In the first six months this year, domestic patent applications in Heze, a city in east China's Shandong province, hit 1,590, ranking the 12th across the province and increasing by 74.15% with the growth rate ranking the 1st in Shandong. Applications on inventions, utility models and designs amounted to 302, 1184 and 104, accounting for 18.99%, 74.47% and 6.54% respectively.
An official from the municipal intellectual property office said that the overall innovation capacity of the city has been constantly enhanced and the patent awareness has been significantly increased. Whereas, the number of applications on high tech inventions is relatively small and local enterprises haven’t play a full role in creating innovations. Among the patent applications filed by individuals recently, those on utility models and designs account for a large proportion, which are more difficult to be applied in production and have less contribution to industrial and economic development compared to invention patents submitted by enterprises. Nowadays, invention patent applications, grants and growth rate are considered as key indicators in evaluating local economic performance. Therefore, competent enterprises and research institutions are encouraged to make every effort to create and innovate.
(Source: IPR in China)
