China and US battle, quietly but fiercely, on yet another tech front: patent applications
- According to 2023 UN data, Chinese inventors led in international patent applications for the second year running, posting some 14,000 more than the second-place US
- As China raises its game, reducing substandard filings, some analysts say its swooning economy and ageing population could blunt its innovation trajectory
After inventing a system to counter ransomware, Paul Lewis started the data protection company Calamu in 2019 at his kitchen table in the US state of New Jersey. Over the past four years, through the pandemic and rounds of venture financing, he has received two international and several US patents to protect his intellectual property.
But he cannot help noticing how quickly and aggressively China is advancing in technology.
“China is a different animal,” he said. “It’s a fight against the US and this is an innovation grab on the world stage.”
According to 2023 UN data, Chinese inventors led in international patent applications for the second year running, posting some 14,000 more than the second-place US, as the two giants increasingly face off over technology, innovation and global bragging rights. And earlier this month Premier Li Qiang announced a 10 per cent increase in government science and technology research, even as the partisan US Congress battles over every budget line.
China – long criticised for focusing on patent quantity over quality and for heavily subsidising patent applicants – is also raising its game, weeding out plagiarised research papers and reducing substandard filings.
“There’s no question the Chinese patent filings do reflect underlying technological capabilities. We’d be foolish or ostrich-like if we denied that,” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), who has served on government economic boards during President Joe Biden’s administration as well as the four previous ones.
