According to a report released yesterday, China officially made its way into the top 5 countries with the most US patents for the first time ever.
The world’s second-largest economy now only trails the US, Japan, Korea, and Germany in the US patent game, putting them in prime position to execute on one of their biggest goals…
Innovation, baby!
The Chinese government is cranking hard on its strategy to increase innovation, and this patent milestone has been one of the country’s main objectives for the last decade.
In less than 10 years, Chinese companies have increased the number of US patents they’ve received by tenfold: in 2017, they received 11,241 US patents — a 28% increase from 2016.
And it’s not just established players in the Chinese market filing these patents, it’s Chinese startups looking to make waves in the world of tech and electronics.
Why is this so important?
Some argue that patents directly indicate how innovative a country is.
And, with a solid foothold in the US, China can build the infrastructure they need to be competitive when bringing their products to the world’s largest market.