BERLIN, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Germany lost some of its "patent power" in a global comparison as the international balance in innovation had shifted towards east Asia between 2000 and 2019, according to a study conducted by the German Bertelsmann Stiftung and published on Wednesday.

"While still the strongest European patent power, Germany is losing ground worldwide," the study found. Although Germany still showed "impressive results" across nearly the entire bandwidth of technologies, its status as a leading technology nation was "increasingly challenged."

In 2010, Germany had still been among the top three countries worldwide by patent numbers in 47 out of 58 considered technologies. By 2019, this had more than halved to 22, according to Bertelsmann.

South Korea and China in particular have "developed enormously in terms of patent quality in the last ten years," the study noted. Especially China's strength in the field of nutrition would not come as a surprise in light of "growing prosperity and high population numbers" in the country.

In 2019, China was among the three countries with the largest numbers of top patents in 42 of the 58 technologies, according to the study. Almost 20 years ago, Chinese patents did not even reach a top five ranking in a single category.

The United States would remain the "greatest patent power in the medium term," according to the study.

The 27 member states of the European Union (EU) were able to maintain top positions in the categories of wind energy and functional food. However, the study revealed that Europe was bound to fall behind in new developments, such as 5G or block chain.

"Europe needs a clear political commitment towards a common initiative. The competition lies not within the European countries or their respective organizations," stressed Brigitte Mohn, member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board.