Issued by the State Intellectual Property Office, 107 patents belonging to 30 enterprises in Suining, a city of Sichuan province, were rewarded with 238 thousand yuan by local government at a conference convened recently.

Suining has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of local SMEs in creating innovations and protecting intellectual property rights by implementing reward incentives, resulting in a rapid growth of patent applications and grants.

In 2011 alone, the city has owned 450 and 227 patent filings and grants, increasing by 82.19% and 49.34% respectively. The accumulative number of invention patents and utility model patents accounted for 72% of the total while service invention patents took up 52.88%, indicating that patent quality and structure have been distinctly improved.

In a bid to promote patent commercialization, Suining IPO has taken steps including conducting surveys in entities, holding IP trainings, and introducing IP agent service. As a result, the commercialization rate has been significantly increased.

(Source:IPR in China)