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Sylvia Ma

China has given the green light for a national intellectual property protection centre in a new megacity outside Beijing, a facility that is expected to cut approval times for hi-tech patents by about 70 per cent.
Once up and running, the centre in Xiongan New Area would provide expedited patent examination and one-stop intellectual property services for next-generation information technology and new materials, Xiongan authorities said in a statement on Saturday.
“[The centre] will help companies to better protect their innovations and accelerate the development of an innovation edge in the targeted industries,” it said.
It added that the centre would strengthen intellectual property protection and support coordinated innovation across the wider Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The Xiongan New Area, established in Hebei province in 2017, is designed to serve as a development hub for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.
The centre is part of China’s efforts to strengthen domestic innovation and IP protection as its technological rivalry with the United States heats up.
Faster patent approvals are seen as a way to help companies commercialise innovations and secure legal protection more quickly.
Patent applications typically have to pass stringent assessments to determine whether an invention is novel, non-obvious and industrially applicable, a process that can take months or even years.


The China National Intellectual Property Administration said last year that the average time taken to assess invention patents had fallen to 15.5 months by the end of 2024, the shortest of jurisdictions with comparable examination systems.
By comparison, the US Patent and Trademark Office said that as of May this year, the average time from filing to a final disposition was 29.4 months.
The European Patent Office reported in September that its process took 24.9 months.
However, each agency uses a different methodology, making direct comparisons difficult.
According to state-run Science and Technology Daily, China’s IP administration approved the establishment of the centre in Xiongan on Monday, with operations expected to begin after an eight-month construction period.
Once operational, the centre would reduce the average patent-granting time from 15 months to less than three months, the report said.
The centre in Xiongan will expand the network of national intellectual property protection centres to 83, according to the administration.
A total of 1.8 million patent applications were filed in China in 2024, accounting for nearly half of the global total and more than three times the number submitted to US authorities, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation.


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Centre in Xiongan New Area projected to fast-track process from 15 months to just three


Centre in Xiongan New Area projected to fast-track process from 15 months to just three.


China

United States

World Intellectual Property Organisation

China’s newest IP office to cut hi-tech patent approval times ‘by 70%’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Centre in Xiongan New Area projected to fast-track process from 15 months to just three

Centre in Xiongan New Area projected to fast-track process from 15 months to just three