On Dec.15th and 16th, the Patent Agent Qualification Examination was held simultaneously in 15 cities.

This year marks the 11th anniversary of the exam. The number of examinees who signed up for the exam exceeded 10,000 for the first time, hit a record high. It was a 34.7% increase compared with last year. There were also 35 examinees coming from Hongkong and Macao. At the same time, 2,839 examinees are master degree holders and the number of associate degree holder examinees saw a 150.67% increase.

In terms of technical fields, the exam covered different sectors namely mechanics, electricity, chemistry and etc. Examinees registered for mechanics sector were as high as 4,300. In terms of the careers field diversity, there were company employees, workers from patent agencies, R&D personnel, and etc. Civil servants and freelancers enjoyed the highest growth of examinee number, 93.56% and 91.5% respectively.

Up till now, there are already more than 10,000 people who passed the exam and became qualified patent agents, and there are more than 6,000 qualified agents are now working in the industry.