China skyrockets in international IP development rankings

China has made marked progress in intellectual property development, with its international ranking improving from 13th position in 2017 to No 8 last year among 40 major countries by IP composite index, according to a recent report.

The annual report was released by the Intellectual Property Development & Research Center, affiliated with the National Intellectual Property Administration. It created two IP development assessment systems - one domestic and one international - composed of an array of indexes at different levels.

The domestic system mainly covers four aspects - IP creation, use, protection and environment. They are further comprised of 11 indexes at the secondary level, which will be judged by another 55 detailed indicators.

In 2018, China's IP composite index was reported at 257.4, an increase of 17.9 percent from a year earlier. The score was 100 in 2010.

The country's indexes of IP creation and use increased by 15.2 percent and 28.5 percent year-on-year respectively. As for the indexes of protection and environment, the country witnessed a rise of 17.8 percent and 12.5 percent respectively.

With a score of 86.46, Guangdong was the top region to be ranked on a scale of 0 to 100. It was closely followed by Jiangsu at 85.08 and Beijing at 84.50.

Shandong took fifth position, after Shanghai. Zhejiang ranked No 6, with a score above 80.

The marked improvements are closely related to the country's efforts in creating new mechanisms, public service platforms and promoting industries in a bid to facilitate the workflow along the IP industrial chain from creation and use to protection and management, according to the report.

The measures help innovators and creators to manage IP assets from a commercial prospective, which is conducive to IP creation and protection. That has, in turn, promoted the country's growing strengths in utilizing and profiting from IP assets, the report said.

Yet the unbalanced development between eastern coastal regions and western inland provinces has yet to be changed, the report found.

Eight provinces and autonomous regions in western China scored below 60, in sharp contrast with the eastern municipalities and provinces at the forefront of the country.

When it comes to the international assessment system, which reviewed the data of 40 countries in 2017, the United States was at the top. It was followed by Japan, South Korea and Switzerland.

China was ranked No 8, moving up five positions from the previous year.

The international system focuses on three indexes - the IP environment, capacities and performance.

Of them, China has performed better in the latter two aspects in recent years. The report indicated the country needs to work more on improving its business environment.

(China Daily 06/27/2019 page17)