Only through win-win cooperation and building a sustainable intellectual property ecosystem can businesses bring the benefits of technology to more people around the world, according to Wang Xiang, partner and president of smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi Corp.

He made the remark at the 11th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference, which was held online from Nov 30 to Dec 2.

"Innovation is the most important driving force behind the growth of business. In 2021, Xiaomi invested 13.2 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in research and development. To date, we have more than 29,000 patents worldwide and have participated in over 140 standard-setting projects," Wang said.

"These efforts have supported our R&D. Our business has expanded from mobile phones to wearable products, smart home devices, intelligent manufacturing and intelligent connected vehicles. At the same time, we have also started research into bionic robots," he noted.

He emphasized that Xiaomi is a company that has much respect for IP. "We not only promote independent innovation, but also respect the IP of inventors from all over the world.

"We believe that the advances in science and technology are the common property of the whole world. We respect IP in order to respect innovation, promote innovation and bring the benefits of science and technology to more people," he said.

Since 2010, Xiaomi has reached a host of important cross-licensing agreements with numerous enterprises including Qualcomm, Microsoft and Nokia. These agreements support Xiaomi's efforts to go global and enhance the inclusiveness of scientific and technological achievements, according to Wang.

"We believe that only through win-win cooperation and building a sustainable IP ecosystem can we make technology more inclusive," he noted.

He cited figures from the Multidimensional Poverty Index, which shows that some 1.2 billion people in 111 developing countries are living in acute multidimensional poverty — nearly double the number who are considered poor when poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 per day.

"How to bring the benefits of technology to these people is an issue that we are very concerned about," Wang said, adding that they are doing the following to advance this cause.

First of all, Xiaomi is continuing its efforts to create high-quality, cutting-edge innovations and inventions.

Second, the company respects IP and is calling for diversified approaches to addressing disputes in the IP sphere.

"Technology is the common asset of humankind. And at the same time, technology is becoming more and more complex. Take smartphones as an example. Statistics show that there are more than 230,000 technologies in a smartphone. No country or company is able to monopolize the production or the technologies of smartphones. Therefore, we need diversified, fair, reasonable and balanced approaches to resolving disputes.

"We believe that only a fair and healthy legal environment for IP can ensure sustainable industrial development because patent licensing negotiations will eventually affect the interests of consumers," Wang explained.

"Third, we are looking for partners for win-win and long-term, sustainable cooperation in the IP field," he said. "We hope that we are able to take care of the interests of consumers and use IP to make technology more inclusive."

Xiaomi was founded in 2010. In 2021, its revenue reached around 320 billion yuan. Globally, 564 million users are using Xiaomi smartphones every month, according to Wang.