On April 1, 2026, the National Intellectual Property Administration released the “2025 China Patent Survey Report”, which was based on the patent survey and data analysis in 2025. The survey paid special attention to the following items: patent transfer and commercialization; patent creation, protection, and overseas intellectual property activities; patent activities in cutting-edge areas of new-quality productivity, including strategic emerging industries, green technologies, and the digital economy. In addition, a special analysis focusing on private enterprises was conducted. The survey covered 27 provinces (including autonomous regions and municipalities), and its subjects were patent holders – enterprises possessing valid patents as of the end of 2024 – as well as their valid patents.
The Report comprises five sections: 1. Main findings of the 2025 China Patent Survey; 2. Special report on the 2025 China Patent Survey; 3. Five-year continuous data from the China Patent Survey; 4. Implementation status of the 2025 China Patent Survey; 5. Raw data collected from the 2025 survey.
Key Findings of the 2025 China Patent Survey
The Report summarizes the following key findings:
- Patent creation capabilities continue to strengthen, and industry-academia-research cooperation keeps deepening;
- The level of patent commercialization continues to improve, and their market value is becoming increasingly evident;
- Patent protection environment continues to improve, and the recognition of its effectiveness is increasing;
- Overseas intellectual property strategy is actively being pursued, and demand for overseas rights protection and assistance services is on the rise.
- High-efficiency commercialization of patents in emerging industries; strengthening patent strategic planning for future industries.
- Patent activities of private enterprises are clearly market-oriented, and their overseas patent deployment still needs to be strengthened.
Key Data and Analysis
The capacity for patent creation continues to strengthen, with 87.4% of enterprise invention patents being obtained through R&D. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, this proportion has remained above 80% and is steadily increasing. Among these patents, 55.6% were developed over a period of one year or longer.
The industrialization rate of enterprise invention patents reached 54.0%, an increase of 0.7 % over the previous year. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, this rate has shown steady growth. The average revenue generated from industrialized invention patents was 8.72 million yuan per patent, with a steadily improving level. Among invention patents that have not yet been industrialized, the largest proportion (34.4%) is reserved for medium- and long-term technological development. The industrialization rates for utility model and design patents were 58.1% and 66.9%, respectively.
By enterprise size, the industrialization rates of invention patents among large, medium, and small enterprises were 51.2%, 62.0%, and 57.9%, respectively. By enterprise type, the industrialization rate of invention patents among private enterprises was 58.5%, 4.5% higher than the overall level; among these, 91.0% of invention patents were obtained through independent R&D. By industry, the three industries with the highest patent industrialization rates were, in order, metal products manufacturing, general equipment manufacturing, and special equipment manufacturing – among which the first two exceeded an industrialization rate of 70%. By industrial sector, enterprises in the strategic emerging industries showed an invention patent industrialization level that was significantly higher than the overall average, by 4.7%. In the field of future industries, 42.5% of enterprises invention patents anchored the exploration of cutting-edge technologies and long-term industrial planning.
In terms of collaborative innovation among industry, academia, and research institutions, the proportion of enterprises collaborating with universities or research institutes reached 43.8%. Among the invention patents obtained by enterprises through collaborative R&D, the proportion involving partnerships with universities or research institutes was 71.2%, an increase of 6.1% over the previous year. Among collaborative R&D efforts between industry, academia, and research institutions, the area with the highest proportion was the development of new products and new methods for addressing defects, accounting for 35.9%.
In terms of overseas deployment and utilization, the proportion of Chinese enterprises that have filed patent applications abroad among those that have exported products overseas was 24.7%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points over the previous year. Among the enterprises surveyed, the proportion engaging in licensing or transferring patents to foreign entities was 1.1%, while the proportion using patents from foreign institutions or individuals was 2.3%, both representing increases compared to the previous year. Enterprises were actively addressing overseas challenges by increasing R&D investment and strengthening compliance with relevant policies.
In terms of the vitality of innovation actors, the proportion of invention patents obtained through R&D by start-up enterprises (established within the past five years) reached 66.4%, an increase of 6.2% over the previous year. Among micro-enterprises, the proportion with R&D expenditure on invention patents exceeding 100,000 yuan was 56.1%, up 2.8% from the previous year.
Regarding patent protection in the environmental field, the survey shows that the proportion of enterprises patent holders encountering patent infringement was 7.5%, down 0.5% from 2024. In the digital economy sector, the proportion of enterprises encountering patent infringement was 7.8%, 0.4% higher than that of enterprises in non-digital economy sectors (7.4%). Of enterprises that have experienced patent infringement, the proportion adopting rights-protecting measures was 81.7%, a slight decrease of 2.4% from the previous year (84.1%). Of the enterprises that encountered patent infringement, 63.2% employed two or more rights-protecting measures, and 35.3% adopted three or more such measures. In terms of compensation amounts, among Chinese enterprises involved in patent infringement litigation, the proportion of cases where courts awarded damages, reached settlements through court mediation, or achieved out-of-court settlements totalling over five million yuan was 11.1%, an increase of 1.6% from the previous year and 3.5 percentage points from 2021.
The proportion of patent holders who believe that the current level of intellectual property protection in China is appropriately balanced stands at 32.2%, an increase of 2.3% from the 16% (29.9%) reported in the 2023 survey. Meanwhile, 14.9% of enterprises still believe that the level of intellectual property protection should be significantly strengthened, while 51.2% think it should be gradually enhanced.