China leads World in top sci-tech clusters

BEIJING: As China takes a leading role in technological innovation around the world, its efforts to help Chinese enterprises protect their intellectual property rights overseas have increased, an official from the country’s top IP regulator said.
Shen Changyu, head of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, told a news conference on Wednesday that China had 24 “top 100 science and technology clusters” by the end of last year, ranking first in the world for the first time.
The ranking was issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization in its Global Innovation Index 2023.
According to the index, the top 100 science and technology clusters were concentrated in three regions last year — North America, Europe and Asia — and more specifically in two countries: China and the United States.
For the first time last year, China was the economy with the most clusters ranked among the top 100, overtaking the US’ 21 clusters, the same as in 2022, the index showed. Shen said the achievement was due to the improvement in the quality and quantity of domestic innovation.
He said China authorized 921,000 invention patents last year, up 15.3 percent year-on-year. Shen emphasized that IP rights are crucial for an enterprise’s international competitiveness, adding that the administration has taken effective measures to help domestic companies strengthen IP protection when going global. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item