The latest “2023 Global Innovation Index” brings exciting news, indicating that the “Shanghai-Suzhou” intellectual property cluster has successfully risen to the fifth place globally, advancing one spot from the previous year. This marks Shanghai’s first entry into the top five “best technology clusters” globally, creating a new historical record for the city’s rise on the international innovation stage. The Shanghai Intellectual Property Office announced this significant news during a recent quarterly media briefing, with spokesperson and Deputy Director Yu Chen providing detailed insights into Shanghai’s new achievements in intellectual property protection.
Throughout this year, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office has launched comprehensive thematic education and conducted in-depth investigations and research. Making intellectual property a strong city has been set as the annual target task, achieving remarkable progress. Especially in the pharmaceutical field, Shanghai has taken a series of measures, focusing on preventing infringements at the source.
As one of Shanghai’s three key leading industries, the biopharmaceutical sector’s protection of innovative drug intellectual property rights has received significant attention. During the media briefing, the relevant person in charge of intellectual property protection at the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office introduced measures taken in the pharmaceutical procurement field to address frequent intellectual property disputes. Recognizing the urgent need to establish a system connecting pharmaceutical product centralized procurement with intellectual property protection, Shanghai initiated the drafting of the “Implementation Opinions on Strengthening Intellectual Property Protection in the City’s Pharmaceutical Procurement Field” earlier this year, which was officially issued on September 21.
The “Implementation Opinions” establish coordination mechanisms, set up consultation mechanisms, and establish a Shanghai Medical Intellectual Property Protection Professional Committee to enhance professional support. Furthermore, the document specifies that autonomous commitments are a prerequisite for enterprises participating in centralized large-scale procurement or applying for listing on the Sunshine Platform for procurement, and it establishes a procedure for quickly resolving patent infringement disputes during the procurement announcement stage.
The implementation of these new policies will provide strong support for the independent innovation and high-quality development of Shanghai’s biopharmaceutical leading industry.
Meanwhile, Shanghai is actively building a national intellectual property protection demonstration zone. In April of this year, Pudong New Area was designated as the first batch of national intellectual property protection demonstration zone construction areas. On September 21, the “Construction Plan” was officially issued and approved by the National Intellectual Property Administration. The “Construction Plan” outlines five major measures, including establishing an efficient comprehensive intellectual property management system and integrating the entire chain of intellectual property creation, utilization, protection, management, and service. Shanghai will fully support the construction of the demonstration zone in Pudong New Area, actively coordinating and providing services through mechanisms such as special teams, resource integration, and policy coordination, to help Pudong New Area become a preferred location for international rule docking, a guiding area for nurturing innovative achievements, and a model area for intellectual property protection. This initiative will greatly promote Shanghai’s leading position in intellectual property protection.
