Scholar pushing for quality over quantity in patents

The past several days have been Wei Zhen's first time to participate in the National People's Congress, and the experience has helped him more deeply understand the country's legislative process.

"What impressed me most is that the country's NPC deputies come from all walks of life. This can really help to allow opinions and suggestions from every corner of society to be heard, so that laws and related policies can protect the rights of all people," Wei said.

A professor of computer science at Hefei University of Technology, Wei has long been focused on China's patent development regime and its contribution to the country's innovation performance. This year, Wei suggested to the NPC that the government should help improve companies' innovative competency, and not judge success merely by the number of patents filed, but instead by those that actually bring new products to market.