Interview Notes about the 15th Anniversary of Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park
By Meteor Tang, China IP
In the 40 years of development wave since the reform and opening - up policy , Zhongguancun Model Park experienced thirty years of great leap- forward development. In the past thirty years, Zhongguancun has become the "Co-Runner" in the science and technology innovations of the world, and even the "Forerunner" in some fields. The innovations of a variety of high grade, high-precision and advanced technologies have reached the international leading level. The enterprises constantly improved their self-dependent innovation capacity and participated in the creation and formulation of international standards, and there are many scientific and technological enterprises went abroad to expanding the overseas market, etc. While Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park played an indispensable role in the process which these enterprises in Zhongguancun was strived for the "Forerunner" of the global science and technology innovations.
In July 2002, the State Council approved the establishment of Zhongguancun National Intellectual Property System Model Park. In October 2003, the model park co-built by the National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC (CNIPA) and the People's Government of Beijing has been established officially, symbolizing that Zhongguancun becomes the first and only one state-level intellectual property system model park in China.
Over the fifteen years of intensive cultivation in the model park, the IP policies and working system were constantly improved and the service resources were also highly concentrated. Particularly, a series of IP-based pioneering and pilot programs were carried out successively after the Zhongguancun Intellectual Property Promotion Scheme was issued in 2011.
The replicable and propagable Zhongguancun mode and experience were constantly output which made Zhongguancun hold the top position among the high-tech parks all over the country. The excellent innovation resources of Zhongguancun have achieved explosive growth, and the patent creation data of Zhongguancun has been continuously refreshed.
In the past fifteen years, the annual number of patent applications and PCT patent applications by the enterprises in the model park has been increased at high speed, and there were also numerous high-quality patents emerged constantly. All this laid a solid development foundation for the construction of national scie n t i f i c and technological innovation center. By the end of 2017, the number of effective invention patents owned by the enterprises in the model park has exceeded 80,000, meaning that there are six in ten effective patents for innovations in Beijing owned by the enterprises in Zhongguancun.
Assist the Leading Enterprises and Play the Role of Exemplary Demonstration
There were numerous leading enterprises such as BOE, Xiaomi, Baidu, Lenovo, BAIC BJEV, Qihoo, iQIYI and Beijing Automotive Group with the annual exceeding one thousand number of patent applications constantly emerged under the support of the CNIPA and the unique resources in Zhongguancun. In the serial interviews, China IP reporters visited to Lenovo Group one of leading enterprises and deeply explored its IP development process and management strategies with the highest reference value.
As is well known, Lenovo is the leading provider of smart devices and enterprise IT solutions in the world, it can provide the users all over the world with billions of intelligent terminal equipment, including the computers , tablet PCs, smart phones, smart televisions, etc. Currently, Lenovo owned 26,000 effective patents in the world, and employed 9500 researchers and engineers in China, America, Japan, Brazil, Europe and Israel. From 2017 to 2018, its total turnover reached USD 45.4 billion.
"Since its settlement in Zhongguancun, under the reform and opening-up policy, Lenovo is not only the practitioner of IP policy reform, but also the beneficiary", IP director of Lenovo Group told China IP reporter, the development of Lenovo in the IP field was benefited by the great reform and opening-up policy, and even can be attributive to the constant adjustment of patent layout and development strategies by Lenovo based on the changes in the national IP protection environment.
The IP team of Lenovo was established in 2001, and responsible for the IP services of the Group all over the world. Chen Yuanqing stated that the team's crucial targets at the beginning of the establishment are erecting the IP system and accumulate the number of patents. From 2002 to 2003, Lenovo was named in the list of Top 10 of the number of Chinese invention patents for two consecutive years. In 2005, the team started to adjust the strategic emphasis, and turned the crucial targets to eclectically promote the quality of patents and guarantee the overseas expansion of the Group's PC business on the basis that the number of patents has been greatly increased. In the same year, Lenovo acquired the PC-side business of IBM accompanied by its patents. In 2010, the Lenovo's business was expanded to CT from IT, and its IP strategy was also turned into the value driven, and attack and defense combined strategy. But from 2016 to this day, Lenovo's IP strategy can be further summarized with eight characters: to begin with the End, and Value Driven.
As the "elder company" among the enterprises in Zhongguancun, Lenovo's many strategies relating to the IP operation and management are worth for reference. For example, its International Technical Experts Review Committee established in 2005 played an important role in the patent screening and assessment of Lenovo. As for the original intention of establishing the experts review committee, Chen Yuan stated that "as the number of innovative ideas is gradually increased, the enterprise must screen them to promote the quality of corresponding patents and allow the patents to play its ultimate valuable role in the overall development of Lenovo.
Firstly, the technical experts should propose the corresponding suggestions on how to perfect and explore the potential ideas at the time of discovering ideas; Secondly, these experts should regularly assort and evaluate the authorized proprietary assets value to determine to increase or directly waive the investment in the future, which played a non-negligible role in ensuring the patent quality and developing the patent value". Up to now, Lenovo possesses more than one hundred review experts in America, Japan and China which are jointly responsible for screening each patent of Lenovo.
