The local government of Tai'an reported smooth progress in improving its brands in 2019 at a press conference on May 9. [Photo/dzrb.dzng.com]

Tai'an, a city in Shandong province, ranked 38th in brand strength among the top 100 Chinese cities in 2019, according to the city's press conference on increasing quality and building brands on May 9.

The city boasts 268 provincial-level product brands and 60 provincial-level service brands, and has the most national-level manufacturing leaders and green factories in the province, according to a report delivered by government officials at the press conference.

The Tai'an Municipal Party Committee and Municipal People's Government have long been promoting the high-quality development of the city and have rolled out a series of supporting policies and measures to encourage enterprises across the city to improve their quality and develop more brands.

From 2018 to 2019, the municipal finance department provided more than 16 million yuan ($2.25 million) in subsidies to enterprises considered well-known trademarks, quality brands, or regional public brands, or that had won patent gold awards, had intellectual property rights, or had presided over or participated in the preparation and revision of standards.

In recent years, 21 million yuan in incentive funds have been awarded to 42 new innovation platforms, and over the past three years, 3.94 million yuan has been awarded to 84 standardization projects.

In addition, the local government established a quality credit enhancement financing system to help financial institutions increase credit support for high-quality and trustworthy enterprises. In 2019, the city's pledged a total of 946 million yuan in intellectual property financing. Forty-five patent right pledge contracts were registered, and financing for patent right pledges amounted to nearly 460 million yuan, increases of 246 percent and 280 percent year-on-year. In addition, seven trademark pledges were registered, with a financing amount of 4.8 million yuan, year-on-year increases of 75 percent and 920 percent.

Progress has also been made in the implementation of the standardization strategy, and the Shandong Mechanical Products Remanufacturing Standardization Technical Committee and Shandong Geotechnical Materials Standardization Technical Committee have settled in Tai'an.

One project carried out by Hualu Duanya won the top "Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award" in 2018 and the province's top "Standard Innovation Award".

A total of 17 national-level agricultural standardization demonstration zones were established in the city, and eight national-level service standardization pilots and 29 provincial-level service standardization pilots related to government services, medical insurance, tourism, pensions, public transportation, and other fields were established.

Tai'an has hosted or participated in the formulation of 114 national standards, 127 industrial standards, and 201 local standards, and organized the formulation of 36 group standards. Companies such as Campina, Lupnet, Tai'an Luther, and Taishan Gypsum are participating in the formulation of a number of national or industrial standards and playing a leading role in the industrial upgrading of Tai'an.

The city also strictly investigates illegal activities. In 2019, the municipal government established a supervision association composed of 25 municipal and county-level government departments to form 17 inspection groups to carry out random inspections.

In addition, the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau formed a comprehensive law enforcement team to overhaul products in six key industries, including food, wires and cables, explosion-proof electrical appliances, grinding wheels, hazardous chemicals, and packaging and containers. Investigations involved 17 types of products, 253 companies, and 281 batches of products and 99.4 percent passed inspection.

The Municipal Development and Reform Commission also introduced a "red list" for highly credible companies and a "black list" for those that failed to meet standards. A total of 99 million pieces of credit information have been collected from 49 departments and units.

In order to strengthen brand protection, government departments, industry associations, and enterprises are working together to crack down on illegal behavior related to counterfeit products and create a better market environment for the development of brand enterprises.

In 2019, there were 11,575 newly registered trademarks in the city, an increase of 68.8 percent over the previous year. The total number of domestic registered trademarks reached 41,558, the number of patent applications in the city was 7,533, the number of patent authorizations was 4,325, and the number of effective invention patents per 10,000 people was 3.82.

The city's total number of well-known Chinese trademarks has now reached 53, ranking 7th in the province, while the total number of geographical indication trademarks is 51, ranking 5th in the province. The city also had 73 Madrid international registered trademarks, and one patent in the city won the Chinese Patent Excellence Award.

Tai'an was recently named a "Shandong Province Food Safety City" and has been selected as one of five pilot cities in the province by the National Standards Committee to participate in the "special action to meet and improve standards" initiative.

In 2019, the city's comprehensive science and technology innovation index rose to 6th place in the province, while its enterprise innovation index rose to 3rd place. The proportion of R&D expenditures among industrial enterprises above designated size in the city ranks first in the province, and the proportion of the output value of high-tech industries above designated size in the city increased from 36.89 percent at the end of 2018 to 44.31 percent in 2019, ranking sixth in the province.