China Daily, January 30th (Reporter Ma Si) In recent years, China's photovoltaic industry has rapidly expanded in scale, with new products and technologies emerging one after another. It has gradually become a globally competitive long board industry and a backbone force in accelerating the achievement of the "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" goals. Driven by strong demand, the activity of innovation entities in China's photovoltaic field has significantly increased, the level of regional innovation has continued to improve, the patent protection, application, transformation, and management capabilities of various links in the industrial chain have been continuously strengthened, and the construction of the intellectual property ecosystem has shown results.
The National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center, the Electronic Intellectual Property Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Intellectual Property Professional Committee of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association recently released the "Photovoltaic Industry Patent Development Report", which systematically studied the trend of patent development in China's photovoltaic industry in recent years, and analyzed the innovation capabilities of photovoltaic enterprises and related cities from the dimensions of patent application quantity and effective invention patent quantity.
The advantage of patent scale in China's photovoltaic industry continues to consolidate
The report shows that so far, the total number of patent applications for the entire photovoltaic industry chain in China is 168000, the total number of valid patents is 74000, and the total number of valid invention patents is 22000, all ranking first in the world. China has become an important pole in global photovoltaic industry innovation. From 2003 to 2023, the number of patent applications in China's photovoltaic industry has grown rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of 23.1%. The number of patent applications in key areas such as silicon materials, silicon wafers, batteries, modules, and inverters has continued to expand, reaching 13000, 28000, 43000, 48000, and 38000 respectively. The innovation level of key links in the industry chain has been continuously improved. From the number of patent citations, there are 3509 photovoltaic patents cited more than 10 times and 194 patents cited more than 50 times, indicating a continuous expansion of patent influence.
Photovoltaic enterprises actively carry out patent layout
The report points out that photovoltaic enterprises actively promote patent layout and continuously improve their level of technological innovation. In terms of the number of patent applications, there are eight companies with over 1000 applications, among which Artus, JinkoSolar, Longi Green Energy, Sunac Power, and Trina Solar rank in the top five, with 2950, 2696, 2469, 1879, and 1830 applications respectively. In terms of the number of valid patents, there are seven companies with over 800, among which Longi Green Energy, Artus, Jinko Energy, Sunshine Power, and Aixu rank in the top five, with 1787, 1722, 1713, 929, and 906 patents respectively. In terms of the number of effective invention patents, there are 5 companies with over 200, among which Sunac Power, JinkoSolar, Huawei, Trina Solar, and Artus rank in the top five, with 574, 539, 453, 252, and 230 patents respectively.
Technological innovation illuminates the city brand of photovoltaic industry
The report analyzed the domestic urban photovoltaic patent situation and ranking using "number of patent applications" and "number of valid invention patents" as both quantitative and quality indicators. In terms of quantity, Suzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, and Changzhou are cities with a higher number of patent applications, with Suzhou ranking first with 12607 applications. In terms of quality, Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Shenzhen, and Changzhou rank among the top five in terms of the number of valid invention patents, with Beijing ranking first with 1682 patents. From the perspective of city ranking, industrial agglomeration and technology spillover are key factors in stimulating urban innovation vitality, and collaborative innovation led by enterprises as the main innovation body leads the high-quality development of urban photovoltaic manufacturing industry.
The report believes that China's photovoltaic industry has entered a new stage of high-quality development, and we should fully recognize the key supporting role of improving the modern intellectual property system in consolidating the industry's hard power and enhancing its soft power. It is necessary to further enhance the technological innovation capability and intellectual property protection, application, and management level of photovoltaic enterprises, continuously enhance the advantages of the entire industry chain, promote the deep integration of innovation chain, industry chain, capital chain, and talent chain, and accelerate the progress of China's photovoltaic industry towards a global innovation center. Photovoltaic advantageous regions should fully leverage the industrial agglomeration effect and the leading enterprise traction role, effectively link high-end innovative production factors, promote open innovation, and create a regional photovoltaic industry innovation ecological network.
Source: China Daily
[Editor in charge: Ma Rui]
