The number of valid invention patents held on the Chinese mainland had reached 5.667 million by the end of July 2026, according to the latest official data released at the 15th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference (CIPAC), which is taking place in Beijing from Tuesday to Wednesday.
By the end of the first half of the year, the number of valid invention patents in China's strategic emerging industries had reached 1.746 million, with the average ownership of high-value invention patents topping 16.8 patents per 10,000 people, according to data from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).
China's international patent applications filed through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) have ranked first in the world for seven consecutive years, with applications under the Hague System for international registration of industrial designs and the Madrid System for international trademarks among the leading levels globally.
In terms of utilization, the added value of China's patent-intensive industries has exceeded 18 trillion yuan (about 2.68 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for 13.38 percent of the gross domestic product. Meanwhile, annual imports and exports of intellectual property royalties have surpassed 400 billion yuan, the CNIPA said.
China's innovation capabilities have also gained global recognition. According to WIPO's Global Innovation Index 2025, China's ranking has risen to 10th place worldwide, marking the first time the country has entered the global top 10. The country has also had the world's largest number of innovation clusters among the top 100 global rankings for three consecutive years.
With the theme of promoting high-quality IP development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), this year's CIPAC will include one main forum, 13 parallel sessions, and over 20 activities focused on topics such as artificial intelligence, patent services and the newly revised Trademark Law.
Since its inauguration in 2010, the annual CIPAC has become a high-end platform for showcasing China's development in the IP sector, facilitating exchanges on cutting-edge industry topics and promoting related services.
Chinese mainland holds over 5.66 mln valid invention patents, ranking first worldwide.
Amidst overlapping global challenges, international experts at the 2026 Global Governance Forum in north China's Hebei Province emphasized that rebuilding confidence and cooperation in global governance requires enhanced dialogue, the establishment of common rules in emerging fields, and a fairer, more inclusive international system that amplifies the voice of the Global South.
Held from October 23 to 25 in Xiong'an, China's "city of the future" built on the North China Plain, the forum brought together nearly 400 representatives from over 90 countries. Spanning five major sectors and 22 thematic seminars, the event provided a platform for diverse stakeholders in politics, economy, technology, culture, and think tanks to jointly address governance challenges and promote inclusive, multi-stakeholder global governance reform.
"In this conference, I met some American representatives, a remarkable businessman. I asked him, 'what are you doing here?' And he said, 'I wanted to discuss Global Governance Initiative.' I said, 'Listen, I don't believe because whatever China proposes, the U.S. will object. And he said no. And he mentioned specific subject -- AI. He said, 'I want to make my humble contribution into establishing (of) global governance in AI.' So among Americans, this idea is also receiving some understanding. More dialogue is required and I would underline the weight of this forum," said Djoomart Otorbaev, former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan.
In today's world, where deficits in peace, development, security, and governance are intertwined, rebuilding confidence and cooperation is the most scarce international public good. In response, China has proactively set the agenda to address pressing concerns, such as advancing the reform of the UN-centered governance system, cooperating on new frontiers like cyberspace, outer space, and AI, and bridging civilizational divides amidst geopolitical rivalry.
"And there were some specific initiatives which we also have discussed, which is to set the global governance for the outer space, for the deep seas, for some areas of the planet like the Antarctica, where there is various needs for more common rules. One area the world is looking for is artificial intelligence and we need to regulate globally and efficient intelligence to avoid the worst. So if we work together, we can get the benefits and make sure that we make it much more difficult to do the harm," said Erik Solheim, chairman of the EU-Asia Centre and former UN under-secretary-general and former executive director of the UN Environment Programme.
"The world has become a global village, but this global village is now fighting. There's a problem going on in the Middle East, there's a problem going on in Africa, but China is trying to promote a conclusive thing so that the world can be peaceful. Because of this Global Governance Initiative, China has been able to tell the world (that) how to work together," said Khalid Taimur Akram, executive director of the Pakistan Research Center for a Community with a Shared Future.
Since its proposal over a year ago, the Global Governance Initiative has garnered support and responses from over 160 countries and international organizations.
During the forum, China announced pragmatic measures to further implement the initiative, reaffirming its firm support for multilateralism and the core status of the United Nations, while emphasizing the need to enhance the representation and voice of the Global South in international affairs to translate the initiative from a Chinese proposal into broader international practice.
"It's that combination of defense of the games that arise from the existence of the international system, but improving it, updating it, performing it, making it fairer, particularly to the great mass of developing countries, which is why the Chinese proposals meet a lot of support, particularly from the Global South, but also from fair minded people in other countries," said Keith Bennett, vice chairman of UK 48 Group Club.
Participants of Global Governance Forum hail China's contribution to fairer international order
