Chinese innovation takes country to top of patent lists

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If you are a researcher wanting to know about the latest inventions in your field there is a country that is becoming increasingly unwise to ignore.

According to a recently-updated report by Thomson Reuters into innovation in Asia, by the end of 2011 China had overtaken every other country in the world in the number of invention patents it files each year. This landmark event occurred a year earlier than Thomson Reuters had previously predicted in its 2008 report into Chinese patent filings.

Figures from the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) echo this growth. SIPO reported receiving a total of 1.633 million applications in 2011, an increase of 33.6 per cent on 2010. This was made up of 526,000 inventions, 585,000 utility models and 522,000 designs. And SIPO granted a total of 961,000 patents, which was an increase of 17.9 per cent on the previous year, says the office.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has also observed a shift towards Asia. According to the EPO, of the 243,000 applications it received in 2011, a clear majority (62 per cent of all 2011 filings) came from non-European countries. But, while Europe’s share of EPO applications was virtually unchanged from the previous year, both China’s and Japan’s shares increased (to seven per cent and 19 per cent from five per cent and 18 per cent respectively in 2010).

The growth in patents and patent applications in and from China has been strongly encouraged by the Chinese government, which has set the country a five-year plan that includes specific goals relating to patenting.

‘Patents are very tangible measures of innovation,’ said Bob Stembridge, customer relations manager of Thomson Reuters and author of the company’s report into patenting in China. ‘The country is transforming from "made in China" to "designed in China".’ He noted that there has also been an increase in domestic filings – in other words, innovation by local, rather than foreign, companies. According to the Thomson Reuters report, the ratio of domestic to total applications in China grew from less than 52 per cent in 2006 to nearly 73 per cent in 2010.

Meanwhile, the latest SIPO figures indicate a rapid growth in PCT filings. It received 17,473 PCT applications, up 35.3 per cent from 2010. This indicates, say analysts, that more Chinese companies are now eyeing overseas markets and patenting abroad. In addition, according to the Thomson Reuters report, while the majority of WIPO filings pass on to the Chinese patent office to be processed as Chinese national patent applications, significant numbers pass through to the US, European, Australian, Japanese and Korean patent offices to be processed as national patents in these regions also.

The projected growth in published patent applications for key regions shows that China is expected to continue increasing its share of patents. Data from Thomson Reuters, 2011

The innovation areas are also well spread, according to Stembridge of Thomson Reuters. In 2010, the biggest sectors in China in terms of patents were electrical machinery, digital communication, computer technology, measurement instruments and pharmaceuticals. In 2008, for the first time, a Chinese company (Huawei Technologies) topped the list of applicants to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

The need for information

With such a growth in innovation in China, especially home-grown innovation, the need for people in other countries to find out about this innovation is enormous. It’s a huge task. Many of the innovations in China come from small companies or individuals rather than from enormous businesses with international footprints.

And it is not just patents either. The Chinese government has set targets for academic papers too, with the aim for the country to be fifth in the world in citation ranking by 2015. According to the Thomson Reuters report, China’s global ranking based on citations in international science papers moved from 13th in 2006 to eighth in 2010.

China’s latest five-year plan also includes an increase in R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP from 1.75 per cent in 2010 to 2.2 per cent in 2015 and an increase in invention patent ownership per 10,000 head of population from 1.7 to 3.3. Furthermore, the Chinese National Patent Development Strategy (2011-2020) includes the goal that ‘by 2015 the annual quantity of applications for patents for inventions, utility models and designs will reach two million.’

All of this means that insight into patents from China will continue to become more essential for inventors all over the world.

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