The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently released the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) showing that BOE Technology Group Co Ltd (BOE) filed the greatest number of international patent applications in 2017.

Last year, BOE filed 8,678 new-patent applications, 85 percent of which were invention patents. BOE owns more than 3,000 overseas patents in the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and other countries and regions.

Data from IFI Claims shows that BOE ranked 21st among the Top 50 USPTO Patent Assignees in 2017, with its annual growth rate leading the list for two consecutive years.

"Chinese innovators are looking outward, spreading their ideas into emerging markets as the Chinese economy booms rapidly," said WIPO director general Francis Gurry, "It's a leap from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China'."

In China, the State Intellectual Property Office received about 1.4 million applications for invention patents in 2017, outnumbering the US, Japan, the ROK and Europe combined.

These facts and figures say loudly and clearly that China has nosed out Japan in second position as an international patent application source and will soon overtake the United States.

The 6th-generation flexible AMOLED display screen made by domestic leading screen maker BOE Technology. [Photo/www.cnr.cn]