World Intellectual Property Organization: China continues to lead international patent applications in 2020

　　On the 2nd local time, the World Intellectual Property Organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, released its latest report.

According to the report, despite the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the number of international patent applications filed through the World Property Organization in 2020 will continue to grow.

After China surpassed the United States in 2019 and became the largest source country for international patent applications filed through WIPO, China will continue to lead the world in the number of patent applications in 2020.

　　The report pointed out that the number of global patent applications in 2020 will increase by 4%, and the number of applications will reach 275,900, the highest number ever.

The number of patent applications in China increased by 16.1% year-on-year, ranking first in the world with 68,720.

The United States followed closely behind with 59,230 patent applications.

Japan, South Korea and Germany ranked third, fourth, and fifth.

　　The report data reflects the global innovation trend. The proportion of patent applications in Asian countries and regions has increased from 35.7% to 53.7% in the past 10 years.

Since the World Intellectual Property "Patent Cooperation Treaty" came into operation in 1978, the United States has consistently topped the list.

In 2019, China surpassed the United States for the first time to become the world's largest source of patent applications.

　　In addition, affected by the new crown epidemic, the number of international trademark applications filed through the World Property Organization in 2020 will be reduced by 0.6%, reaching 63,800, which is the first decline since the global financial crisis from 2008 to 2009.

The number of industrial design applications fell for the first time since 2006, by 15%, to 18,580.

　　The World Intellectual Property Report shows that in the past ten years, the increase in the number of global patent applications has exceeded the global GDP.

China Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. has become the largest source of applications for the fourth consecutive year.

Five of the top ten universities with the largest number of applications are from China.

From a field perspective, computer technology accounts for the largest proportion of global patent applications, followed by digital communications and medical technology.

(Headquarters reporter Xue Jingmeng)