Commentary: China files the most patents but does this mean it surpasses US in knowledge production?

MORE PATENTS, BUT COUPLE OF GRANTED ABROAD BY GLOBAL GOLD REGULAR

This really is likely due to China’s IP tending a lot more towards adaptive creativity – over fifty percent its domestic filings are utility patents. These have decrease eligibility requirements, safety periods and preservation rates, indicating reduced IP quality.

Moreover, in 2020, only 8 per cent of China’s patents were granted overseas compared to 29 % of the United States’. Overseas patents are very important for protecting the country’s IP across global value stores.  

Only 10 per cent of global gold standard “triadic” patents – a set of patents which are registered with EUROPEAN UNION, Japanese and ALL OF US patent offices to safeguard the same invention – were filed by China in 2019, while the United States accounted for 22 per cent.  

Even globally-recognised Chinese companies like Huawei, which has effectively developed extensive IP portfolios in growing sectors such as 5G, are outliers in a corporate environment missing high-quality IP filings.

China’s creativity trajectory differs from previous rising power, which have historically leveraged a more balanced alliance between the public and private sectors to build up IP.  

Although the private industry is the biggest contributor to research and growth (R& D) spending in China, this statistic is complex by the fact that state-owned enterprises dominate China’s corporate landscape, information systems for almost half of total R& D investing in 2020.

China’s R& G spending has grown in a significantly faster price than the United States since 2000. Yet its declining total factor productivity reflects the high level of state investment in inefficient companies.