Top ranking: People stand on the Bund in Shanghai. China is the first country in the world to hold more than three million valid invention patents, according to the National Intellectual Property Administration. — Bloomberg
SHANGHAI: China has witnessed an increase in both the quantity and quality of valid invention patents in the past year, says the country’s top intellectual property regulator.
In 2022, a total of 798,000 invention patents were authorised.
By the end of 2022, the total number of valid invention patents in China had reached 4.21 million, of which 3.28 million were held by inventors from the Chinese mainland, said Hu Wenhui, deputy head of the National Intellectual Property Administration, at a press conference.
The official said that China is the first country in the world to hold more than three million valid invention patents.
The latest World Intellectual Property Indicators report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation also shows that China ranks top in the world in terms of the number of valid invention patents, Hu added.
According to the official, China saw more enterprises applying for patents over the past year, demonstrating the growing innovative dynamism of Chinese enterprises.
By the end of 2022, 355,000 Chinese companies had valid invention patents, an increase of 57,000 over the previous year.
The driving force in the growth of China’s valid invention patents lies in various fields of digital technology, such as information technology management and computer technology.
In 2022, the number of patents granted for inventions in the core industries of China’s digital economy was 325,000, an increase of 17.9% year on year.
Hu also said that more and more Chinese micro and small enterprises receive support through intellectual property pledge financing, an activity in which enterprises pledge their intangible assets, including trademarks, patents and copyrights, in order to obtain funds.
In 2022, the value of financing from patent and trademark pledges nationwide exceeded 400 billion yuan (RM257bil) for the first time, maintaining a growth rate of over 40% for three consecutive years. — Xinhua
