A recent report showed that China secured the top spot in terms of global patent applications in 2021, far ahead of all other countries, highlighting that it has strong momentum in building an innovation-oriented nation.
China’s Intellectual Property (IP) Office received 1.59 million of the 3.4 million patent applications filed worldwide in 2021, according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report released this week.
According to WIPI, which compiled its latest data based on information provided by about 150 countries and regions, the amount of patents filed in China was similar to the total of the next 12 countries, ranked second to 13th.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in August 2022, in 2021, high-value invention patents in China were 7.5 per 10,000 people, up 1.2 from 2020.
The country’s innovations in sectors such as next-generation telecommunications, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and clean energy are particularly striking.
China’s involvement in the global pie
A report published by the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) in 2021 revealed that China’s patent applications for 6G technology accounted for more than 30 percent of the global total, while China’s patent applications for artificial intelligence accounted for about 70 percent of the global total. an index published in November by the China Information Industry Development Center.
According to the Global Quantum Computing Technology Patent Application List, patent applications for inventions by Chinese companies in the field of quantum computing, an advanced technology industry, increased from 137 in September 2020 to 804 by October 2022.
In March 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published a report entitled “Tracking Clean Energy Innovation: A Focus on China”, which noted that China has become a major player in energy patenting in a short period of time, especially in strategic sectors with Chinese inventors. for a growing share of global operations, including solar photovoltaic (PV), electric vehicle (EV) and lighting technologies.
According to IEA data, in 2018/2019 During the 2008/2009 period, Chinese inventors filed about six times as many international patents as they had filed in 2008/2009. per year for batteries and solar photovoltaics, and eight times more for EV technologies.
In addition, about 80 percent of China’s patents for energy-related climate change mitigation technologies are protected abroad, indicating their improved quality.
Fastest growth rate
The WIPI report also showed that the number of patents in force in China increased by 17.6 percent in 2021, the fastest growth in the world, overtaking the United States as the top performer in terms of the growth of the number of enforceable patents.
According to NIPA data, by the end of September 2022, the number of patents in force in China exceeded 4 million, and more than one-third of them originated in strategic new industries.
Among them, those belonging to the state’s private sector increased significantly.
According to data released in September by the China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the number of valid patents among China’s top 500 private enterprises increased by 53.6% in 2022.
China also experienced a significant rise in industrial design. In 2021, it received applications with 805,710 designs, representing more than 53 percent of the global total. China now holds the majority of industrial design registrations in force in the world.
(With input from Xinhua)
