《《Introduction The current state of innovation in China》.pdf

Thomson Reuters Bob Stembridge Introduction The current state of innovation in China Since 1949 the Communist government has • published patent application total volumes; implemented a series of five-year plans that have guided • local priority patent application volumes; and the development of China from a poor developing nation • international patent application volumes. to the second-largest global economy behind the United States in terms of both purchasing power and, more Using data from the Thomson Reuters value-added recently, gross domestic product (GDP). China has just patent collection Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI), completed the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economic the trends in patenting according to the numbers of and Social Development. This plan highlighted published patent applications can be compared for the innovation as a focus, and the corresponding science and five jurisdictions. technology plan articulated the country’s goal to become Looking at the total volumes of published patent an innovation-oriented society by 2020. Many of the applications from the five patent offices from 2006 to developments of the past five years illustrate how far 2010 (Figure 1), Japan has the highest volumes year-to- China has moved towards that goal. year during the period, but its lead narrows as the The recently released 12th Five-Year Plan sets a United States catches up. Europe and Korea have similar number of challenging goals aimed at continuing the volumes and growth trends. The striking difference transition from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China’. among these regions is in China – it is experiencing the In order to achieve this, the gove