The sudden outbreak of new coronary pneumonia will inevitably have a greater impact on economic and social development. So, in the process of combating the epidemic and returning to work to achieve production, what is the situation of innovation and creation of market players in China? What role do patents play?
Ge Shu, director of the Strategic Planning Department of the State Intellectual Property Office, said in an interview recently that under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, after arduous efforts, China ’s epidemic prevention and control battle has achieved major strategic results and coordinated the promotion of epidemic prevention. Control and economic and social development have achieved positive results. Statistics show that in the first four months of this year, the year-on-year growth rate of China's patent applications returned to the pre-epidemic level, high-tech enterprises have become the backbone of enterprise applications, and the number of patent applications of enterprises in the field of new kinetic energy has grown rapidly. Epidemic prevention and control accelerates the transformation of market players' development concepts, and pays more attention to technological innovation. The innovation driver may usher in an opportunity to be further stimulated, which strengthens our confidence and determination to rely on innovation to promote industrial transformation and upgrading and promote high-quality economic development.
Ge Shu introduced that first of all, domestic patent applications were quickly restored.
From January to April this year, 1.323 million domestic patent applications were filed, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%. Looking at each month, the year-on-year growth rate of domestic patent applications showed a V-shaped trend. Affected by the epidemic, domestic patent applications in February fell by 33.2% year-on-year, and rebounded rapidly in March, with a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, and the growth rate in April further accelerated to 15.7%. Among them, the year-on-year growth rate of domestic invention patent applications recovered from a decline of 29.7% in February to an increase of 5.9% in March, and further accelerated to 8.7% in April. The rapid recovery of patent applications fully shows that market players are actively responding to changes in the epidemic situation, transforming and upgrading with innovation empowerment, and constantly accelerating the pace of technological innovation.
Second, corporate patent applications took the lead in achieving positive growth.
From January to April, patent applications of domestic enterprises increased by 8.1% year-on-year, which was 2.3 percentage points higher than the national level. Among them, there were 259,000 invention patent applications, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year, which was 4.8 percentage points higher than the national level. Chinese enterprises have devoted all their efforts to the prevention and control of epidemic situations, accelerated the resumption of production and production, and the company's patent applications have taken the lead in achieving positive growth.
High-tech enterprises are the backbone of enterprise patent creation. In the first four months, there were 65,000 domestic (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) enterprises applying for invention patents, of which 29,000 were high-tech enterprises, accounting for 44.6%. On average, each high-tech enterprise applies for 4.9 invention patents, which is 1.7 higher than other enterprises.
Third, innovation momentum in emerging industries is being nurtured.
From January to April, the share of the new-generation information technology industry in domestic invention patent applications increased by 1.8 percentage points from the same period last year. Applications for patents for inventions of Huawei, Tencent, and ByteDance increased by 35.2%, 178.9%, and 67.7% year-on-year, respectively. Applications for invention patents by innovative technology companies such as Shangtang Technology, Dali Technology, and HKUST, respectively, increased by 36.9%, 70.3%, and 88.9%. Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and other innovative technologies have accelerated their iterations, new models and new formats are emerging, and new growth points are gestating and growing, injecting new momentum into China's long-term stable economic development.
From January to April, domestic pharmaceutical and medical companies applied for 99,000 invention patents, an increase of 8.4% year-on-year, 9.0 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the country. With the increasing protection of intellectual property rights, China's pharmaceutical and medical industry has accelerated scientific research, achieved innovative development, and provided strong support for the construction of a healthy China.
Fourth, foreign patent applications in China remained basically stable year-on-year.
From January to April, foreign applicants filed 60,000 patent applications in China, a slight decrease of 1.7% year-on-year, basically the same as last year. Among them, the countries along the “Belt and Road” have filed 10,000 patent applications in China, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%, which is 5.5 percentage points higher than the year-on-year increase of foreign patent applications in China.
By month, affected by the epidemic, the number of foreign patent applications in China dropped sharply by 39.9% year-on-year in February; with the orderly recovery of domestic production and living order, various intellectual property facilitation relief measures were effectively implemented, and foreign patent applications in China in March It rebounded rapidly, up 31.3% year-on-year; it achieved steady growth in April, up 1.2% year-on-year, showing that foreign companies ’consensus on the Chinese market has not changed due to the epidemic.
Fifth, the overseas patent layout of the main body of innovation has developed steadily.
From January to April, Chinese applicants submitted 17,000 PCT international patent applications to the State Intellectual Property Office, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%, and continued to maintain rapid growth. According to the latest data, from January to March, the number of invention patent applications filed by Chinese applicants in the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea increased by 15.1% year-on-year. Chinese enterprises still maintain confidence in the prospects of foreign markets, insist on actively exploring the international market with the protection of intellectual property rights, and promote the in-depth implementation of the "going out" strategy in a safe and orderly manner.
Sixth, patent pledge financing effectively eases corporate funding difficulties.
In the epidemic prevention and control, the State Intellectual Property Office quickly issued and implemented policies and measures to support enterprises to carry out intellectual property pledge financing, establish green channels for pledge registration, and support rapid financing and loan renewal for enterprises. From January to April, enterprises across the country received a total of 38.4 billion yuan in financing through patent pledges, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%, which realized the effective conversion of "intellectual property" to "asset", and played the role and value of increasing intellectual property rights and increasing credit. Alleviate the difficulties of operating funds for enterprises, and effectively promote the resumption of production and full production of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Ge Shu said that from the patent data of the past four months, in the epidemic prevention and control, the domestic market players have continuously strengthened the innovation drive, and the vitality of invention and creation has not diminished, indicating that the epidemic will not change the development trend of China ’s industrial transformation and upgrading, nor will it change our country. Fundamentals of long-term economic growth and high-quality development. Foreign patent applications in China are basically stable, which fully reflects the unabated attractiveness of the Chinese market. Foreign companies continue to optimistic about China's economic prospects and have confidence in the long-term development of the Chinese market.
