Ningbo's innovation capability getting stronger

A view of Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC]

Authorities in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province authorized 55,069 patents in the first 10 months of this year, up 8.91 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics from the Ningbo municipal market administration.

The number of invention patents rose 55.02 percent year-on-year to 6,503, bringing the total number of valid invention patents owned by the city to 37,041, which means every 10,000 residents own 39.4 invention patents.

Enterprises are still the prime innovation engine in Ningbo.

In the first three quarters of this year, enterprises from the city obtained 4,515 invention patents, an increase of 55.4 percent year-on-year.

Seven companies such as Fotile, Aux and Geely were ranked among the top 10 recipients of invention patents from Ningbo over the period.

As of October, Fotile, a Ningbo-based kitchenware manufacturer, had nearly 6,000 patents, including nearly 1,300 invention patents, of which 547 were approved from January to September, more than four times that of the same period last year.

The invention patents authorized in Ningbo over the nine-month period were primarily from sectors including air conditioning, optical components and plastic molding.

The city's increased innovation capability can be partly attributed to efforts made by local authorities in intellectual property rights protection. In October last year, the city rolled out a special guideline on this matter.

In June, Ningbo was ranked first among 157 sub-provincial cities and prefecture-level cities in China in a national appraisal for administrative protection for intellectual property rights.