China got two seats out of five in the first World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Global Awards program, marking the country with the most winners, according to WIPO on Tuesday.

The program, launched by the WIPO, aims to recognize "exceptional enterprises and individuals using intellectual property (IP) to make a positive impact" around the world, according to its website. Its first program celebrated small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which constitute the backbone of the worldwide economy.

Julius Akinyemi, a juror of the program commented on the award "a way to amplify the importance of IP as an asset, because people in many places don't know that intangibles create value."

The five winners were competing from among 272 companies spanning 62 countries. The winners, from China, Japan, the Netherlands and Singapore, concentrate on early cancer detection, energy-saving lights, water recycling, dementia diagnosis and enhanced medical imaging.

"The winners of the inaugural WIPO Global Awards are each working to build a better world. Now our five winning SMEs will benefit from WIPO's support to help their business to grow," said Daren Tang, director general of the WIPO.

The two SMEs from China are located in east of the country's Shanghai and Jiangsu Province.

Shanghai SHYLON Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., is dedicated to the design, production and marketing in outdoor lighting with light-emitting diode(LED) technology. It was identified as "Technologically Advanced Small and Medium-sized Enterprise of 2021" by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Located in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, RAYCAN Technology Co., Ltd. (Suzhou), specializes in development and production of radiation detection and imaging equipment. The company has obtained over a hundred patents in the United States, Germany and Japan.

WIPO, a self-funding agency of the United Nations, is a global forum for IP services, policy, information and cooperation.