Chinese mainland reaches 2.29m high-value invention patents in IP quality pursuit

BEIJING -- The number of high-value invention patents held on the Chinese mainland had reached 2.29 million by the end of last year, growing at a faster pace than that of overall invention patents, China's top intellectual property regulator said on Friday.

According to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the number of valid invention patents held on the Chinese mainland had reached 5.32 million by the end of 2025. The year-on-year growth rate of high-value invention patents was 2.2 percentage points higher than that of the country's total invention patents last year.

The CNIPA also said that the share of high-value invention patents in terms of China's total number of valid invention patents had stood at 43.1 percent in 2025, up 2.9 percentage points compared to 2020.

"It reflects a continuing rise in the share of invention patents that possess higher technological sophistication, greater market value and more stable IP rights protection," Liang Xinxin, a senior CNIPA official, said at a press conference.

About 70 percent of these high-value invention patents are concentrated in strategic emerging industries. The fastest growth was seen in fields such as information technology management, computer technology and medical technology, with AI-related patents ranking among the top globally.

Emerging industries, including quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, brain-computer interfaces and 6th-generation communication, also hold a series of key core technology patents.

"Enterprises have become the main driving force for creating high-value invention patents," Liang noted, adding that they hold over three-quarters of all such patents.

Moreover, the country's major innovation hubs, the Yangtze River Delta in the east, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China and south China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) are setting the pace, contributing 70 percent of China's total high-value invention patents.

Their innovation strength has also gained global recognition. The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster in the GBA topped the World Intellectual Property Organization's 2025 Global Innovation Index for the first time. Beijing and Shanghai-Suzhou, located in the Yangtze River Delta, were ranked 4th and 6th, respectively.

The CNIPA also highlighted that the average ownership of high-value invention patents had risen to 16 patents per 10,000 people, exceeding the target of 12 set for the country's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

Noting that this serves as an important indicator for measuring innovation output, Liang said the "average ownership" metric is designed to steer innovation efforts from pursuing quantity toward quality.

"In the next five years, we will guide innovation entities to prioritize patent quality and cultivate more high-value core patents, contributing to the development of new quality productive forces," Liang explained.