Key Interpretation of GII 2021

September 26, 2021

As one of 2021 ZGC Parallel Forums, the Forum on Global Intellectual Property Protection and Innovation organized by the WIPO Office in China (WOC), in cooperation with Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office (BJIPO) and ZGC Group, was held on September 24 in Beijing, China. Renowned experts and scholars from home and abroad discussed the opportunities and challenges of scientific and technological innovation and intellectual property in the era of global change and transformation, which will provide reference for international scientific and technological innovation cooperation, intellectual property protection and global operation.

At the Opening Session, Yin Yong, Vice Mayor of Beijing, pointed out that GII 2021 shows, China has made continuous progress from ranking 14th last year to 12th this year, and in terms of innovation clusters, Beijing ranks third, one spot up from last year, which showcasing the creativity of China including Beijing. Marco M. Alemán, Assistant Director General of WIPO, who shared the significance and impact of the GII 2021, attributed China's remarkable progress in the innovation rankings to its decades-long investment in science and technology, as well as its persistent innovation planning, policy implementation and evaluation. He Zhimin, Deputy Commissioner of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), pointed out that the intellectual property system, being an internationally accepted basic system to protect and encourage innovation, and to optimize the business environment, has a profound impact on the development of frontier technologies and future industries. The CNIPA has made great efforts to improve the legal and policy system of intellectual property rights, and measures to promote and protect them, creating a sound environment for innovation and business.

Yao Weihao, Director of the Science and Technology Development Department of Peking University and a member of WIPO GII Academic Advisory Board, moderated the Session of Key Interpretations of the GII 2021.

Dr. Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, co-editor of the GII 2021 from WIPO, presented the state of global innovation and the impact of COVID-19 on innovation. He said that China has been the only middle-income country breaking into the top 30 for many years. China is also helping to bridge the gap between high- and middle-income groups. It's a role model for many other countries.

Liang Zhixiang, Senior Vice President of Baidu Group and a member of the WIPO GII Advisory Board, said that in Baidu's search for the word "innovation" these days, the first page is basically a reading of GII 2021 articles. This reflects the enormous influence of GII and the widespread interest in China's progress in innovation. In the face of uncertainty, innovation is needed more than ever to drive development, he said.

Song Hefa, Deputy Dean of the Intellectual Property School at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the growth of innovation clusters in middle-income economies is strong, and the international innovation pattern fluctuates drastically. With 19 innovation clusters on the Top 100 list, China is transforming from a major importer of intellectual property to a major creator.

Xie Hongxing, Director of Bluetech Clean Air Alliance and core committee member of WIPO GREEN, said that due to the impact of COVID-19, green technology, medical and digital technology have become the focus of economic recovery in major countries.

Liu Hua, Director of WOC, summed up the state of global innovation with four key words. First, resilient. Despite the massive disruption of the Pandemic on the world economy, the innovative sector has shown remarkable resilience. Second, uneven. Sectors such as the Internet, information and communication technology (ICT), medical and biotechnology were developing rapidly at the time of Pandemic, while the transport and travel sectors were heavily hit. Third, rising Asia. A number of Asian economies, including the Republic of Korea, Singapore, China, and Japan, have performed strongly, and the core region of global innovation vitality has moved further eastward. Fourth, IP. The global value of intangible assets has now reached $65.7 trillion, more than the combined size of the US and Chinese economies.

In the keynote speech session, Randall R. Rader, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Eiichi Yamamoto, Director of IP Department, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Beijing Representative Office, Steve Rowan, Vice President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Chen Yan, General Manager of China Patent Technology Development Corporation, Rui Songyan, Senior Judge of Beijing IP Court, Ding Mingda, Deputy Director of the Huairou Science City, Luiz Henrique Do Amaral, President of the International Association For The Protection Of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), and Diao Yunyun, Vice President for Legal Affairs of Tencent Beijing Branch, delivered a speech, respectively.

About the Parallel Forum on Intellectual Property of ZGC Forum

Since 2018, the Parallel Forum on Intellectual Property of ZGC Forum has been successfully held for four sessions, attracting wide attention both at home and abroad. It has become an important name card to showcase Beijing’s intellectual property brand and an important platform for exchanges, cooperation and collaborative innovation among the global intellectual property community. This year's forum also held activities including signing ceremony and launching ceremony, attracting more than 200 participants from government agencies, research institutions, science and technology enterprises, well-known universities, financial institutions, service organizations and news media, and more than 10,000 people watched the live broadcast online.