SHENZHEN enterprises have won three gold prizes for patents and two gold prizes for designs in the 21st China Patents Awards, according to a release of the Shenzhen Municipal Intellectual Property Office on Tuesday.

The award ceremonies for patents and designs will be held in the middle of the month in Dalian, Liaoning Province, and Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, respectively.

The number of Shenzhen’s patents and designs that won a gold prize make up 10 percent and 20 percent of the total top prizewinners.

A total of 70 items from the city will win the prizes of different categories and at different levels, according to the city’s intellectual property office.

Between January and September, 28,000 enterprises in Shenzhen submitted 219,000 patent applications, up by 17.19 percent year on year.

The number of patents licensed also reached 164,000, an increase of 34.52 percent year on year. The city ranked first among major Chinese cities in both patent applications and licensing.

Among the applications, small- and medium-sized enterprises submitted 153,000 applications, up by 20.11 percent year on year.

International patent applications by the city — applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) — reached 14,000 between January and September, up by 22.66 percent year on year, and taking the No. 1

position among Chinese cities.

The applications for trademarks also increase by 19.5 percent to 436,000 in the first nine months, ranking first among Chinese cities. By the end of September, the accumulative registrations of trademarks by the city had reached 1.63 million.

The China Patents Awards, the nation’s top awards for patents, has been organized by the National Intellectual Property Administration since 1989.

The gold prize for patents and gold prize for designs are jointly conferred by the National Intellectual Property Administration and World Intellectual Property Organization.

For this year’s awards, a total of 30 patents for invention and utility models, and 10 patents for designs won the gold awards. More than 70 patents won the silver awards.

This year’s selection received a record-breaking number of more than 2,400 patent entrants, who were recommended by national and local intellectual property departments, industry associations, and academics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. (Han Ximin)