"The theme of this year's World IP Day is 'Innovation for a Green Future', and it is clear that the world's urgent priority is to create a path towards the green future. At present, the 2019-nCoV epidemic has spread around the world, which people started to concern and ponder more about green development and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Green development is a fundamental transformation of the development mode and a breakthrough improvement of development quality and efficiency. Green development, green technology, and green finance has become a city label for Beijing to as an international metropolis," Pan Xinsheng, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office, said in the opening remarks. "The development of green science and technology can not be separated from the effective use of intellectual property system. Raising the awareness of intellectual property rights among green innovators, green entrepreneurs and investors has become a broad consensus in the industry. Hence, today's training is of great significance. This is an exchange of knowledge and interdisciplinary communication between the green technology and intellectual property sectors, and is also a positive attempt by the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office to promote green technology and green development.
Ms. Wang Yi, Acting Director of WIPO Office in China, delivered a keynote speech for the training, which provided a systematic introduction of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the WIPO GREEN Project and World IP Day. "Our theme this year is ‘Innovation for a Green Future’, and we are committed to apply innovation and intellectual property that support innovation to create the core of a green future" Wang said. “Here I would like to quote from a statement made by Director General Dr. Gurry in this year's World IP Day speech. He said that innovation provides options and is the key to unlocking the solutions and approaches we need to create a sustainable and green future. Let us reflect on the role that innovation and the IP system can play in driving global efforts to create a green future that supports the well-being of humanity. And let us actively commit to creating a green future.”
Lv Guoliang, consultant of WIPO office in China and former director of International Department of National Intellectual Property Administration, gave a lecture on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). "In 2019, China surpassed the United States for the first time, became the largest country in the world in PCT applications" Mr. Lv stressed at the meeting. “PCT patent applications are very distinctive, simplified and fast, and have many benefits, it can achieve the purpose of one country's application for global protection, which provides the basis for subsequent patent authorizations in multiple different countries”.
Battling against pollution, China is in great need for advanced clean technologies, and has become the world largest market for green technologies, which brings great commercial opportunity for international technology owners and green investors. The sheer scale of the challenges in China provides companies with fertile testing grounds for the large-scale deployment and scaling up of technologies that can broaden the opportunities for new innovations. Driven by this market, China’s environmental and energy industries have huge developmental potential. Technology innovations appear in an endless stream and some of them have been at the forefront of the world. However, compared with other technical fields, environmental companies’ awareness of Intellectual Property (IP) to some extent is too weak to attach much weight to IP, particularly, the patent qualities and strategic layout are relatively weak in general. A large amount of companies in this sector, especially MSMEs, cannot effectively utilize IP to protect their own innovative products and solutions, enhance corporate value and intensify commercial competition. Yan Zhongkai, Deputy Secretary General of China Environmental Protection Industry Association, said at the meeting that "China is a big patent country in the field of the environment, but it is not yet a strong country, and the main weakness include: First, there are fewer core patents, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the quality of patents. Second, the proportion of patent right transfer and license is only 5.7%, which is lower than the global average of 8.3%. The third is the lack of international layout. "
Xie Hongxing, director of Bluetech Cleanair Alliance, gave a lecture entitled "Intellectual Property Strategy for Green Technology". The lecture introduced how to carry out IP strategic management from the perspectives of enterprises, scientific research institutions, investors, etc. from the aspects of China's green technology development and IP issues, constructing IP strategies, and cultivating high-value patents. etc. "Enterprises should customize patent strategies that match their own business goals, and integrate industry and technology awareness, patent awareness, and business strategies in the process of high-value patent cultivation. To promote high-quality development of the green industry, besides enterprises, researchers and development institutions, the roles of investors, incubators and industry organizations are very important, particularly for the development of the high-value IP assets ."
Feng Wujun, vice president of the Tusholding Clean Energy Research Institute, introduced at the meeting that from the proportion of effective patents, limited companies accounted for 51%, joint-stock companies and private enterprises accounted for 15.1%, and the proportion of state-owned enterprises is 8.8%, although this is only a statistic number, but we can feel that state-owned enterprises lack value in patents and innovation. Feng also put forward three suggestions: First, to carry out strategic patent applications; The second is the to strengthen commercialization of scientific and research findings. The third is to pay attentions to international patent layout.
This training program is also part of WIPO GREEN local activities in China. Director Wang Yi introduced in her speech. WIPO GREEN is a public-private partnership established by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2013 and is a positive contribution of WIPO to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030. WIPO GREEN is an online technology trading platform that encourages technology providers to upload technology solutions to WIPO's green database and engage with other users through databases and on-site events to explore opportunities for cooperation. Thereby to expand the wide application of green technologies and support global efforts to combat climate change. "We are pleased to see that as a representative of the Beijing Environmental Protection Associations, Bluetech Clean Air Alliance has become a strategic partner of the WIPO GREEN Project in China, which is WIPO’s high recognition of the continued improvement of the air quality in Beijing and Beijing's promotion of green intellectual property rights.” Pan Xinsheng said in the speech.
The training event also received support from Association of Environmental Protection Industry, Renewable Energy Professional Committee of China Energy Research Society, Energy Conservation Technology Promotion Committee of China Energy Conservation Association, Council of Industry and Technology Alliances In Z-Park, Plug and Play China, C-Team, Shanxi Academy of Environmental Planning, Shenzhen Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Science, University of Science and Technology Beijing National Science Park, BUAA Tianhui Incubator, Zhongguancun Intelligent Manufacturing Avenue, Hanhai Jiaxing S&T Entrepreneurship Incubator Co., Ltd and other institutions. More than 350 people including researchers, technology companies, and investors from the green technology field participated in the training. The trainees commented that the contents of the training were closely connected to the needs of enterprises, scientific research, financing and other parties, and effectively achieved the goal of transferring a deep understanding of intellectual property to related industries of green technology and promoting the healthy development of the industry. This training event is the first event of the series. In the future, the organizer will continue to deliver online and offline trainings about the topic of intellectual property for green innovation.
