In recent years, based on the current scenario, China has primarily cultivated and boosted seven strategic emerging industries including new energy, new materials, environmental protection and energy saving, a new generation of information technology, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing and new-energy vehicles.

In a bid to promote the development of those industries, the General Office of the State Council has forwarded Several Opinions on Strengthening Intellectual Property Protection in Strategic Emerging Industries (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions) made by concerted efforts of ten authorities including the State Intellectual Property Office. 

According to the Opinions, invention patents and PCT patents in strategic emerging industries are expected to double that of 2010 respectively by 2015 and the increment will largely rely on the implementation of intellectual property strategies.

Patents to prop up sunrise industries

"The development of new emerging industries mainly depends on the commercialization of patents," said a leader of Fujian Newland Group in an interview. He noted that due to the creation and utilization of self-owned patents, his company has yielded great success in transformation and upgrading of economic growth mode and made significant progress in the field of the Internet of Things.

In 2011, the company succeeded in creating the global first two-dimensional barcode decoding chip, one of the core technologies regarding the Internet of Things. Later the company has submitted 179 patent applications on it, and the patents held by the company thus have added up to 600-odd, making the company a leading entity of the Internet of Things nationwide.

China is now happy to see more enterprises begin to follow suit. The nation's strategic emerging industries expand rapidly even though there is still a long way to go.

From 2006 to 2010, in environmental protection and energy saving industry, China received over 20 thousand patent filings from domestic applicants, and more than 20% of them were for inventions with an annual output value of 11 thousand billion yuan.

While in information technology industry, ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ranked the first and the third worldwide in 2011 in terms of the amount of PCT submissions, fully demonstrating the increased competitiveness of Chinese enterprises.

Intellectual properties as the core competitiveness

"Gaps and deficiencies should be duly noticed when accomplishments are cited," an expert from the SIPO said, adding that China needs to further intensify IP efforts to step up the development of strategic emerging industries, where IP strength is not as strong as anticipated due to several reasons. One of them is that foreign countries have been attaching great importance to IP deployment in China while local enterprises are hardly aware of the importance of protecting innovations worldwide.

These years, all countries in the world are keen on developing strategic emerging industries. In 2005, the concept of the Internet of Things was initially adopted by the European Union. Later, the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States made a global strategy combining the Internet and the Internet of Things, while Korea and Japan also launched relevant policies to boost the industrialization of patents in strategic emerging industries.

In recent five years, the world sees a rapid growth of patent applications falling in strategic emerging industries. The average growth rate of invention patent applications in those industries is about three to four times higher than those in traditional industries.

In response to this, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Outline requires relevant departments to promote the further integration of new technologies and emerging industries and to develop emerging industries into strategic pillar industries.

The Decision of the State Council on Accelerating the Fostering and Development of Strategic Emerging Industries, promulgated on October 10, 2010, covers nine tasks and measures related to intellectual property, including its creation, utilization, protection and administration.

As of the end of 2011, China saw its valid invention patents hit 351,228, surpassing those filed by foreign applicants for the first time. In addition, invention patents per every ten thousand domestic residents (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) reach 2.37. Industry insiders believed that with the guidance of effective national policies and the constant efforts of local enterprises, it is possible to realize the double growth target.

Speaking of the important role patents have played in strategic emerging industries, Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the SIPO, said that intellectual property must be highlighted in cultivating and developing those industries. Facts show that intellectual property has become the focus when all countries in the world compete to boost the industries. It is more revealing that enterprises will capitalize on their effective and efficient IP deployment to gain more profits. Therefore, gigantic efforts are needed to further implement IP strategies to build strategic emerging industries into the pillar industries in China.

（Source：IPR in China）