China Leads the World in AI Related Patent Filing

September 28, 2021

On September 27, the Sub-Forum on Artificial Intelligence of 2021 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit was co-organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in Wuzhen. Ms. Liu Hua, Director of WIPO Office in China (WOC) attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Ms. Liu Hua noted that, intellectual property (IP), as an important legal system to incentivize innovation, accompanies the development of AI. IP system provides basic rules and order for the innovative activities in the field of AI, and promotes the commercialization and industrialization of AI technology. The innovation of each technology, product and business model in the field of AI development involves specific IP achievements. Ensuring that the current IP system continues to foster innovation and creation in the age of AI is the most important tasks of our time.

As the leading agency in the field of IP, WIPO has also been committed to promoting forward-looking and up-to-date IP systems and services in the digital age, facilitating the development of cutting-edge technologies in member states, and bringing innovation and creativity to the benefit of everyone. The WIPO’s global policy and law platform, registration systems, databases, cooperation platforms and capacity building system are the five sets of golden keys to WIPO's golden knowledge assets.

Since 2019, WIPO has also organized four sessions of the WIPO Conversation on IP and Frontier Technologies, released the issue draft of IP policy and AI during this period, initiated the process of public comment, brought together stakeholders as much as possible to participate in the discussion, help define the most pressing problems faced by the IP policy makers in the field of AI, and promote public dialogue and knowledge building on AI and IP.

China has always been a close partner of WIPO and also a model for implementing the strategy of IP-led innovation and development. This can be attributed to China's advanced policy planning, implementation and evaluation. China has made remarkable achievements in the AI-related IP protection. In the past decade, China has filed 389,571 patents in the area of AI, accounting for 74.7 percent of the global total and ranking the first in the world.

According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021 just released by WIPO on September 20, China ranked 12th in the GII, moving up two places from 2020, and has moved steadily up the ranking for nine consecutive years. China is the only upper middle income economies breaking into the top 15, maintains leadership in 10 indicators including applications of patents, utility models, trademarks, and industrial designs as well as creative good export and so on, boasts 19 of the top science and technology clusters worldwide, ranks the second globally -- with Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing in the 2nd and 3rd spots, respectively. China has become a global leader in innovation.

Ms. Han Xia, Chief Engineer of MIIT, pointed out that, in the development of China's AI industry, the first is to persist in innovation-driven and consolidate the foundation for development. Aiming at key areas such as AI core algorithms, smart chips, and open-source open platforms, strengthen joint innovation of industry, academia and research, and continuously break through key core technologies in the field of AI. The second is to improve the industrial ecology and tap the potential of the industry. Accelerate the cultivation of a group of leading companies in the industry chain, promote the construction of an open source and open industry ecosystem, strengthen cross-industry linkage and cross-regional coordination, promote the development of the intelligent industry with characteristics, clusters, and scale. The third is to improve the governance system and ensure safe development. Jointly explore and build a harmonious, friendly, safe and credible AI governance mechanism with countries around the world. Improve governance rules in terms of law and ethics, and continue to improve governance capabilities in data usage and security assurance. The fourth is to expand open cooperation and share the responsibilities of the times. Strengthen the integration of policies, rules, and standards, work together to create an open, fair, and collaborative development environment, maintain the stability and smoothness of the global smart industry chain supply chain, and form a new situation of international cooperation of mutual consultation, joint construction, sharing and win-win.

In the keynote speech session, Mr. Dong Jiahong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of the School of Clinical Medicine of Tsinghua University, Mr. Gabriele Bertolli, Director of EU Communication Network Content and Technology Division, Mr. Tang Jie, Vice President of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, Mr. Gao Tongqing, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile and Mr. Zhang Ping'an, Executive Vice President, CEO of Cloud BU, President of Consumer Cloud Service, Huawei introduced development strategy of intelligent health care ecosystem, EU initiatives on AI support and regulation, Machine Learning Mode, in-depth integrated development of AI and multiple information technologies and basic innovation of AI, respectively. In the panel discussion session, guest speakers shared their insights and views on building the promising future of trustworthy AI and AI empowering the "double carbon" strategy.

Sub-Forum on Artificial Intelligence

Themed "AI：Create New Advantages of Intelligence Economy", the Sub-Forum invited domestic and foreign government leaders, well-known scholars, executives and representatives of international organizations in the field of AI to share their ideas and exchange their experience. The forum attracted more than 100 participants from the AI industry, universities, and enterprises.