Global companies innovate in China

By Zhang Zhao | China Daily | Updated: 2016-06-08 08:52

Global industry leaders have been intensifying their innovation efforts in China and responding keenly to the Chinese market and policies over recent years, according to PatSnap, a patent research and management agency.

The agency's findings have supported the listing of the top 10 multinational companies for best innovation practices in China, announced at the CBN Tech & Innovation Conference held on May 30 and 31.

Siemens, Toyota, Samsung, Intel, Boeing, Honeywell, Philips, General Electric, Bosch and Caterpillar were the top 10 innovators.

The China Business Network Co, organizer of the conference, cooperated with a number of consultation firms including PatSnap to conduct the listing, based on patent data and questionnaires.

As the exclusive patent data supporter, PatSnap studies how companies have made technical innovations in China and the influence those achievements have had on China and other regions by analyzing their patent activities in China.

The multinational companies started their patent strategies early in China, and their numbers of patent applications have increased rapidly in recent years, said Zeng Qinghua, a senior patent analyst at PatSnap.

The agency said most of the multinational companies' research and development achievements in China are protected in the form of invention patents. Despite many research and development facilities in China, the companies usually file patent applications in the name of their global headquarters.

"Most multinational companies are paying increasing attention to their innovation activities in China, and are increasing their investment in China, seeing it as an important base for their global innovation map," Zeng said.

She added that the most dynamic areas include the electronics, auto and aerospace industries.

"The internet is becoming a traditional industry and part of the socioeconomic infrastructure," Zeng said. "Artificial intelligence, robotics, cognitive technologies, virtual reality and augmented reality and genetic technologies are presenting a newer vision of the future."

The innovation achievements of the multinational companies' Chinese R&D teams will "give inspiration and ideas to domestic companies on one hand, and intensify competition on the other," she said. "Chinese companies have to pay more attention to innovation to push forward the industrial revolution in China.

"At the same time, the innovation efforts of the global giants will serve as examples and reference for Chinese companies during their international development, in fields such as localized innovation and global patent deployment."