"With further globalization of economies and technology, there will be a marked increase in demand for patent information, which as a strategic resource for innovation is playing an increasingly important role in improving competitiveness," he said.

Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, said at the conference that China's national IP strategy that began in 2008 "has injected vigor into innovation and enabled a rapid increase in IP creation nationwide".

The country had an inventory of 1.1 million invention patents by the end of last year, 430,000 of them granted to domestic applicants.

The number of international patent filings from China now ranks fourth in the world, according to statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Commissioner Tian noted the significance of international cooperation in IP, especially in sharing and exchanging patent information services.

David Kappos, former director of the US Patent and Trademark Office and now partner of Gravath, Swaine&Moore LLP, said "the dynamics of our economic landscape may be shifting, but the importance of IP is not".

"IP is a premier, global currency for creating value for services and products for all innovators in all markets and all countries," he said.

In the United States alone, IP created 40 million jobs and 61 percent of merchandise exports, Kappos said, citing a US report.

Chinese and US IP systems represent two of the largest filing offices in the world and the two countries need to expand cooperation, he said.

"The US and China must continue finding new ways to engage in one another, to develop constructive, cooperative solutions and build an IP system adaptable to the demands of management, rules and laws, transparency, and the free flow of information," Kappos said.