By the end of June 2026, the number of valid patents for invention that Qingdao had exceeded 100,000 for the first time, the number of valid patents for invention per 10,000 people reached 96.47, and as many as 594,000 valid trademarks have been registered. In terms of all these three figures, Qingdao led its peers in Shandong Province. Nearly 9,000 enterprises in the city have possessed valid patents for invention, and enterprises across the city have possessed a total of 73,000 valid patents for invention. This shows that enterprises enjoy increasing internal driving force for innovation-oriented development.

This year witnessed the inclusion of 21 enterprises from Qingdao in the national campaign on developing demonstration enterprises for intellectual property during 2025-2027. These enterprises cover many key sectors, including intelligent manufacturing, biological medicine and new energy. Reliant on a 1,200-member R&D team, Teld has secured 1,400 intellectual property rights, undertaken 10 national major scientific projects, made breakthroughs in 20 core and key technologies on charging network, and provided services in 366 Chinese cities. Upholding unswervingly the innovation-driven development philosophy, Haier Group has garnered approval to build the national industrial intellectual property operation center and the provincial patent pool for key industries.

Furthermore, Qingdao continued to beef up efforts to develop high-value patents, and leading enterprises in the city’s “10+1” innovation-oriented industrial system has possessed as many as 38,000 valid patents for invention. In the newly-unveiled 26th China Patent Awards, Qingdao clinched one gold award, three silver awards and 13 outstanding awards.  (Wu Shuai)