Shenzhen had topped the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications ranking among big and medium-sized cities in China for 18 consecutive years as of 2021, according to a report released by the Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation (Shenzhen Intellectual Property Administration) on Tuesday, World Intellectual Property Day.
In addition, Shenzhen’s research and development (R&D) expenditure in proportion to its gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded 5% for the first time in 2021. The city’s patent licensing volume also ranked first among cities across the country for four straight years.
In the past year, every 100 million yuan (US$15.26 million) spent on R&D produced 167 patents, 20% of which were invention patents. An average 124 inventions earned patent licenses every day.
At the same time, the number of daily registered trademarks reached roughly 1,300. The total trademarks registered in 2021 exceeded 460,000, ranking first in the country. Moreover, nearly 60,000 invention patents had been maintained effective for over 10 years as of the end of 2021, higher than the country’s average.
Enterprises gained over 40,000 invention patents in 2021, up 44.02% year on year. Three-quarters of the invention patents were owned by one-fifth of the city’s high-tech companies. Huawei and Tencent ranked first and second in terms of the number of inventions with granted patents.
A total of seven Shenzhen-based companies were among the top 50 in terms of international PCT applications in 2021. Huawei topped the list for five consecutive years, according to data published by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Shenzhen had 63,000 patents disclosed overseas and nearly 80,000 domestic invention patents in the seven strategic emerging industries were also disclosed in 2021.
Additionally, the administration unveiled 10 IP events from last year. These include the release of a plan to enhance IP protection as well as the country’s first university technology transfer IP securitization product, the operation of the city’s WIPO Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC), the establishment of China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Arbitration Center and the hosting of the country’s first Chief Intellectual Property Officer Forum (CIPO).