While developing foreign trade and increasing technological capacity, China has witnessed the rapid growth of international patent applications. In 2006, China applied for 3910 international patents, five times the amount it applied for in 2005 and the eighth highest number of all counties. The average annual rate of increment over the last six years is 30.7 percent, the highest in the world.

Released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the statistics show that China only applied for 784 international patent applications in the year 2000. However, this figure grew to 2493 in 2005, placing China among the top 10 countries worldwide in terms of the number of patent applications.

By People's Daily Online