China biggest contributor of green technologies: WIPO chief

China has not only become the world's top filer of patent applications but also the top contributor of green technologies to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s green technology sharing platform, the head of the WIPO said on Thursday.

In a group interview with the Global Times and several other media outlets on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference South China's Hainan Province on Thursday, WIPO Director General Daren Tang highlighted China's mature intellectual property (IP) ecosystem and the country's focus on innovation.

"China, for example, is now the world's largest filer of intellectual property in all types of IP from patents to trademarks," Tang said, noting the country's rapid development in the digital sector and the rise of Chinese firms such as Huawei to become global leaders in patent filings.

Data released by the WIPO earlier this month showed that China was the largest contributor to its patent cooperation treaty (PCT) system for international patent registration, with a total of 69,610 PCT filings from China, among the total number of 272,600 globally, accounting for about 25 percent. Meanwhile, Huawei remained by far the top filer with 6,494 published PCT applications in 2023.

The WIPO chief also said that China's rise as the top contributor to global patent filing will likely continue, as the country focuses on high-quality development.

"I think the Chinese government is pursuing high-quality development, and as part of high-quality development, innovation, technology and intellectual property will become even more important," he said.

China's rise as a global innovation leader will help address global challenges such as climate change, as the country increasingly shares green technologies with the world, officials said on Thursday.

Speaking at a roundtable on intellectual property for sustainable development on Thursday afternoon, Tang said that at the WIPO GREEN, an online platform for technology exchange to support global efforts to address climate change with more than 100 countries, China contributed 7 percent of the technologies.

"In recent years, China has insisted on promoting industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, and green industries have flourished," Shen Changyu, head of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, said that same roundtable, according to a transcript shared with the Global Times.

Shen noted that from 2016 to 2022, the cumulative number of green and low-carbon patent authorizations worldwide reached 558,000, of which 178,000 were from China, accounting for 31.9 percent of the total, ranking first in the world.

"With an average annual growth rate of 12.5 percent, China has become an important force driving the growth of global green and low-carbon technologies," Shen said.