The core industries of the digital economy include four major categories: digital product manufacturing, digital product services, digital technology applications, and digital element-driven industries. The report analyzes the status of invention patent grants, validity, and international comparisons in the core industries of the global and Chinese digital economy in 2023, as well as statistical analysis of development trends from 2016 to 2023.

Overall Trends

Global Situation: In 2023, the number of invention patents granted globally in the core industries of the digital economy reached 888,000, an increase of 11.7% year-on-year, accounting for 44.4% of the total number of invention patents granted worldwide, which is 5.8 percentage points higher than in 2016. By the end of 2023, the number of valid invention patents in the core industries of the global digital economy reached 6.524 million, accounting for 44.5% of the total number of valid invention patents globally.

China Situation: In 2023, China granted 406,000 invention patents in the core industries of the digital economy, a year-on-year increase of 21.2%, accounting for 44.1% of all invention patents granted in China, which is 13.5 percentage points higher than in 2016. By the end of 2023, the number of valid invention patents in the core industries of China's digital economy reached 1.953 million, accounting for 39.1% of the total number of valid invention patents in China. Of these, 1.602 million were domestic patents, accounting for 39.2% of the total number of valid domestic invention patents.

Foreign Patents in China: By the end of 2023, a total of 93 countries (regions) held 351,000 valid invention patents in China's digital economy core industries, accounting for 39.1% of the total number of valid foreign invention patents in China. Among these, enterprises held 344,000 patents, involving 19,000 companies. The top ten countries were Japan (115,000 patents), the United States (101,000 patents), South Korea (43,000 patents), Germany (24,000 patents), the Cayman Islands (12,000 patents), the Netherlands (8,657 patents), France (7,661 patents), Sweden (6,391 patents), Switzerland (4,923 patents), and Singapore (4,536 patents).

Key Features

1.  High Activity in Global Digital Economy Core Industry Innovation; China's Market Demonstrates Strong Vitality and Innovation Capability

In 2023, the global number of invention patents granted in the core industries of the digital economy increased by 11.7% year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points higher than the global growth rate of invention patent grants.

Among the five major intellectual property offices, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) granted the most invention patents in the core industries of the digital economy in 2023, with 406,000 patents, followed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with 181,000 patents, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) with 91,000 patents, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) with 66,000 patents, and the European Patent Office (EPO) with 41,000 patents. These five offices together accounted for 88.4% of the global total.

2.  Digital Product Manufacturing is the Focus of Global Patent Deployment; Digital Element-Driven Industries are the Global Innovation Growth Hotspot

In terms of patent scale, among the four major categories of the digital economy core industries in 2023, digital product manufacturing had the highest number of invention patents granted globally (454,000 patents, accounting for 51.2%), followed by digital element-driven industries (258,000 patents, 29.1%), digital technology applications (175,000 patents, 19.7%), and digital product services (338 patents).

3.  China's Overseas Patent Deployment in the Digital Economy Core Industries is Increasing; China's Three-Party Patent Ranking Rises to 3rd Globally

The number of invention patents granted overseas in China's digital economy core industries increased from 21,000 in 2016 to 48,000 in 2023.

In terms of the number of three-party patents (patents granted in the United States, Europe, and Japan), as of the end of 2023, the United States (206,000), Japan (156,000), China (76,000), Germany (67,000), and South Korea (65,000) were the top five countries. China's ranking rose from 6th place globally in 2016 to 3rd place in 2023.

4.  More Enterprises are Participating in Digital Technology Innovation; Foreign Companies are Increasingly Focusing on Digital Technology Patent Deployment in China

In 2023, a total of 64,000 companies obtained invention patents in the core industries of the digital economy in China. Among the top 100 patent holders in the core industries of China's digital economy, 37 were domestic companies, and 22 were foreign companies with patents in China.