Recently, State Intellectual Property Office released the 2017 China Patent Survey Report, which is the third time that the national patent-related survey results are publicized.

　　In 2017, the patent survey covered 23 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) nationwide and was carried out concerning the valid patents and the patent holders who owned such valid patents at the end of 2016. The survey was launched in March 2017 and was completed at the end of 2017, lasting about 9 months. 15,000 questionnaires about patent holders and 43,000 questionnaires about patent information were released. Over 85% of the questionnaires were returned.

　　According to the survey results, the general environment about patent protection in China is good and it has become an urgent need for the innovators to tighten the patent protection; The core patents guide the domestic patent quality in continuously improving, yet the understanding of patent holders about the value of patent markets is expected to be enhanced; The emerging industries with strategic significance more rely on the patents to gain their competitive edge and the IPR-related strategy of enterprises needs to be reinforced; As the universities are quite strong in patent innovation capabilities, so they urgently need to improve their level of patent utilization through reform.