The increasing industrialization of patents in China has accelerated the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are active in patent innovation, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) said on Monday.

As of November, the proportion of valid domestic invention patents held by enterprises was 73.5 percent, with a significant number of these patents owned by SMEs, CNIPA spokesperson Liang Xinxin said at a press conference.

Of the valid invention patents held by SMEs in China in 2024, 75.3 percent are related to independently developed inventions, an increase of 3.9 percentage points compared to last year, and the industrialization rate of valid invention patents held by SMEs in the country has reached 55.1 percent, an increase of 3.6 percentage points from last year, Liang said.

Senior CNIPA official Wang Peizhang said that by working with central government departments and local governments, the CNIPA is promoting collaborative innovation and technological integration between SMEs, universities and research institutions, in order to accelerate the growth of SMEs via patent commercialization.