Nearing the 21st World Intellectual Property Day, the People's Government of Shandong Province held a press conference on intellectual property progress of the whole province in 2020.

Hou Chengjun, Secretary of the Leading Party Member's Group and Director of Shandong Administration for Market Supervision, as well as Director of Shandong Intellectual Property Office, introduced the progress Shandong made in IP work during the 13th Five-Year Plan period and the major tasks and moves for 2021, and answered the questions of reporters.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Shandong saw a better environment for IP development, improvement in both quantity and quality in IP creation, comprehensive enhancement of IP protection, higher efficiency of IP utilization, and more convenience in IP public service. In the past five years, a total of 389,000 applications for invention patents were received, 106,000 of which were granted, and the number of international patent applications filed under the PCT was 10,192, 1.3 times, 2.1 times and 3.3 times of that in the 12th Five-Year Plan period, respectively; a total of 1.898 million applications for trademark registration were received, 1.225 million of which were approved, and the number of international trademark registration applications under the Madrid Protocol was 8,338, 4 times, 3.9 times and 5.9 times of that in the 12th Five-Year Plan period, respectively. By the end of 2020, the whole province held a total of 125,000 valid invention patents, 2.6 times of that by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan period; the number of valid invention patents owned by each 10,000 heads of population stood at 12.4, exceeding the goal of 12 set for the 13th Five-year Plan period; the number of valid registered trademarks was 1.61 million, 3.3 times of that by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan period; the whole province held 798 well-known trademarks under administrative determination, 792 GI trademarks and 80 GI protection products. In addition, 16 patents won golden medals of China Patent Awards.

The year 2021 marks the launch of the country's 14th Five-Year Plan. In the following period, Shandong will focus efforts on the "23456" strategy to boost high-quality IP development. "2" means to establish and make good use of the IP protection center and Shandong IP operation center; "3" means to launch the IP quality improvement project, trademark brand cultivation project and GI utilization promotion project; "4" means to formulate the strategic outline of Shandong for building a province strong on IP (2021-2035), the IP protection and utilization program during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the GP development program during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and revise the Act for the Encouragement of Intellectual Property; "5" means to strive to build the Shandong Branch of National Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response & Guidance Center, strive to build the IP big data center of the Yellow River basin, strive to be selected into the national special program of patent commercialization, establish the national demonstration area for GI product protection and build the overseas IP risk prevention and control system; "6" means to thoroughly launch the "Spring Bamboo Shoots" campaign, implement the opinions and measures of the country and the province on enhancing IP protection, thoroughly carry out IP navigation, vigorously cultivate high-value core IPRs, accelerate IPR transfer and commercialization, and establish the "one-window handling" integrated IP service system.(Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)