OREANDA-NEWS. January 14, 2013.  Patent applications in east China's Anhui province in 2012 amounted to 74,887, up 54.2 percent from the year before. Out of them, 19,392 were for inventions, representing an increase of 76.6 percent over the previous year. The figures enabled the province to rank 8th in the country and 1st in central China, according to the provincial Intellectual Property Office on January 11.

In 2012 the authorization number of patents stood at 43,278, a 32.4 percent growth compared with a year earlier, 3,066 of which were for inventions, rising 51.3 percent from a year ago, 23 percentage points higher than the national average level. Since 2010 the numbers of granted invention patents respectively passed the 1000, 2000 and 3000 marks for three consecutive years.

In order to enhance patent applications' quality, Anhui province has issued a new policy of only providing funds for authorized invention patents since last year. Invention patents' continuous rising has improved the core competitiveness of enterprises in Anhui province. As of now, with 50 provincial competitive enterprises in intellectual property rights (IPR), Anhui province ranks 9th in the technology innovation capability of enterprises across China and 1st in the number of invention patents of industrial enterprises in central China.