China needs a culture of creative innovation

Here are several tools by which we can measure the level of innovation in a country. In China there is often a focus on numbers of patents, university graduates and scientific papers.

The authorities have set quantitative targets for patents as a measure of innovation, and the number granted has subsequently increased. However, a recent European Chamber of Commerce in China paper has shown that the number of invention patents, which represent innovative advances, is substantially lower than the number of utility patents, which represent incremental adjustments. Moreover, there are a worrying number of malicious patent grants that appear to be aimed at litigation gains. There is also a higher proportion of foreign to domestic patent filings than elsewhere.

Subsidizing domestic entities to file patents does not encourage quality but quantity. China's emphasis on patent quantity targets can have the effect of undermining the development of patent culture. Five year plans and numerical targets can damage the flowering of innovation in society.