The White Paper on Intellectual Property Development and Protection in Jiangsu in 2021 released on April 20 shows that Jiangsu recorded 41.17 invention patents per 10,000 people last year, ranking first in China for six consecutive years. The number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people was 13.99, 1.87 times the national average.

Patents turn into "dividends" as sci-tech achievements auction hits a record high in sales

"No matter how many patents are created, the key is using them. Universities and colleges should not only create high-value patents but also maximize the benefits from these patent assets." Jiang Dong, Dean of the Scientific Research Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, said that the latest achievement in rapid meat quality testing of Professor Li Chunbao's team was recently transferred to Suzhou Niumag Analytical Instrument Corporation, with a total contract value of RMB 4 million. "Only when enterprises are willing to pay for the achievements can a patent truly pay dividends."

Last year, the Department of Finance of Jiangsu Province and the Intellectual Property Office of Jiangsu Province (JSIPO) jointly implemented the Special Plan for Patent Commercialization. With awards and subsidies of RMB 100 million from the central fiscal funds, the Special Plan was intended to promote IP commercialization by supporting 20 colleges and universities and 5 industrial parks in building IP operations centers, 8 institutions in establishing public service platforms, and 4 prefecture-level cities in developing themselves into forerunners in patent commercialization.

The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology has advanced the construction of the Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Resources Coordination Service Center and the Jiangsu Proprietary Technology Exchange Center. The turnover of the "Patent (Achievements) Auction Season" and the "J-TOP Innovation Challenge Season" both hit a record high. The turnover of technology contracts exceeded RMB 300 billion in Jiangsu, up more than 29%.

IP becomes assets, as a revenue source for companies

The number of granted patents in 2021 stood at 640,917, up to 85.28% of which were owned by companies. But companies that own IP, especially some small- and medium-sized tech companies, are strapped for cash due to the lack of real estate security. Now it is possible to turn IP into assets by using patents as collateral to borrow from banks.

"Recently, we borrowed RMB 1 million from China Construction Bank by pledging three patents as collateral, including a weather monitoring device for agriculture." Wang Jinhu, Head of the Institute of Safety and Emergency Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, told the reporter that such loans featured a simple application procedure, fast loan issuance, and lower interest rate, helping them tackle cash flow problems.

The JSIPO has been working with the Bank of China and China Construction Bank on bank-enterprise cooperation. In 2021, Jiangsu's patent and trademark pledge financing reached RMB 28.645 billion, up 81.63% YoY, benefiting 2,555 enterprises, up 72.17% YoY. This year, the JSIPO, along with China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, promoted national pilot projects on online IP pledge registration, to increase the efficiency of IP pledge financing and facilitate financing for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Patent navigation offers defect detection and improvement insights

"We can also analyze the data on patents to identify the weaknesses and deficiencies in the industry development, steer the industry development, and provide guidance and reference for the government in industry planning and layout." Lu Jieping, Director of Jiangsu Research Base for National Pilot Project on Patent Navigation, said that patent navigation is essential for enterprises, as it helps them define R&D focus areas and reduce patent infringement risk.

For example, in 2021, Zhenjiang conducted patent navigation analysis of the intelligent agricultural machinery industry based on its needs in developing strong industry chains, going through 900,000 patents. The analysis investigated the global distribution of patents in the agricultural machinery industry, revealed the position of Zhenjiang's agricultural machinery industry in the global and China's industrial chains, identified the weaknesses that the industry faced in its development, and helped define the direction and focus for the industry development, giving an intuitive view of major intelligent agricultural machinery manufacturers, R&D institutions, and inventor teams around the world.

In 2021, Jiangsu kept pushing ahead with the patent navigation program, launched patent navigation projects for 12 industries (such as advanced carbon materials and the Internet of Vehicles), held 10 navigation achievement release conferences, and released 10 navigation reports on the smart grid and other industries, benefiting more than 600 enterprises. So far, Jiangsu has established seven patent navigation service bases to explore the development of Jiangsu's patent navigation service system.