According to statistics released by the State Intellectual Property Office, as of October 31st, invention patents held by every ten thousand residents in Tianjin hit 7.6, fulfilling the annual target two months in advance and ranking the third across the country.

In the first ten months this year, valid patents in Tianjin reached 50,314, up 43.5%, in which 16,294 were newly granted in 2012, up 32.4%. Invention patent applications and grants in the city amounted to 10,484 and 2,811, up 37.0% and 37.5% respectively. Valid invention patents recorded 9,842, up 25.5%.

Enterprises played an increasingly important role in patent growth. In the first ten months, enterprises filed 21,105 patent applications, up 38.4%, and obtained 11,796 patent grants, up 49.5%. Valid patents owned by enterprises soared to 36,304, up 44.7%. Small and medium-sized enterprises based on science and technology were the main force in this regard which was proved by the fact that patent applications, grants and valid patents owned by those SMEs reached 16,000, 9,000 and 27,000 respectively in the period, accounting for 76.2%, 76.3% and 75.0% separately of the total in the city.

There was also progress achieved in patent quality. In the first ten months, the proportion of invention patent applications, grants and valid patents got up to 34.3%, 17.3% and 20.8%. Service patent applications, grants and valid service patents took up 84.6%, 87.4% and 86.2%. The commercialization rate of patented technology hit 80% and 234 patents were used as collateral to obtain 815 million yuan worth of bank loan.