There are a number of mapping packages available in R; for a quick overview have a look at this question: Best packages for making map? leaflet vs ggmap vs sf vs ...?
A couple of comments on your dataset:
- your regions remind me of NUTS; while I am not aware of a package serving them directly from R (like {tigris} does for US regions) the vector files can be downloaded at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gisco/geodata/reference-data/administrative-units-statistical-units/nuts and processed via {sf} package workflow.
- to get centerpoint of a polygon you can use
sf::st_centroid() - you describe a flow of patents, implying visualization in form of a set of lines with a start and an end, and provide only regions = points. Something seems to be missing here - or you can visualize only intensity of points / polygons, there are tools for that (say size of a bubble).