China’s Patent-Intensive Sectors Drive Economic Growth with 12.7% GDP Contribution

Beijing: China's technology sector is advancing swiftly, propelled by a strategic emphasis on patent-intensive industries that play a crucial role in the nation's economy. A recent report from China's leading intellectual property authority reveals that these industries accounted for approximately half of the country's enterprise research and development investments and contributed 12.71% to the nation's GDP. According to Emirates News Agency, the added value of China's patent-intensive industries reached 15.32 trillion yuan in 2022, demonstrating an average annual growth rate of 9.36% from 2018 to 2022. These industries are characterized by substantial investments in research and development and a robust focus on patent creation, spanning seven sectors: information and communication technology (ICT) manufacturing, ICT services, advanced equipment production, new materials production, pharmaceuticals, environmental protection, and research, design, and technology services. ICT services and ICT manufacturing , representing emerging industries, have exhibited the fastest growth rates with average annual increases of 14.86% and 10.23% respectively between 2018 and 2022, as indicated by the data. The report further highlights that internal research and development spending in these patent-intensive industries rose to 1.14 trillion yuan in 2022, marking an 11.28% increase from the previous year. The investment intensity, defined as the ratio of internal research and development spending to business revenue, reached 2.46%, an increase of 0.11% from the previous year and 0.40% since 2018, and was 2.23 times greater than that of non-patent-intensive industries.