The National Bureau of Statistics has constructed data covering all industrial enterprises above designated size from 1998 to 2013, including all state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned industrial enterprises with annual main business revenue exceeding 5 million RMB. These enterprises represent the most crucial economic entities in China. However, current research utilizing patent data to study corporate innovation activities primarily focuses on listed companies, neglecting patent information from this larger cohort of industrial enterprises. This oversight may stem from the substantial inconsistencies in enterprise names within the China Industrial Enterprises Database.
To address this, the CnOpenData team has meticulously matched China's industrial enterprises with patent innovation data by referencing scientific data matching methodologies (Kou Zonglai & Liu Xueyue: "Patent Activities of Chinese Enterprises: Stylized Facts and Impacts from Innovation Policies," Economic Research Journal, No.3 2020). The database primarily relies on enterprise name alignment between industrial enterprises and patent right holders (or applicants for published patents). To maximize data usability and reduce noise, the team standardized company names in both industrial enterprise and patent datasets. Recognizing variations in corporate suffixes (e.g., "股份有限公司", "有限责任公司"), preprocessing removed terms like "集团" (Group), "有限责任公司" (LLC), "股份有限公司" (Co., Ltd.), "有限公司" (Ltd.), "加工厂" (Processing Plant), "工厂" (Factory), "厂" (Plant), and administrative divisions ("省" Province, "市" City, etc.), thereby enhancing matching accuracy. Furthermore, leveraging its substantial data resources, this dataset achieves more comprehensive matching than previous reference studies.
It should be noted that although China Industrial Enterprises Data officially concludes in 2013, we have deliberately matched it with patent data extending through 2023. This decision primarily accounts for citation lag in patent data, ensuring relatively complete citation/cited information by incorporating newer patent records.
Structurally, this dataset comprises three components: Patent Quantity Statistics, Patent Quality Statistics, and Patent Details. The quantity and quality statistics are further categorized by patent applications and grants respectively, with the quality module subdivided into invention patents, utility models, and designs. Citation/cited information is embedded in the Patent Details section, organized into four modules (invention applications, granted inventions, utility models, and designs), each containing four tables: Basic Information, Citations, Cited References, and Transaction Records (notably, design patents lack citation tables).
Temporal Coverage
- Invention applications: Statistics based on application publication dates (1985-2023)
- Granted inventions/Utility models/Designs: Statistics based on authorization publication dates (1985-2023)
Field Specifications
Industrial Enterprises Patent Quantity Statistics
Industrial Enterprises Patent Quality Statistics
Industrial Enterprises Patent Details
Data Structure Overview
Sample Data
Given the extensive tables, this page showcases Patent Application Quantity/Invention Patent Application Quality/Invention Application Details. Other modules are available through left navigation.
Industrial Enterprises Patent Application Quantity Statistics
Industrial Enterprises Patent Application Quality Statistics
Industrial Enterprises Invention Application Basic Information
China Industrial Enterprises Invention Application Citation Table
China Industrial Enterprises Invention Application Cited References Table
China Industrial Enterprises Invention Application Transaction Records
References
- Kou Zonglai, Liu Xueyue. "Patent Activities of Chinese Enterprises: Stylized Facts and Impacts from Innovation Policies." Economic Research Journal, 2020(3).
- Nie Huihua, Jiang Ting, Yang Rudai. "Current Usage and Potential Issues of China's Industrial Enterprise Database." The World Economy, 2012(5).
- Lerner J, Seru A. "The Use and Misuse of Patent Data: Issues for Finance and Beyond." The Review of Financial Studies, 2021(6).
Data Update Frequency
Annual Updates