According to the Japan Patent Office, the number of China's patent applications in 2000 exceeded that of Japan and Europe, ranking second in the world, among which appeals in genetic information technologies dominated.

The office conducted a survey on world patent applications, which indicated that in 2000, countries from all over the world filed as many as 180,000 bioscience-related patent applications, among which the United States had 7,000, ranking first; China had 3,600, five times greater than the previous year, ranking second; Europe with 3,200 and Japan 3,100, both having grown from the previous year.

The office believes that the reason for the skyrocketing increase of China's bioscience-related patent applications lies in achievements made by high-tech enterprises that were created by researchers from universities, and in particular from gene-related patent appeals, that rose sharply.

The Japan Patent Office has studied 14 prominent patent application fields via statistics and analysis, aiming to unveil the tendencies of international science and technology research.

(China.org.cn by Li Liangdu, May 31, 2003)