https://english.news.cn/20260324/a0f004dae9c54a3abe0b60c8fb3ea531/c.html

According to a press conference of the State Council Information Office, it had completed its first-ever screening of over 1.3 million patents held by universities and research institutions nationwide.

In this process, it identified 680,000 invention patents with strong commercialization potential and connected them with 460,000 companies in a push to move innovation from lab to market.

Sorting out and revitalizing existing patents at universities and research institutions is one of the major tasks. Over the past three years, about 80,000 invention patents from more than 2,700 universities and research institutions across the country have entered the market.

The action plan is forward-looking, with a group of key core technology patents deployed in future-oriented industries, such as quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, brain-computer interfaces and 6G communications, laying a solid foundation for high-value patent commercialization. Additionally, a number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that focus on hard tech and hold strong patents have benefited from this initiative and grown stronger. An example is the startup Unitree Robotics inZhejiang Province.

China has amassed over 5 million valid domestic invention patents, and its international patent applications have led globally for six consecutive years. However, its industrialization rate of invention patents remains low, especially in universities and research institutions. Over the past three years, multiple measures have been introduced to address these problems:

• a pre-application evaluation system for lab inventions,
• providing researchers with rewards for successful commercialization rather than for patent filing,
• setting up specialized platforms and cultivating talent in the field of technology transfers, and
• rolling out a series of new favorable policies like technology shares.

The Ministry of Education is also exploring the use of technologies including artificial intelligence and big data to create smart profiles of university patents, identifying their potential value and possible application scenarios.