For five years in a row, China has topped the world in patent applications, and it has been emerging as a dynamic engine of global innovation, reports Xinhua.
A report by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows China registered 1.1 million patents in 2015, the first country to file more than a million patent applications in a year.
This totaled almost as many applications as the top three runners-up combined, referring to the United States (578,000 applications), Japan (325,000) and South Korea (214,000).
China saw the highest annual growth rate of 18.7 per cent.
By sector, applications filed by Chinese innovators mostly related to high-tech fields, including electrical engineering, computer technology, semiconductors and measuring instruments.
Over the past five years, China witnessed a boom in intellectual property development, with the number of patent applications exceeding four million. About 30 percent have been approved. The number has grown 1.5 times compared with "the 11th Five-Year Plan" period.
In 2016, China, for the first time, advanced into the world’s top 25 most-innovative economies, according to the Global Innovation Index by WIPO. China’s patent-intensive industry, accounting for one third of total employment, has contributed 10 per cent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP).