China tops world with most sci-tech clusters

China tops the world with the largest number of sci-tech innovation clusters among the top 100 clusters globally for the first time, with 24 in total, Shen Changyu, head of the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA), said on Wednesday.

China has established itself as a major intellectual property (IP) country, Shen said at a press conference, adding that the country ranked 12th in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 

Sci-tech clusters are the areas in the world where the highest density of inventors and scientific workers are located.

As of September, the number of valid invention patents and trademarks in China has exceeded 4.8 million and 45.1 million, respectively, Shen said.

He added that China has ranked first in the world for the number of international patent applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for four consecutive years.

The added value of patent-intensive industries and the copyright industry accounted for 12.44 percent and 7.41 percent of the GDP, respectively, strongly boosting the high-quality development of the economy.

Shen said China has been continuously strengthening its efforts to protect IP rights.

The country has established a high-standard punitive compensation system for infringement of IP rights, built 103 national IP protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, and initiated the construction of national IP protection demonstration zones, he said.

In addition, China has continued to deepen international cooperation and exchanges on IP. The country has promoted the mutual recognition and protection of 244 geographical indication products between China and the European Union, Shen added. 

(With input from Xinhua)