Dalian became the host city of the annual China International Patent Fair in 2002. Witnessing China's fast progress in the intellectual property field, Dalian itself has also transformed from a city mostly known for its well-tailored garment industry to a hub of patent technologies in North China.

In an interview with China Daily, Dai Yulin, Dalian's vice-mayor, said the fair host city will further improve its IPR system by combining judicial protection, administrative inspections and public supervision.

Scientific departments, industrial and commercial sectors, press and publication administration are all necessary to tighten protection on patents, trademarks and copyrights so as to form a comprehensive IPR protection system, said Dai.

He noted that municipal government officials will make additional efforts to nurture such intermediary agencies as patent and trademark agencies, law firms, assets evaluation agencies and technology trade centres, in order to supplement regional IPR development.

Dalian will further intensify IPR enforcement in its customs sector to crack down on any IPR violations in international trade activities, said Dai.

"On behalf of Dalian municipal government, I promise we will create a favourable market for both domestic and overseas investors with IPR credit," the vice-mayor said.

Dalian will also set up a centre for commercializing patented technologies.

Qingdao-based China Oceanography University has benefited from the patent platform in Dalian. The university brought to the fair a kind of automatic wave buoy system that can continuously monitor the height, movements and direction of sea waves. The system is used to monitor the ocean environment around-the-clock.

Starting three years ago, such system has been introduced to ocean observation stations in sea areas from Dalian to South China's Hainan Province, Xisha and Nansha sea areas, to replace a human-oriented observation network. Previously, the country had used workers to monitor wave movements for dozens of years. It was difficult for workers to monitor the wave environment at nights.

The system has helped gather wave data that is useful for the study of typhoon prevention. (China Daily 08/23/2004 page5)