Member Article

China leads world in patent applications

China leads the world on patent filings, and looks set to continue at a rapid pace.

Findings of the recent Thomson Reuters ‘Invented In China’ report show that patent filings have increased by more than 450% since 2000.

This rate far out-paces other countries such as the US and Japan, despite wide-spread counterfeiting and infringement.

As China moves to set-up its intellectual property reputation, the report suggests the country is manoeuvring from a “made in China” to a “designed in China” economy.

Published applications of patents rose by 16.7% per year in the period between 2006 and 2010, and in 2008 China invested the equivalent of $65.8 billion in research and development.

Since 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has laid out a number of 5-year plans, that have driven China to become the world’s second largest economy.

Published patent applications in the country are projected to reach 500,000 by 2015, as the recent ‘science and technology’ plan encourages an “innovation orientated” society.

Publication of scientific literature is also booming in the country, as over the last five years there has been an 80% increase in output.

The US currently has the highest output, and grew just 5% in the same period.

Despite affirming its place as a global player, the report also highlights a number of challenges that lie ahead for China.

It lags behind in corporate innovation, as the most innovative companies are based in the US at 40%, Europe at 29% and Japan at 27%.

The country also trails in protecting their inventions, as only 5.6% of China’s are protected with global patent filings abroad, far less than the US at 48.8%%.

David Brown, president of IP Solutions business of Thomson Reuters, said: “Intellectual property is the bridge that connects innovation with economic growth.

“By closely examining a wide variety of metrics, we can see China is clearly on that path, but there are significant milestones yet to be attained.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .