China’s Patent Development Strategy is Ambitious

China is huge in terms of population and economic power. It’s the world’s factory and has plenty of successful imitated technologies in the country. But to be a true global leader, China understands that it has to innovate rather than imitate.

The solution is rather straightforward: promote innovation within the country by increasing patent counts. It has released its National Patent Development Strategy (English translated version here) and ‘ambitious’ is the only word which I can think of after looking through its goals – The country plans to have 2 million patent applications by 2015.

The 2 million figure includes patents that are “utility-model patents” (e.g. engineering features in a product) and “invention patents”, which are more valued. In the U.S, there are no utility patents and according to the U.S patent office there are about 480,000 patent applications in the 12 months ended in September. In case you have misunderstood, China isn’t just boosting quantity and neglecting quality. Just imagine half of these 2 million are invention patents. I’m sure the U.S will feel the threat.

To increase patent count, China is giving benefits and tax relief to patent creators. Internally, China is working to make its patent application process more efficient. It plans to have 9,000 patent examiners by 2015. The patent service industry is also part of the plan. China aims to improve the capacity of public and commercial patent services to meet the demand of its economic development.

The population will also receive patent-related education to understand the importance of patents. The goal is to create an innovative culture within the Chinese community. On an international level, China will collaborate with other countries to create a good external environment suitable for its patent development.

It’s inevitable that China will rise to dominance. But John Kao, an innovation consultant to governments and corporations told The New York Times that the United States has a comparative advantage because it is the country most open to innovation. He pointed out Silicon Valley as the capital of innovation assembly. It’s true but I wonder if China could one day create its own valley culture that will embrace failure and innovation with an Asian flavor. I can’t think of a reason why not though. Only time will tell. Feel free to share your thoughts with us.