According to the Japan Patent Office, the number of China's patent
applications in 2000 exceeded that of Japan and Europe, ranking
second in the world, among which appeals in genetic information
technologies dominated.
The office conducted a survey on world patent applications, which
indicated that in 2000, countries from all over the world filed as
many as 180,000 bioscience-related patent applications, among which
the United States had 7,000, ranking first; China had 3,600, five
times greater than the previous year, ranking second; Europe with
3,200 and Japan 3,100, both having grown from the previous
year.
The office believes that the reason for the skyrocketing increase
of China's bioscience-related patent applications lies in
achievements made by high-tech enterprises that were created by
researchers from universities, and in particular from gene-related
patent appeals, that rose sharply.
The Japan Patent Office has studied 14 prominent patent application
fields via statistics and analysis, aiming to unveil the tendencies
of international science and technology research.
(China.org.cn by Li Liangdu, May 31, 2003)