In regional economics, the technological level, political system, population distribution, natural resources, among others, exert profound impacts on regional economic activities. Science and technology, regarded as the "Primary Productive Force," are intrinsically linked to urbanization, urban economic issues, spatial structures, regional productivity layouts, and resource development within regions. Technological progress directly drives social and economic growth.
As a critical indicator for measuring technological innovation, patent data serves as a sufficient metric for quantifying innovative outcomes. According to the intellectual property statistics bulletin released by the National Intellectual Property Administration in December 2020, China saw 1.403 million invention patent applications and 470,000 invention patent grants from January to November 2020, representing a year-on-year increase of 40% compared to 2019. This scale of patent statistics clearly indicates sustained development momentum in China’s innovation landscape. However, it has been observed that the utilization of macro-level patent data within the industry remains overly simplistic, with most analyses confined to provincial and annual units, lacking deeper statistical exploration at more granular levels.
Compared to micro-level enterprise patent data, CnOpenData’s Regional Patent Statistics of China provides macro-level evidence supporting regional innovation development. Based on 2020 administrative region codes, this dataset divides regions by province (省), city (市), and district/county (区/县), with the month (月份) as the smallest temporal unit. It comprehensively covers nationwide patent applications and patent grants (专利申请与授权) data.
Data Features
- Comprehensive coverage of regional patent statistics in China up to the latest year, encompassing both patent application and grant phases;
- Accurate identification and differentiation of addresses for patent applicants other than the primary applicant;
- Not only annual-level statistics but also monthly-level precision to better suit monthly academic research;
- Not only province-level and city-level statistics but also refined to district/county level to support more granular regional innovation studies.
Database Application Guide
CnOpenData China Regional Patent Statistics Application Logic: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ui0iZmcO6n9M5cShneL1QQ
Original Research: Optimization Notes for China Regional Patent Statistics (中国专利分地区统计数据的优化说明)
Citing Literature
Time Period
1985-2024
Field Display
Sample Data
Given the extensive tables, this page only displays patent application sections.
Chinese Provincial Patent Application Table
Chinese City-level Patent Application Table
Chinese District/County Patent Application Table
Related Literature
- Josh L., Amit S., 2021, "The Use and Misuse of Patent Data: Issues for Finance and Beyond", The Review of Financial Studies.
Data Update Frequency
Annual Updates