Source: China IP News

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), along with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the Gazette on the Data of Added Value Generated by Patent-Intensive Industries in 2018. The combined added value of these industries stood at 10.709 trillion yuan in 2018, contributing 11.6% to the country's GDP. It was the first time China officially announced the data.

According to the gazette, the data released this time are based on the IP (Patent) Intensive Industry Statistical Classification (2019) (Order No. 25 of NBS) and uses the results of the fourth national economic census for accounting. China's patent-intensive industries are divided into seven categories according to their economic activities. Going into the specifics, new equipment manufacturing sector ranked the first in 2018, generating 3.2833 trillion yuan of added value, accounting for 30.7% of the country's total; Information and communication technology sector was 2.1551 trillion yuan, 20.1%; Information and communication technology service sector was 1.9472 trillion yuan, 18.2%; New material manufacturing industry was 1.413 trillion yuan, 13.2%; Pharmaceutical and medical services was 946.5 billion yuan, 8.8%; Services of R&D, design and technology was 721.5 billion yuan, 6.7%; Environmental protection industry was 242.4 billion yuan, 2.3%.

A principal from the Strategic Planning Department of CNIPA said that amid the latest round of technological and industrial revolution, compared with traditional elements such as labor and capital, IP is playing an increasingly important role in spurring economic growth. Research from the United States and the European Union showed that the IP-intensive industries are key to driving economic growth and maintaining a competitive edge.

According to the above-mentioned statistical classification, IP (patent) intensive industries refer to the industries whose rate of patent concentration and scale meet the prescribed standards, whose market competition is determined by IP and which is a collection of industries banging with innovation development trend.

In recent years, CNIPA has vigorously nurtured and developed IP (patent) -intensive industries, constantly improving the statistical and research work on patent-intensive industries. In 2019, CNIPA and NBS jointly developed and formulated the National Statistical Standard for IP (Patent) Intensive Industry Statistical Classification (2019), which was officially implemented on April 1 of that year. Based on that, the two administrations have jointly established a mechanism for accounting and issuing added value of patent-intensive industries.

According to the same principal, this data release marked the official start of the accounting and release mechanism of added value of China's patent-intensive industries. In the next step, CNIPA will release such data on an annual basis to reflect the progress of nurturing and growth of emerging industries and to support government's informed decision-making.