Yu Chen, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration, said in an interview on September 9 that since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai has achieved simultaneous improvements in both the quantity and quality of intellectual property creation.

    Currently, Shanghai is accelerating the construction of an international intellectual property (IP) protection hub and an international IP center city. Through patent pre-examination services, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Protection Center has significantly boosted enterprise innovation. To date, it has received 991 pre-examination cases submitted by 135 joint-venture enterprises and 173 foreign-funded enterprises. Among them, 676 cases entered the fast-track examination channel, and 482 have already been granted rapid authorization. The average authorization period for invention patents has been shortened to 53 working days, with five patents approved in as few as 22 working days.

    “Intellectual property is the source of vitality for corporate innovation,” said Hu Jinpeng, R&D Director of Shanghai Shape Memory Alloy Materials Co., Ltd. “The core value of IP lies in driving industrial upgrading and enhancing market competitiveness. Now that invention patent authorization cycles are much shorter than under traditional processes, our core technologies gain legal protection at the fastest speed, new product R&D and market launches accelerate, and R&D personnel receive faster feedback. This greatly enhances competitiveness in international markets — our products have already entered more than ten countries including Germany and France.”

    From the perspective of encouraging innovation, patent pre-examination services raise enthusiasm for R&D, accelerate breakthroughs in core technological challenges, and give enterprises a valuable edge in market competition.

    “How can innovation entities enter the ‘fast lane’ of IP protection?” Hu noted: “By cooperating with world-class IP service agencies, we integrate patent analysis deeply into corporate strategy, R&D project planning, and risk-warning systems, which has made our innovation path much more precise and controllable.”

    “Tech startups often focus solely on innovation at the beginning. Thanks to Shanghai’s favorable IP ecosystem, we have enhanced IP awareness since the early days of our company,” said Zhou Min, Public Affairs Director of Westwell Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai has comprehensively strengthened its IP ecosystem, including encouraging enterprises to apply for pilot and demonstration projects in IP work. Westwell has applied for more than 200 IP rights through independent innovation, helping accelerate global business expansion.

    “For SMEs looking to explore international markets, IP protection has long been a compulsory course,” Zhou added. Since Westwell won the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Global Award in 2023, its user base has grown from 160 to 200, with new business expansion into Singapore and Peru.

    Yu Chen further introduced that as of the first half of 2025, Shanghai had 293,700 valid invention patents, a year-on-year increase of 12.21%. The number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people reached 62, up 14.6%. In the first half of this year, Shanghai filed 2,987 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) international patent applications, a year-on-year increase of 7.87%.

    Alongside this “high concentration” of invention patents, Shanghai is vigorously implementing a special action plan for patent commercialization. In promoting effective utilization of IP, the city has built a multi-level IP operation service system, reviewing 72,600 stock patents from universities, research institutes, and medical institutions. Among them, 49,000 patents have entered the national pool of convertible patent resources, with over 9,600 successfully converted. Initiatives include launching a “patent supermarket” featuring “low-price transactions and high-frequency circulation,” supporting companies like Ele.me in exploring new open-source patent models, and releasing China’s first batch of open-source patents publicly listed on the national technology element market.

    In addition, Shanghai has strengthened overseas IP protection and deployment. The city has built an overseas IP dispute early-warning information platform, leveraged four overseas dispute response guidance platforms, set up seven overseas enterprise IP service stations, and established 38 grassroots rights-protection and assistance stations.

    Source: China News Service