China has scaled up policy support for the coordinated development and international cooperation on intellectual property (IP) of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, said the country's IP regulator on Thursday.
The region has stepped up efforts on the development of IP creation, application, protection, management, and service, which has significantly optimized the local innovation and business environment, Liang Xinxin, spokesperson for the National Intellectual Property Administration, told a press conference in the country's Xiong'an New Area in Hebei Province.
In 2023, seven industrial IP operation centers were set up in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Xiong'an New Area, involving many key industries such as photovoltaic generation, modern chemical engineering, energy Internet, satellite Internet, cybersecurity, and nuclear energy.
The administration has established seven national-level IP protection centers and rapid IP protection centers in the region, providing innovative entities with "one-stop" services integrating rapid pre-examination, rights confirmation, and rights protection.
The centers have accepted 32,900 patent pre-trial cases and 29,300 IP protection cases, Liang noted.
Up to now, 19 technology and innovation support centers have been built in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and more centers are expected to be set up in Xiong'an.
Liang also highlighted the importance of international IP exchanges and cooperation. Liang said the opening up of the IP service industry in the region will be carried out in an orderly manner and support will be given to Tsinghua University and the WIPO Academy in jointly cultivating high-level international talent with master's degrees in IP and innovative policies.
Beijing will be supported in developing a global IP cooperation pilot base and efforts will be made to strengthen overseas IP protection assistance to regional enterprises. The country's first overseas IP infringement loss insurance was taken out in the Xiong'an New Area.
The area has also made positive progress in improving the IP protection system, optimizing public IP services, and raising public IP protection awareness, according to Niu Aiguo, an official from the management committee of the Xiong'an New Area.
The IP protection center in the Xiong'an New Area was officially established in April last year, providing enterprises with professional services such as IP business consultation, information inquiry, dispute mediation, and overseas IP protection.
An IP data monitoring platform featuring big data and intelligent service systems has been set up in the area, helping realize IP data visualization and informatization.
Progress has been made to promote IP education in primary and secondary schools to enhance local students' awareness of scientific and technological innovation and IP protection. A junior middle school in the Xiong'an New Area was awarded as a pilot school of IP education this year, Niu added.
China announced plans to establish the Xiong'an New Area on April 1, 2017, aiming to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital and to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