Enterprises go out, Patents are first. In 2008, Lenovo retained its first position in the ranking list of "Top 50 BrandZ Chinese Abroad Brands" with 1,697 scores of brand force, and also ranked TOP1 in the Chinese Abroad Brands for two consecutive years due to the correct operation and management strategy and the active overseas patent layout of IP team of Lenovo.
Cultivate the "Unicorn" Enterprises, and Comprehensively Drive the Innovation Engine
In the model park, there was also one batch of "unicorn" enterprises emerged together with the leading enterprises. According to the statistics, almost one half of 164 unicorn enterprises in China are "settled" in Zhongguancun. In 2017, the cluster only accounting for 0.3% of high-tech enterprises in Zhongguancun output 9.5% of patents in the model park. The total established value of 27 enterprises with the patent applications is more than 3 times of remaining 43 enterprises without the patent application. In the interview, China IP reporter also deeply explored the representative of unicorn enterprises in Zhongguancun - Megvii.
Megvii is the provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions based on the artificial intelligence technology, and as one of artificial intelligence enterprises first to realize the large-scale commercial use of face recognition technology by the in-depth learning methods, it possesses the world leading face recognition open platform "Face++" and the third-party face identification platform "Face ID", and has launched many creative AI products including the payment by the face recognition, the unlocking by the face recognition, the fullframe intelligent snapshotting machine in the various vertical fields. Currently, Megvii holds more than 1,000 domestic and foreign patents and patent applications, and participated in the formulation of 19 national and industrial standards for the artificial intelligence on behalf of the leading technical solution providers in the industry.
The innovation and energization are the core of the scientific and technological enterprise, similarly Megvii also applied the management concept of energization in the IP management. Zhao Lijie (IP manager of Megvii) told China IP reporter that "Megvii has been energizing the research and development, finance, human resources and other business departments with IP strategies, for example, the enterprise utilizes the IP strategies to support its tax planning, promote the product sales and technical cooperation, and sustain the investment and financing projects. But, above all, the IP strategies can also be used for the cultural energization, our company has been insisting on carrying out the IP cultural construction, which not only can promote its core value, cultivate the technical belief and patent consciousness of technical personnel and strengthen their spirit and concentration of scientific research, but also it can construct a technical atmosphere under which IP is respected and protected, guarantee the company's continuous operation and management and enhance the core competitiveness.
Regarding our achievements, Zheng Shaohui (Senior Vice Director of Megvii) stated that they are inseparable from the support and assistance to enterprises from CNIPA, Beijing International Property and Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park. Zheng Shaohui compared the relationship between the enterprise and the government to the "booming trend of supply and demand" in the market: "From the perspective of the company itself, we are in great need of IP technical guidance from department at all levels. At the same time, from the perspective of all departments, the better IP protection and the IP protection atmosphere establishment are also the embodiment to encourage enterprises to enhance their original technical capabilities and core competitiveness."
In 2018, our company was selected into the list of the national IPR demonstration enterprises, and it also became the practice place for the Examiner Practice (Beijing) Base of CNIPA. Zhao Lijie talked to China IP reporter that "Megvii being selected as the practice base for examiners is the practical achievement of the cooperation between Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park and CNIPA. Since 2017, many examiners have been stationed in Megvii for learning the professional technical knowledge, meanwhile they also provided Megvii with the professional guidance in the aspect of patent applications and replies. Taking GUI as an example, examiners gave our IP team an in depth training in combination with the product and business forms, corrected some problems encountered by the company in the previous exploration process and accordingly conducted the direction adjustment. The exchange and communication between the examiner and the innovation subject have made the examiners more aware of new technologies and also made the company more targeted in the business application."
In the seven years since its establishment, it has repeatedly defeated giants such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook in various international artificial intelligence top competition s , and won the world first in 24 technical evaluations. In the COCO and Mapillary competitions of ECCV 2018, Megvii monopolized four first prizes, which refreshes the new height of Chinese AI technology in the world.
Support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Marching towards "Forerunner" from "Follower"
The innovation and entrepreneurship ecology of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the model park has taken on a new look due to the fertile policy soil and high-quality public service system in Zhongguancun, "small but not weak" has become a major feature of small and mediumsized enterprises in Zhongguancun. China IP reporter visited two companies - Beijing KONRUNS Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and BMC Medical Co., Ltd., and witnessed the good development status and strong development momentum of SMEs in Zhongguancun.
Beijing KONRUNS Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was founded in 2003. In the past more than ten years, KONRUNS Pharmaceutical has developed rapidly in the breakthrough of innovative drug research and development and marketing performance, and has currently become a high-tech enterprise integrated with the high-tech drug R&D, production and sales. At present, KONRUNS Pharmaceutical holds many national patents for the first type of new drugs (FTNDs) such as Suling (Haemocoagulase Agkistrodon), Dior, CX1026, CX1003 and CX1409 and more than 60 domestic and foreign invention patents, and it received many top honors such as the National 863 Program, the National Torch Program and the China Patent Excellence Award, and accumulated the strong core competitiveness in the research and development of innovative drugs.
