Downtown Chengdu at night: The capital of Sichuan province is now a modern city rich in a range of resources.Huang Yiming/?China Daily

Famed as the home of pandas, Chengdu is also impressing foreigners for its friendly intellectual property climate.

The State Intellectual Property Office named a Chengdu high-tech zone a national intellectual property demonstration park in February, the first of its kind in western China. The honor has also been granted to nine other industrial parks including Beijing's Zhongguancun innovation zone.

The title reflects the successful implementation of Chengdu's IP strategies and affirms the contribution of the high-tech zone in innovation, according to the local government. The title is valid until the end of 2015.

A story in the newspaper alliance European News Agencies said Chengdu has "the lowest investment risks as well as the best IP protection across the country". The writer also called on European companies to seize the opportunity to locate their projects in the city for faster growth.

Chengdu is ready to show the world it has much more than pandas. It is expected to become an economic powerhouse in western China over the next decade.

The city has the most financial institutions and complete services for economic development in the region, according to the city government.

Considerable investment has already been drawn to the city, which is now home to 234 Fortune Global 500 companies.

The same factors also make effective IP management and strong protection necessary in Chengdu.

Mayor Ge Honglin said that the local government insists on intellectual property protection as the core element enhancing the city's competitiveness.

The Chengdu high-tech zone founded in 1988 is a prime example, he said.

High-tech zone

The zone passed a milestone last year by filing more than 10,000 patent applications. Some 4,042 invention patent filings accounted for 33.8 percent of the total.

About 9,700 applications came from companies, an increase of 48 percent over 2011. Mobile Internet and the Internet of Things are growing in the number of filings, with applications from companies in those fields rising at an annual rate of 50 percent for three consecutive years.

The significant IP achievements have helped the city enhance its capacity for innovation that boosts growth in the local economy.

After more than 20 years, three industries - electronic information, biomedicine and precision machinery manufacturing - have developed into mainstays of the zone's economy.

The zone had nearly 88 billion yuan ($14.1 billion) in industrial output value in 2012, an increase of 23 percent over 2011.

Since the zone was named as a national pilot site for IP protection in 2007, its administrative committee has released more than 20 IP promotion policies.

It also set up a 1 million yuan fund to boost the utilization and commercialization of patents in emerging industries.

To date, the fund has supported 50 projects using patented technologies that have generated nearly 2 billion yuan in industrial output value and contributed 250 million yuan in tax revenues.

Another reason behind rising number of inventions is the zone's strong innovation capacity. It was named a State-level high-tech zone in 1991 and became a pilot in efforts to develop a globally leading science park in 2006.

Honors

With help of the high-tech zone, the city has created many superlatives - the leading city in western China in patent applications and authorization for seven consecutive years, the first demonstration city for IP protection in the nation and the first large Chinese city to establish government patent awards.

The local government's efforts in IP utilization, management and protection also won high praise from senior officials at the State Intellectual Property Office.

"The Chengdu government has made many innovative attempts in IP operation, which play a positive role in IP demonstration across the country," said He Hua, the office's vice-commissioner.

SIPO is likely to approve Chengdu as the site of a patent examination center following existing sites in Beijing, Suzhou and the provinces of Guangdong, Henan and Hubei, according to the city's IP administration.

Local authorities are now scouting locations for the center.

When construction on the facility is complete, it will house some 2,000 professional patent examiners expected to deal with 110,000 patents from all over the country, said local officials.

The center, as part of the IP service chain, will further accelerate development of IP services and improve the system in Chengdu, the officials said.

Other IP services provided in the city include online patent databases and patent-collateral loans.

By the end of 2011, 76 Chengdu companies received loans totaling nearly 660 million yuan by using patents as collateral.

Mayor Ge said Chengdu will continue to do more to protect intellectual property that creates ongoing improvements in conditions for investors from home and abroad.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/11/2013 page18)