Over 170,000 patent applications were filed in the city of Guangzhou in 2018, an increase of 46.3 percent year on year.

Among them, over 50,000 were invention patents, up 35.8 percent year on year and 12 percent higher than the national average.

According to statistics, the recent growth rate of Guangzhou's invention patent applications has been much higher than the national average.

From 2015 to 2018, patent applications in Guangzhou totaled 454,000 and had an average annual growth rate of 39 percent. Among them, 139,000 were invention patent applications, which saw an average annual increase of 36.2 percent.

As of the end of 2018, the city's total number of valid invention patents was 3.1 times higher than in 2013, and the number of patents per 10,000 people was 2.8 times higher than in 2013.

According to Ding Li, deputy head of the Guangzhou Administration for Market Regulation, Guangzhou not only boasts high patent application growth rates, but is also producing more high quality patents with high patent licensing rates and low patent invalidation rates. 

Analyses of high-tech enterprises, listed companies, headquarter enterprises and state-owned enterprises in Guangzhou also show that patent figures for these four key types of enterprises have improved significantly in recent years. For example, in 2017, the number of patent applications and effective inventions among headquarter enterprises in Guangzhou rose by 29 percent and 38.4 percent over 2016, respectively.