As per China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), applications for patents by the Chinese sewing machinery industry increased by 29.77 per cent on Y-o-Y basis to 7,326 in 2020. Among these, patent for invention constituted 25.39 per cent of the total while patents for novel constituted 60.66 per cent and those for appearance design contributed 13.95 per cent. CNIPA granted 518 new patients for inventions in 2020.

During the 13th five-year plan (2016-2020), the Chinese sewing machinery industry applied for 25,835 patents – 60.95 per cent higher than those applied during the 12th five-year plan (2011-2015). In particular, the industry applied for 82 per cent more patents for invention.

As per data, Chinese enterprises have invested more than 4 per cent of their sales into research and development with some companies applying for over 100 patents in a year. Enterprises have made noticeable achievements in terms of intellectual property, significantly improved their strength in innovation and mastered dozens of core technologies to help prepare a blueprint for the 14th five year plan.