A TOTAL of 696,000 invention patents were authorized in 2021, according to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA).

Shen Changyu, head of the NIPA, shared a work report detailing advances in the field of intellectual property rights (IPR), which is of great value in boosting innovation and high-quality development.

In 2021, the number of international patent applications filed in China via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) hit 73,000, said Shen. The PCT is a widely used metric for measuring innovative activity.

China also received 5,928 international trademark applications using the Madrid System and registered 13,000 integrated circuit layout designs last year.

The added value of China’s patent-intensive industries hit 12.13 trillion yuan (US$1.9 trillion) in 2020, accounting for 11.97 percent of GDP, an increase of 0.35 percentage points over the previous year.

According to China’s 15-year plan (2021-2035) on IPR development, China has set a clear target of the added value of patent-intensive industries accounting for 13 percent of GDP by 2025. (Xinhua)