In 2011, Chinese biotech industry is on a comfortable path of patenting in 2011, according sources from SIPO's Planning and Development Department. The industry obtained 12,081 invention patents, up 40.4%. Domestic users contributed 9,392, , accounting for 77.7% and up 51.0%, growing four times faster than foreign ones (12.8%).

Among the top ten invention applicants, universities are twice as prolific as companies.  The top 10 are Zhejiang University (75), Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (70), Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical Company (46), Jiangnan University (40), Beijing Lvyuan Qiuzheng Science and Technology Development Company (35), Tsinghua University (34), China Agriculture University (32), Harbin Institute of Technology (29), Koninklijke Philips Electronics (27) and South China University of Technology (26).  

Domestic users dominate all sub-disciplines except biomedical engineering.  Bioagriculture logged the most noticeable growth in 2011 with 1,394 grants (up 68.6%), 1,204 of which belonging to Chinese nationals, six times over those from overseas.

In the field of biomedical engineering industry, 847 invention patents were granted to foreign applicants, mostly companies, 713 more than those granted to domestic applicants. The biomedical engineering has become a strategic priority for foreign companies' patenting in China.

(China IP News)