SHANGHAI -- China received more than 30,000 patent filings on artificial intelligence (AI) in 2019, an increase of 52.4 percent over the previous year, according to a report released on Thursday.

The report, focusing on China's new generation of AI development, was released at the Pujiang Innovation Forum held in Shanghai. It shows that China published a total of 28,700 papers on AI, an increase of 12.4 percent over the previous year.

The report was compiled by researchers from more than ten units, including the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, and covers the implementation plan of China's new generation of AI development and reveals challenges and trends for future development.

China produced 21 papers among the first 100 highly-cited papers around the world in the past five years, ranking second. China has made several innovative achievements with international influence in areas such as machine learning and brain-inspired computing.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have become key engines for AI development, with the number of AI enterprises accounting for 83 percent of the country's total.

In 2019, 180 universities were approved to offer undergraduate programs on AI, and 11 universities, including Peking University, have set up AI colleges or research institutes, according to the report.