BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/13
China’s rising intellectual property strength was led by its flagship telecom companies Huawei and ZTE, which ranked first and third among large firms globally in terms of PCT applications submitted. US electronics giant Qualcomm occupied the number-two spot.
The number of Chinese applications in itself may overstate China’s current innovation capabilities, however, because the quality and value of innovations of Chinese firms tends to be lower than that of firms in advanced economies. Even so, the double-digit growth in international patent activity provides an indication of Chinese ambitions in the technology branch. Here again China seems to be following the development strategy pioneered by Japan and South Korea. The technology-driven growth strategy of East Asia is further evidenced by China surpassing Japan in 2013 as the world’s largest buyer of industrial robots.
China’s filing of over 25,500 patents last year dwarfs the patent activity of other BRIC countries. India last year produced fewer than 1,400 patent applications, while Brazil fewer than 600. The volume of patent applications from Russia shrank by a quarter to below 900 applications.
Finnish firms last year submitted just over 1,800 PCT applications, a drop of 13 % from 2013. The top PCT filer was the Nokia Group with 630 applications. Nokia ranked 30th globally among large patent-seeking firms.
PCT patent activity of leading technology countries
Source: WIPO