China Completes Three-Year Patent Transformation Initiative, Boosting High-Quality Development

A press conference held by the State Council Information Office on March 23 outlined the successful completion of China’s Special Action on Patent Transformation and Application (2023—2025), a three-year initiative that has injected new momentum into fostering new quality productive forces and advancing high-quality economic development.

Key achievements of the action include the first comprehensive inventory of 1.349 million existing patents across more than 2,700 universities and research institutions nationwide. From this inventory, 680,000 invention patents with strong transformation potential have been selected and accurately matched with 460,000 enterprises.

A program to promote patent industrialization for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has focused on nurturing nearly 9,000 high-growth SMEs, with over 3,000 model SMEs for patent industrialization cultivated during the period. Meanwhile, efforts to strengthen intellectual property (IP) for industrial chains have seen guidance provided for more than 300 segmented industrial chains, alongside the establishment of nearly 300 industrial IP operation centers.

During the initiative, approximately 80,000 invention patents from universities and research institutions were successfully industrialized. By the end of 2025, the industrialization rates of invention patents in universities and research institutions had risen to 10.1% and 17.2% respectively, marking significant increases from pre-action levels.

Patent transfer and licensing registrations reached 1.458 million times, a year-on-year increase of 48%, with universities and research institutions recording a 105.6% growth. In 2025, the turnover of technology contracts involving patents hit 1.18 trillion yuan, up 18.8% year-on-year. Key core technology patents have also been laid out in future industries such as quantum technology, biomanufacturing, brain-computer interfaces and 6G communications.

Data shows that the added value of China’s patent-intensive industries exceeded 18 trillion yuan in 2024, accounting for 13.38% of GDP and contributing steadily to economic growth. In 2025, the total import and export volume of IP royalties reached 425.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%, with export volume rising by 26.3%, reflecting stronger momentum in the overseas expansion of independent innovation achievements.

Efforts are now focused on establishing a long-term, effective mechanism for patent transformation, with more than 60 institutional mechanisms and policy measures summarized across 11 areas. Five key priorities have been identified to sustain progress, including building a long-term mechanism, consolidating quality foundations, optimizing policy orientation, releasing comprehensive benefits and fostering a sound ecosystem for patent transformation.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will focus on four key areas to further advance patent transformation, including enhancing targeted efforts in key industries, improving service capacity for industrial chain collaboration, strengthening implementation in transformation and application, and forming synergy in building patent pools in key manufacturing fields such as integrated circuits and photovoltaic industries.