Talent Development is the Cornerstone for Achieving IP Development

May 25, 2021

A series of events themed “The Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) Intellectual Property Talent Supply and Demand Coordination Events” (the Greater Bay Area Intellectual Property Talent Events) including the Greater Bay Area IPR Talent Development Conference was inaugurated in Guangzhou on May 18, 2021. The events were jointly organized by the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation (Guangdong Intellectual Property Administration), the Intellectual Property Department of Hong Kong SAR Government and the Economic and Technological Development Bureau of Macao SAR Government, in a hybrid form, with supports from the WIPO Office in China (WOC) and China IP Training Center. Ms. Liu Hua, Director of the WOC, attended the Opening Ceremony of the Events and deliver a video speech.

In her speech, Director Liu Hua mentioned that IP, as an important area of exchange between mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, an important safeguard for promoting the development of the Greater Bay Area, and the core competitiveness of its innovation development, has received wider attention. The event, which aims to deepen and promote IP exchanges and cooperation among the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao with a global perspective, fits well with this contemporary context of building the Greater Bay Area into a first-class level.

She said that 2020 was a special year when the world experienced the profound change and pandemic ever seen in a century, the global economy was hit hard. Despite this, the Greater Bay Area has demonstrated outstanding hard-core IP strength, with Guangdong Province continuing to deliver notable results.

Data shows that Guangdong ranked first in the country for five consecutive years in the total number of projects awarded the China Patent Award; it also ranked first in the country for eight consecutive years in the comprehensive development index of IP, and ranked first in the country for four consecutive years in the comprehensive capacity of regional innovation. 2020, the number of patents granted in Guangdong increased by 34.57% year-on-year, and the number of PCT international patent applications increased by 13.64% year-on-year, accounting for 41.79% of the national total.

Director Liu Hua noted that according to the 2020 Global Index of Innovation (GII) released by WIPO, China hosts 17 of the top global science and technology clusters, with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster taking the 2nd in the world after Tokyo-Yokohama, demonstrating the strong development of innovation activities in the Greater Bay Area.

She stressed that the rapid growth of IP had created a strong demand for talent and that WIPO was not only a golden knowledge asset, but also provided five sets of keys leading to it. One of these keys - capacity building - is the WIPO Academy, which provides global learning services in the field of IP, including Joint Master's degrees in IP programs with prestigious universities, general and specialized IP training for government officials and public sector officials, E-learning for IP courses at introductory and advanced levels in up to ten languages, and short IP courses including summer schools for university students and young professional, will fully meet the needs of multi-level and multi-background IP talent needs and talent development and enhancement.

She expressed that China is an important member of WIPO, as an extension of WIPO in China, the WOC will continue to spare no effort in providing more targeted, more timely and higher-quality IP services to the all stakeholders in China. WIPO looks forward to a more fruitful cooperation with the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area.