Since 2011 , KONRUNS Pharmaceutical has obtained the invention patents from 12 countries such as China, the United States and Japan. Until October 2018, KONRUNS Pharmaceutical has applied for 63 invention patents, held a total of 44 domestic and foreign invention patents and 95 trademarks registered at home and abroad, and the "KONRUNS HEALTHSTAR and its photo" has won the title of China Famous Trademark. Among them, the patents related to "Suling (Haemocoagulase Agkistrodon)" won the China Patent Excellence Award and the 8th Beijing Invention and Innovation Gold Award in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
At present, BMC Medical Co., Ltd. (BMC) established in 2001 has grown into the leader of household respiratory equipment and services in China. As the high-tech enterprise in China and Zhongguancun, it has insisted on the independent research and development in the past more than ten years and established many research and development centers across the country. By the end of 2015, the number of patent applications and patents granted has ranked first in the same domestic industry. Currently, the company holds 230 domestic patent applications, 124 patents granted, 23 PCT patent application, and 158 overseas trademarks registered.
From 2013 to 2017 , t h e company suffered from many IP-rated litigations during the period of expanding the overseas patent layout, including "337" investigations and relevant temporary bans brought three times by our competitor in the United States, and the amount of litigation costs incurred there from reaches up more than 43 million Yuan. Upon the active coping of the company's IP team, the company eventually won the victory successively at the end of 2017. It is known that the winning rate of the company involved in more than 50 litigations of which its judgments have been issued from 2013 to now is 100%.
Connect to the Service Organization, and Build the IP Cooperation Platform
As the densest area of IP resources in China, there are numerous agencies and service organizations with IP consulting and service capabilities gathered in Zhongguancun. In order to further optimize the services and promote the IP development of enterprises in Zhongguancun, State Intellectual Property Model Park is tailor-made, precisely docked and wholehearted to provide IP public services for these enterprises in Zhongguancun.
In this interview, China IP reporter also visited the representative of Zhongguancun Intellectual Property Service Agencies - Beijing Sanyou Intellectual Property Agency Ltd.
Beijing Sanyou Intellectual Property was originally Beijing Sanyou Patent Office founded in 1986, and it is the first private p a t e n t agency approved by CNIPA. At present, Beijing Sanyou Intellectual Property Agency Ltd. has established a "one-stop IP service chain" including the application agency, laws and legal affairs consulting, infringement litigation, strategy formulation, search and consulting services, etc., and the scope of business covers Chinese and foreign patents, trademarks, legal actions, annuity management, copyright registration and other IP-related services. As the professional IP service team, Sanyou can prepare several thousands of invention patent applications, represent several hundred of various IP cases, and provide more than one hundred enterprises with the consulting services every year.
Ji Xianghong (Customer Manager) has worked at Sanyou for more than 20 years told China IP reporter that Sanyou has participated from the beginning of the IP system to its implement in the Zhongguancun state intellectual property Model park. Especially after the company decided to establish the development base for the domestic business in Zhongguancun in 2012, Sanyou also had more opportunities to cooperate with many enterprises in the model park.
"Sanyou was devoted to serving the domestic customers at the beginning of its establishment, and started to reestablish the external departments after obtaining the foreign agent qualification in 1998. Meanwhile its domestic business was also synchronously expanded, all of which were independently developed. The foreign business quantity applied kept up with the domestic business in 2002, subsequently the domestic and foreign business volume respectively accounts for 50%. It decided to use Zhongguancun as the development base o f domestic business, the communications with the Zhongguancun Intellectual Property Bureau, Haidian Government, Beijing Municipal Government and CNIPA were also gradually increased." Ji Xianghong introduced that from 2012 to now, Sanyou attended more than 200 conferences organized by various parties and reaped great results. In the process, Sanyou also mobilized all employees to take part in relevant activities. It is not only the embodiment of social responsibilities undertook by Sanyou, but also the action to promote the selfdevelopment of Sanyou.
It is introduced that the number of persons in China market who have been served by Sanyou is increased to 109 in 2018 from 46 persons in 2012, and the number of cases represented is also doubled than that at the beginning of the establishment under the leadership of Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park.
The responsible of Zhongguancun Intellectual Property Bureau told China IP reporter that Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park provides the enterprises in the model park with multi-layered IP policy support including the active introduction of the state-level review resources and the service agency professional sources, preferentially delivery the patent examiners of CNIPA to carry out the practical communication activities, the organization of the enterprise patent examination and patent priority examination activities for many rounds, etc. for the enterprises in Zhongguancun, in order to support and cultivate the innovative development of leading enterprises, innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises, unicorn enterprises and other clusters.
The responsible person also said that Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park will actively and continuously be implemented with the close focus on building "three cities and one district", serving "high-grade, high precision and advanced" industries, cultivating highvalue patents, promoting patent operation and management, driving the international development of IP services and constructing the diversified IP protection mechanism, etc.
（Translated by Shi Zhenfang)
