Area planning to become leader in technological innovation, IP services

As a key local player in promoting high-tech industries, the ChinaSingapore Guangzhou Knowledge City in Guangzhou, Guangdong province has put its weight behind intellectual property services.

In 2019, the number of patent applications in the knowledge city reached 1,798, up 73.9 percent yearon-year, according to Zhou Yawei, a member of the standing committee of the Guangzhou Party committee and Party secretary of Huangpu district.

Approved as the only pilot field for the reform of IP utilization and protection by the State Council in 2016, the knowledge city has been driving technological innovation and leading industrial development in IP.

After four years of effort, the knowledge city has developed several modes that may be replicated elsewhere in fields including the innovation of IP systems, IP creation and international cooperation under the support of scientific and technological incubators, Zhou said.

Last year, its modes were listed by the China National Intellectual Property Administration as one of the first pilot projects and typical cases of building Guangdong into an IP powerhouse, Zhou added.

The knowledge city is the only place in the country to coordinate the management of all patents, trademarks and copyrights, according to Zhou.

It is home to more than 100 IP service providers ranging from the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court and the Guangdong IP protection center under the NIPA to the China-Singapore International IP Innovation Service Center.

In 2011, the Patent Examination Cooperation Guangdong Center of the Patent Office of the CNIPA was established in the knowledge city under the cooperation of the CNIPA, the Guangdong provincial government, the Guangzhou city government and the administrative committee of Guangzhou Development District.

It has become a major force in national patent examination over the past few years, according to local officials. To date, the center has completed 936,000 patent examinations, accounting for one-fifth of the country’s total. In addition, the center has set up 21 IP service work stations in a bid to increase the quality of patent applications from regional innovators, help industrial transformation and upgrading, and improve the local business environment.

Dong Cheng, deputy director of the center, said that as the first IP service institution launched at the knowledge city, the center plays a key role in collecting IP factors for IP reform. “Developing under the focus of a ‘knowledge economy’, the knowledge city has become a leading player in this sector around the country,” Dong said.

In Guangzhou’s 2020 city budget report, the government will provide the knowledge city with 4 billion yuan ($566 million) in financial support to help it become a national knowledge center with global influence, and promote the construction of its pilot zone. Next, the Patent Examination Cooperation Guangdong Center will help the knowledge city become a model area for IP protection, a pioneer in IP operation, a demonstration area for the development of high-end industries led by IP, and a frontier explorer in the innovation of IP institutions, according to Dong.