In order to strengthen China's S&T innovation and development posture and benchmark the international S&T development path, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed the "Three-Step Strategy for China's S&T Development" in May 2016, and as an important part of this strategy, the number of patent holdings reflects China's S&T innovation and development to some extent.

According to the 2016 patent statistics released by the National Intellectual Property Office on January 19, 2017.After the United States and Japan, China is the third country in the world with more than one million domestic invention patents, with 1.103 million domestic invention patents for the first time.Among them, enterprises account for more than 60% of domestic invention patent applications and authorizations. Although the number of domestic invention patent applications received and granted continues to grow steadily and the structure is further optimized, there are still gaps between China and foreign countries in six fields, including optics, engines, transportation, semiconductors, audiovisual technology and medical technology.

The following data are specific.

In 2016, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) received 1.339 million invention patent applications, up 21.5% year-on-year, ranking first in the world for six consecutive years. The State Intellectual Property Office granted a total of 404,000 invention patents, of which 302,000 were granted for domestic inventions, up 39,000 from 2015, up 14.51 TP1T.Of the domestic inventions granted, 276,000 were for functional inventions, accounting for 91.41 TP1T, and 26,000 were for non-functional inventions, accounting for 8.61 TP1T.

By the end of 2016, China's domestic (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) invention patent ownership totaled 1.103 million pieces, with 8.0 invention patents per 10,000 population. The top ten provinces (regions and municipalities) in China in terms of the number of invention patents per 10,000 population are Beijing (76.8), Shanghai (35.2), Jiangsu (18.4), Zhejiang (16.5), Guangdong (15.5), Tianjin (14.7), Shaanxi (7.3), Liaoning (6.4), Anhui (6.4) and Shandong (6.3).

In 2016, China applied for 4,834 patents in countries along the "Belt and Road" (excluding China), an increase of 47.1% year-on-year, with 18 patent application destination countries, an increase of 3 countries over 2015. In 2016, 3,697 patents were applied for in China by countries along the "Belt and Road" route, an increase of 18.2% over 2015.

Conclusion.

Although the number of patents held in China has made a major breakthrough, but at the same time, China's innovation and competitiveness did not improve at the same time, data show that China's scientific and technological achievements conversion rate is less than 30%, while the advanced countries this indicator is 60% to 70%. how to improve the utilization of patents, so that it is no longer on the shelf, and become innovative achievements that match the market demand, is It is a goal for which we will continue to work and strive in the future.

(Photo credit: National Intellectual Property Office)