(Yicai Global) June 13 -- China has risen nine places over four years to rank 10th for intellectual property development, further narrowing the gap with the world's top innovative nations, a new study shows.

China's progress in the IP field has steadily increased and the country already ranks in the middle and upper reaches among global competitors, according to the 2017 China Intellectual Property Development Status Evaluation Report published by the State Intellectual Property Office in Beijing yesterday. In the past five years, the US, Japan and South Korea have held the top three positions.

The SIPO's IP Development Research Center compared the development of intellectual property in 40 countries, including 34 from the Economic Cooperation Organization, the five emerging BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as well as Singapore.

The comprehensive development index of China's IP gained an annual 9 percent to 218.3 last year (100 was set as the basis point for 2010). The indexes for creation, utilization, protection and environment all jumped, especially those for creation and development.

"The patent maintenance rate and the patent ownership per 10,000 population are internationally recognized indicators for evaluating the quality of patents and their market value," said Han Xiucheng, the research center's director. Based on these two indicators, the quality of patents in China has steadily increased in recent years.

Last year, the creation index was 216.5, an increase of 27 percentage points over the previous year. According to Han, China's patent maintenance rate in 2017 reached 60 percent, an increase of 3.9 points from a year earlier, while the number of patent applications per 10,000 population reached 25.4, a 6.4 percent year-on-year gain.

However, Han also pointed out that among the sample of 40 countries, although China's IP capacity ranks it fourth, the country's IP environment index only ranks 29th, lagging far behind the forerunners. 

"The intellectual property environment is still a crucial factor that restricts China's intellectual property as well as the economic and social development," Han said. "There is still a long way to go to build a culture that respects intellectual property."

The State Intellectual Property Office started to compile the IP development report from 2012 and released the first in 2013. So far, six reports have been made public.

Editor: Ben Armour