By the end of 2020, Zhejiang’s total effective amount of invention patents reached 199,000. By 2020, patent applications was 531,000 and patent authorized was 392,000 pieces, increased by 21.7% and 37.3% respectively. There are 50,000 invention patents were granted annually, an annual increase of 46.9%, ranking third in China; 4,307 PCT international patent applications (PCT is an international cooperation treaty in the field of patents), an increase of 70.6%, and the growth rate was the first in China for four consecutive years. There are 34.1 valid invention patents per 10,000 people, an annual increase of 21.8%, ranking fourth in China.
First-level data show that after Zhejiang's patent applications bottomed out in February, they ushered in a sharp rebound. By the end of the first quarter, it had returned to the level of the same period last year; by the end of the second quarter, the number of companies that had patent activities and the number of monthly patent applications reached a relatively high level, 29,000 and 167,000 respectively, an increase of 20.4% And 20.1% over the same period last year. By the end of the fourth quarter, it reached a year high. The number of active enterprises and patent applications reached 52,000 and 393,000, rose 22.3% and 25.5%, respectively.
In terms of increments and growth rates over the years, the province’s patent authorizations maintained an average annual growth rate of approximately 15.4%, with an average annual increase of approximately 31,000 authorized patents, and 107,000 new authorized patents in 2020, an increase of approximately 37.3%. Both the number and the growth rate reached a record high, and the number and growth rate of authorized patents continued to rank first in China.
From the perspective of patent quality, the authorization ratio (authorization volume/application volume) in 2020 was 73.8%, an increase of 8.3 percentages each year, of which the percentage of invention patent authorizations increased by 9.5 percentages.
In 2020, Zhejiang innovative entities filed 4307 PCT international patent applications, ranking fourth in the country; ranking PCT application growth rate of 70.6%, ranking first in the country for four consecutive years. From the perspective of field distribution, applications are mainly distributed in three fields of new-generation information technology (33.9%), life and health (19.2%), and high-end equipment manufacturing (11.4%). The number of applications was 1,459, 827, and 489, respectively.
In terms of the number of regions, Hangzhou and Ningbo are still the main force in PCT applications. The two regions have a total of 2,707 applications, accounting for about 62.9% of the province's share. From the perspective of the increase in applications from various regions, there are six cities with an increase exceeding the average of the province in 2020, namely Lishui, Huzhou, Jinhua, Wenzhou, Hangzhou and Jiaxing. They contributed 1,421 increments, accounting for 79.7% of the province’s increments.
In 2020, Zhejiang Province passed 8,115 high-value patents through the "fast pre-examination" and "priority examination" green channels, an increase of 209.7% over the same period, of which 7,856 were invention patents, accounting for 96.8%. The number of patent applications through the fast pre-examination channel and the priority examination channel were 3,027 and 5,088, respectively, an increase of 12.7 times and 1.1 times each year.
From the perspective of the authorized area, the average authorization period of invention patents through the fast pre-examination of the green channel has been shortened from 20 months to an average of 74 days. In terms of the authorization rate, among the 1544 patents that have been reviewed, 1146 were authorized, and the authorization rate reached 74.2%, which was about 30% higher than the average authorization rate. The quality of patent applications submitted through the green channel was significantly improved, which strongly supported Zhejiang High Quality technological innovation and the patent layout of the three major technological innovation highlands.
According to statistics, in 2020, 63,000 patents were transferred in Zhejiang Province, an increase of more than 34.9%, ranking third in the country. Among the transferred patents, there were 2281 patents registered for transaction, with a transaction value of nearly 500 million US dollars, an increase of about 119% and 118% each time; 4,722 patents used for pledge financing, an annual increase of about 65%, and a pledge amount of 40.11 billion U.S. dollars, a cumulative increase of about 132%; 1467 new patents allowed to be implemented by others, an annual increase of about 196%, to a cumulative total of 25,000. The data shows that Zhejiang Province’s patent operations have significantly increased, with improved applications and further manifestations.
From the perspective of the types of patent transfers in various provinces, Zhejiang Province had 23,600 appointments of patents, 19,100 transferred patents, and a net inflow of 4,500 patents. The province's foreign patents are mainly concentrated in the six provinces and municipalities of Jiangsu, Yuehui, Shanghai, Beijing, and Shandong, and the total number of patents granted is about 70%. Among them, the three provinces of Jiangsu, Huizhou, and Zhejiang are mainly for sale, and the three provinces and cities of Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai are mainly for dating. In the province, 20,000 patents were transferred. From the distribution point of view, the patents in Hangzhou and Ningxia were mainly transferred, and Jiajintai and other places were mainly used for dating.
