First Shanghai IP innovation award unveiled

The award ceremony of the first Shanghai Intellectual Property (IP) Innovation Award, an important part of the 16th Shanghai International IP Forum, was held on Oct 21.

Ying Yong, mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Shen Changyu, commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, presented the award together.

The nine winners of this year's innovation award are engaged in civil aviation, high-end equipment, integrated circuit development, cultural creativity, and other cutting-edge industries.

According to officials, there are three different types of innovation award - creation award, protection award and application award. The creation award is presented to those who make major breakthroughs in developing key technologies, the protection award goes to those who make outstanding achievements in IP protection, and the application award is awarded to the enterprises that have achieved significant economic and social benefits through the transfer, licensing and branding of IP.

Shanghai has been focusing on building itself into an IP hub in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. Guided by the principle of high-quality creation, high-level protection and high-efficiency utilization, Shanghai has greatly improved its IP policies and regulations system.

Official data shows that major indicators of IP such as patents, trademarks and copyrights in Shanghai have all achieved rapid growth, with the number of valid invention patents per 10,000 people exceeding 52, an increase of nearly 50 percent over the previous three years.

"IP is an important strategic resource for the development of a city and an important factor in creating a first-class business environment," said Ying Yong during the award ceremony.

With better top-level design, better functional layout, stricter protection measures and more exchange and cooperation, Shanghai will accelerate the promotion of IP protection and the formation of a business environment that respects intellectual property, Ying added.

The Shanghai government and the WIPO jointly signed the supplementary agreement to the memorandum of understanding on further enhancing Shanghai and WIPO's collaboration in IP, which included the establishment of the Shanghai IP Innovation Award, on Nov 5, 2018.