Xiamen companies prove innovation can equal profits
Xiamen Solex High-tech Industries Co, which produces showers and faucets for some of the world’s leading bathroom brands including Grohe, Kohler and American Standard, is setting a good example to others with its extensive filing of patents.
Solex has filed more than 1,400 patent applications since 2005, of which 276 were granted worldwide, according to the company’s latest figures.
The company ranked second in the city of Xiamen and fourth in Fujian province among corporations by the number of invention patents dated to May 2018, according to the Xiamen intellectual property office.
“Since its establishment in 2004, our strategy is to win the market with strong design and research,” Cao Bin, deputy general manager of Solex’s research and development department, told China Daily.
It set up a research institute inside the company, comprised of 400 professionals, and invests nearly 6 percent of its annual earnings in R&D, Cao said. The company also put together an IP team to handle patent-related issues, he added.
“Original equipment manufacturers struggle to survive with low profit margins, but our input in R&D and emphasis on patent application enables our company to grow fast,” he said. “In this way, patents mean money.”
Businesses in Xiamen are becoming increasingly aware of IP protection, said Li Yanxiang, president of Xiamen Shouchuang Junhe Patent (Trademark) Agency Co.
The agency handled some 5,600 domestic patent applications in 2017 — rising from 1,500 in 2006 — of which 60 percent were from companies in Xiamen, Li said.
More than 100 international patent applications filed via the Patent Cooperation Treaty are from companies in Xiamen each year, she added.
“The companies, including many Taiwan-funded manufacturers, realize that patents can increase their competitiveness and help them make money,” Li said, adding that government promotions and incentives also work to encourage them to take action.
Tianma Microelectronics Group, an electronic display manufacturer, is a major contributor to the city’s patent applications.
The company holds core technologies in the field of low temperature polysilicon, or LTPS, which can be used in the displays of mobile phones. It has filed more than 1,600 patents to date, of which 80 percent are invention patents, said Zhong Jiansheng, board secretary of the Shenzhenlisted company.
Its market share in that area ranked No 1 in the world in terms of LTPS products and full-screen LCDs in the fourth quarter of 2017, Zhong said.
From April, invention patents possessed per 10,000 people in Xiamen reached 24.86, nearly seven times the amount recorded in 2010, according to the Xiamen intellectual property office. The index is much higher than the provincial and national levels, which stood at 8 and 9.8 at the end of last year, respectively.
Lu Linbing, director of the office, said it is lobbying to set up a regional IP protection center in Xiamen, which could further encourage invention among companies, universities, research institutes and individuals.