Arrays of office buildings are seen in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]
The Hubei Intellectual Bureau released a national intellectual property right (IPR) recommendation list on March 11, which included the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ).
The trial spanned two years from 2022 to 2024, during which China National Intellectual Property Administration will strengthen guidance and support projects of the trial zone, which will also receive various forms of assistance from provincial and municipal IPR bureaus.
Last year, WEDZ rolled out incentive policies to allocate at least 20 million yuan ($3.14 million) every year to reward enterprises whose patents and brands have been officially approved. The zone's cumulative expenditures on such rewards have already surpassed 20 million yuan for the past three years.
Over 2021, the zone had 8,490 patents authorized, a 152.27-percent annual increase, and 62 international patents had been applied for under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, doubling the 2020 figure.
The average rate of ownership of high-value invention patents reached 120 per 10,000 people, ranking highly among the country’s economic and development zones.
