The 18th China (Wuxi) International Design Expo opened in Wuxi on September 9 during which the Golden Award winners were given the 24th WIPO-CNIPA Award for Chinese Outstanding Patented Invention & Industrial Design. Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) addressed the ceremony via video. What he said is as follows.

Daren Tang first expressed warm congratulations to the 29 Golden Award winners for invention patents and the 10 design Golden Award winners for industrial design, he said: This year is a landmark year for China’s innovation process, that is, China’s cooperation with the WIPO 50th anniversary. After 50 years of development, China has become the world's leading engine for technological innovation and creativity. China's digital economy currently exceeds 45 trillion yuan, accounting for 40% of GDP. Among the top 100 technology clusters worldwide, China has as many technology clusters as any other country. Meantime, China has become the developing country that leads the export volume of creative products. Intellectual property plays a considerable role in this growth.

China has the largest number of applications for patent, trademark, and industrial design in the world. China is already the largest user of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system, with 70,000 applications last year. China is also the third largest user of the Madrid System, filing twice as many trademark applications last year than a decade ago. Despite only joining the Hague System last year, China is already the second largest user of it. There are nearly 50 million people in total working in China's patent-intensive industries, which creates an economic value of more than 14 trillion yuan. Due to the strategic drive, China’s intellectual property ecosystem is not only becoming more dynamic but also increasingly balanced and inclusive.

In terms of the gender ratio of inventors in PCT patent applications, China's female inventors are clearly in the lead. Last year, nearly a quarter of the inventors in China's PCT patent applications were female, while the global average was 17%. Likewise, intellectual property has become a tool for SMEs to exert influence within and outside their own countries and the world. Enterprises recognized by the WIPO Global Awards not only use intellectual property to achieve commercial success but also build a better world with intellectual property. WESTWELL and Kiss Future were the 2 Chinese companies among this year’s 7 winners, which have proposed amazing solutions in the fields of green logistics and virtual reality.

With these developments and progress, China has been continuing to build itself into a leading intellectual property center, innovation center, and science and technology center attracting worldwide attention.

From CNIPA

September 9th, 2023