IP 'core element' of international competitiveness: Expert

Intellectual property, as the driving force of scientific and technological innovation, has become the core element of international competitiveness and an important global trade resource, an industrial expert said.

The global trade volume of intellectual property has increased rapidly in recent years, from $150 billion in 2000 to nearly $1 trillion in 2020, accounting for 9 percent of total international trade in services according to Li Baodong, secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia.

Li made the remarks during the Innovation and Intellectual Property Protection Conference of the forum which was held on Wednesday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

"China, with its eye-catching performance in innovation, has become a main driving force for the development of intellectual property in the world," he said.

Through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, a widely-used global indicator for innovative activities, Chinese applicants submitted 69,500 international patent applications in 2021, ranking first in the world for three consecutive years.

The Hague Agreement and the Marrakesh Treaty, both of which entered into force in China in May, will help promote China's deep participation in global intellectual property governance under the framework of the world's intellectual property system, according to Li.

China has joined the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, meaning a non-Chinese resident can secure international design protection in China, and the Marrakesh Treaty, which gives over 17 million blind and visually impaired people in China easier access to copyrighted works.

"Without intellectual property protection, scientific and technological innovation will be difficult to release its power and the global economic development will not have a solid foundation," he said.

Innovation and intellectual property are playing an ever-increasing role in the post-pandemic economic recovery and are essential for promoting future sustainable development according to Wang Binying, deputy director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization.