An increase in overseas patent applications from Chinese applicants is a positive sign for China’s innovation and economy, World Intellectual Property Organization Chief Economist Carsten Fink said.
WIPO emblem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
According to the WIPO, China’s patent office became the world’s largest intellectual property office in 2012 in terms of the number of its patent applications, but Chinese patent applicants did not file their patents as frequently abroad in other countries as did those from the United States, Europe and Japan.
Fink said that a changing picture was observed as patent filings abroad by Chinese companies and research institutions have been growing rapidly.
The WIPO found in its new study that the growth of Chinese patent filings abroad increased significantly after 2000, with a five-year average annual growth rate of 40 percent between 2000 and 2005, and 23 percent since 2005.
“That is important because on the one hand, it signals that Chinese companies really operate on the world technology frontier, and (on the other hand) it also suggests that indeed they are pushing the world’s technology frontier. That is a good sign for China’s innovation system,” Fink said.
Fink stressed that overseas patent filings weighed heavily for China’s economy and could be a positive boost.
“That will help Chinese companies to transfer their business models from the past one that relied on low wages to another one that will rely more and more on new technologies, new products and new ideas,” he said.
via Creativity advances as patent filings rise – China – Chinadaily.com.cn.
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