The intellectual property authority of East China's Shandong province announced last week the first batch of 15 key technologies developed by local companies and organizations.

Yu Zhiyong, head of the Shandong Provincial Intellectual Property Office, said each of the 15 key technologies features a number of core patents, as well as further patents that support them.

"To avoid violations by other companies, we have built a vast patent pool to defend ourselves," said Yu.

The 15 listed technologies cover a wide range of industries, including high-end manufacturing, new materials, energy saving, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. These cover 13 patent groups, while the other two refer to new plant species.

Yu said all of the listed technologies are internationally competitive and at the forefront of the country's industrial upgrading process.

For example, a high-end fault-tolerant server system developed by Inspur Group has secured more than 100 patents on system architecture, core chipset design, hardware design, and architecture and radiating design.

"The high-end fault-tolerant server breaks foreign countries' monopoly of high-end servers used in core economic fields such as finance and telecommunications," said Wang Endong, chief scientist at Inspur.

The intelligent control technologies of green home appliances developed by Qingdao-headquartered Haier Group have acquired more than 200 patents in China and more than 100 overseas.

Yu said Haier's technologies have greatly enhanced its products' functions in keeping food fresh, saving energy and reducing noise from their products.

"There is huge potential for economic benefits when these proprietary technologies are industrialized," said Yu.

An eight-speed automatic transmission developed by Shengrui Transmission based in Weifang secured more than 130 patents. One of the core patents won the China Patent Golden Award in 2011.

Its edge in patented technologies helped the company develop from a small company that just manufactured simple auto components into a competitive auto transmission producer.

To date, the company has sold 40,000 eight-speed transmissions, generating total revenue of 480 million yuan ($69.1 million).

Shandong Denghai Seeds has developed more than 100 new corn breeds with five patented corn-growing technologies to maximize plant density and minimize light interception.

The Denghai 618, a corn breed developed by the company, broke the record for China's spring corn productivity.

In November, the State Intellectual Property Office assigned Shandong the pilot project of becoming an IP-supported province. The Shandong government has in turn set a goal for local companies to master 100 core technologies in key sectors with global competitiveness by 2020.

Patent projects involved in those technologies will be awarded up to 1 million yuan for patent protection and industrialization, plus additional assistance should any infringement occur.

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/21/2016 page17)