM trademarks such as Dyneema®, Teavigo® and PeptoPro® are becoming well-known brands. Furthermore, DSM continues to strengthen its IP positions in the emerging economies. More than 90% of DSM's patents filed internationally in 2008 have now also been filed in China.

DSM maintains leading position in top 100 of companies with most international patent applications
In the list of companies with the most Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in 2008, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) DSM again ranks in the top 100, just like in 2007. In the 2008 list DSM takes the 58th position. This high number of international applications is linked to the high innovation efforts from DSM.