Updated: 2011-09-09 11:12
By Lan Lan (China Daily)

China has set a target of 2 million patent registrations by 2015, but "the innovation-by-numbers approach has led to a race for quantity rather than an improvement of the quality of inventions", Cucino said.

Separately, Chinese officials told EU business executives that the yuan will achieve "full convertibility" by 2015, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing Cucino.

"We were told by those officials by 2015," Cucino said, adding that a step-by-step process was outlined at a meeting held in the past several weeks.

The robust Chinese market has helped Europe recover from the global downturn, said Zhang Li, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.

"There's a pretty good chance for foreign companies to further explore the Chinese market as China is encouraging innovation and industrial upgrading," Zhang said.

China has designated seven emerging strategic industries, including energy conservation and environmental protection, as key to the country's sustainable growth.

"China clearly said in the 12th Five-Year Plan it would nurture the strategic industries, which will provide a golden chance for high-tech companies like us that are focused on climate change and energy saving," said Thomas Koniordos, president of Danfoss China, a Denmark-based supplier of mechanical and electronic components.

Emerging markets, including China, are the most attractive for his company, as Europe and the US face continued uncertainty because of their debt crises, Koniordos said.

China Daily

Updated: 2011-09-14 15:58
By Wang Xin (China Daily)

Companies need to recognize the importance of patent documents as part of their development strategy and use those resources throughout the entire innovation process, Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said at an annual meeting on patent information in Beijing last week.

The two-day seminar began on Sept 5 at the China National Convention Center.

"Efficient analysis and use of patent information helps to improve R&D, identify market trends, seize development opportunities and avert intellectual property (IP) risks," Tian said.

"As China is now upgrading industries, we attach high importance to patent information as strong support to revitalize traditional sectors and develop emerging industries," he noted.

SIPO will promote the growth of patent information services and encourage more institutions to join and meet the growing need, the commissioner said.

Randall Rader, chief judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals and also a law professor at George Washington University, told the seminar that his 120-student class includes nearly 20 from China.

One of his Chinese students said a patent system is created for "information disclosure", which Rader agreed is true because documents are written so other inventors, scientists or people skilled in the field know current developments.

"The documents may have a legal consequence, but they are really scientific documents," he said. "They are written to convey information so that we promote swifter development of science."

Fifty years ago, probably two or three research laboratories like Edison Lab could invent everything necessary around the world, but "that has changed", Rader said.

"It is no longer possible for any corporation, any company or any research institution to alone develop new technology," he said.
"In order to really advance technology, you must learn to cooperate," he said.

During his recent visit to Microsoft, he said he found brilliant computer scientists there were not just "sitting together and trying to alone design the future".

"Instead, they spent a great deal of time analyzing the world's advances," he said. "The information alone justifies the creation of a patent system."

An example of "magnificent international cooperation to advance technology and solve human problems", the patent system allows scientists worldwide to collaborate, the judge said.

Chen Luchang, director of the IP department at Sany Group, one of the largest Chinese machine and equipment makers, outlined his company's policies for using patent information.

The company has established its own IP website with a vast patent database, the majority of which is from the United States and Europe.

All the group's facilities worldwide have access to the database.

Key role

Chen said patent information plays a key role in various stages of production, from decisions on whether to start an R&D project and evaluating research results to tracing major advances by competitors and early warning about potential overseas IP risks.

To date, Sany Group has filed more than 3,000 patent applications. About one-third have been granted.

Compared with such large companies, small businesses are short of resources to use IP information.

Eiichi Yamamoto, deputy director of a planning department at the Japan Patent Office, said his operation offers companies access to a digital IP library that provides patent information and facilitates R&D by small businesses.

Founded in 1999, the online library with a free English version contains more than 80 million documents covering patents and trademarks.

Yamamoto said Japan values the combined services provided by the government and private sector.

The patent seminar also attracted scores of intermediary service providers, including those from Japan, South Korea, Britain, the US and Singapore.

The firms set up exhibition boosts outside the conference hall, where some presented their latest software.

With more than 70 million patents worldwide, professional intermediary organizations help to find the most valuable information and provide an abridged version, saving time for R&D staff, said Zhu Xinyu, patent information analyst at Intellectual Property Publishing House.

As well, analysis of patent information offers inspiration for further invention and aids innovation, Zhu said.

"A trend in the patent information industry is the increasing need for tailor-made services and segmented technologies," Zhu said. "That requires an all-round information service team."

Updated: 2011-08-31 10:35
By Wang Xin (China Daily)

While the prospect of selling their products abroad seems dim to many domestic LED makers that lack patented core technologies, Fujian Wanbang Optoelectronic Technology Co Ltd could have a bright future due to "new breakthroughs" in chip-related research.

Results were recently announced that can "effectively" clear barriers that have long hindered the industry, said He Wenming, board chairman of the company.

He said his company is now applying for patents - including more than 100 international filings through the Patent Cooperation Treaty - for the inventions. Before the patents are granted, he is cautious about revealing too much.

The Putian-based company has also refined the industrial glue used for encapsulation. The technology will be kept secret and not disclosed even through patent documentation, He said.

A veteran inventor with scores of patents, He said Wanbang's innovations are mostly due to the company's second-largest shareholder - Castech, a listed high-tech firm backed by the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He said when Wanbang hits new technological problems in production, Castech joins the research.

The cooperation is "no doubt mutually beneficial", he said.

With such a strong R&D team, He is optimistic about his company's prospects.

He said Wanbang will expand production, with Hong Kong's ASM Pacific Technology Ltd - the world's largest maker of LED production equipment - custom designing machines for the mainland company.

Another Putian-based LED company, Fujian New Century Electronic Material Co Ltd, has also focused on improving the thermal performance of LED components, for which it has filed more than 10 patent applications.

Its pursuit of new technology has won the trust of users. Liu Rongguang, president of the company, said New Century has secured orders from Apple, LG and Samsung.

It provides parts for the iPad2 and iPhone, said Wu Zhaojun, assistant general manager of the company. Orders for parts in the new iPhone5 were signed with New Century in July, Wu said.

Mainland companies are comparable to their Taiwan peers in technology and production facilities, said Wu, a management expert from the island, which is known as an electronics manufacturing center.

Yet there is still much room to improve in work attitude and production accuracy on the mainland, he noted.

Currently there are more than 3,000 LED companies in China. Most of them are involved in midstream businesses - such as encapsulation - or at the low end of the industry chain in lighting applications.

Globally, LED encapsulation products were valued at 85.8 billion yuan ($13.45 billion) in 2010, according to a report by the Gaogong LED Industry Research Institute.

China produced 31 percent of the total, followed by Japan with a 26 percent share and South Korea with 14 percent.