Qingdao released a plan to build itself into a national power in intellectual property rights (IPR) by 2020 in mid-August.

Objectives to be fulfilled under the plan include:

Over 60 of its enterprises and public units pass the national certification for corporate IPR management;

At least 300 of its industrial enterprises with an annual revenue from their main business operations of 20 million yuan or more set up IPR management units;

Social satisfaction for IPR protection reaches 80 percent;

Possession of in-force invention patents rises to at least 25 per 10,000 people;

The annual average international PCT applications reaches 900;

The number of in-force registered trademarks reaches 100,000;

Copyrights of computer software and other works total 20,000;

At least 40 new plant varieties are introduced;

The city’s marine technology, home appliance, electronics, rail transport, chemical engineering and rubber sectors have a number of IPR-leading enterprises and industrial clusters which are able to compete on the international stage;

IPR trade amounts to one billion yuan;

At least 150 professional IPR service suppliers will be set up;

The number of employees with IPR management knowhow in the city’s enterprises and public units reaches 12,000;

Those in the IPR service sector reaches 3,000;

The number of nationally-leading figures in IPR reaches 30.

The State Intellectual Property Office of China approved Qingdao as one of China’s first cities to build themselves into national powers in IPR.