The growth rate of invention patent applications in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) ranked first in Wuhan city, in Central China’s Hubei province during the first five months of 2020, according to the Wuhan intellectual property bureau.
Officials said the WHDZ boasts two patents that won the gold Hubei provincial-level patent award.
One of the two, a type of dynamically controlled water freezing prevention method for industrial pipes and curtains -- independently developed by China Communications Second Highway Survey and Design Research Institute Co -- has the technical advantages of high safety and reliability and is energy saving.
The patent was successfully applied to the Gongbei Tunnel of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which saved more than 300 million yuan ($42.6 million) in engineering costs.
Officials said that from 2016 to 2019, the number of applications for invention patents in the WHDZ continued to grow.
Among them, the number of applications for invention patents by businesses has been growing at an annual rate of 8.9 percent, 37.2 percent, and 26.9 percent respectively over the past three years.
From January to May this year, the number of business applications for invention patents increased by 42.2 percent year-on-year, the fastest growth rate among all districts and zones in Wuhan.
