ZTE has been ranked number one in the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s latest annual list for patent applications, as the company increases its focus on research and development of next-generation technologies including 5G, network virtualisation, cloudification and the Internet of Things.
ZTE filed 4 123 applications for patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2016, more than any other company, according to data published by WIPO. ZTE moved into the top position after ranking number three a year earlier. It has been placed inside the top three in WIPO’s annual list each year since 2010.
Huawei Technologies, with 3 692 patent applications in 2016, was ranked number two by WIPO, followed by Qualcomm with 2 466, Mitsubishi Electric with 2 053 and LG Electronics with 1 888.
“ZTE’s top position in the new WIPO annual patent rankings reflects our ongoing drive to lead the ICT industry in the development of next-generation technologies,” says Shen Nan, chief intellectual property officer of ZTE.
With 20 R&D centres in Asia, North America and Europe, ZTE invests more than 10% of annual revenue on R&D, employing more than 30 000 research professionals in the development of new technologies including 5G, IoT, NFV, SDN, cloud computing, big data and smart city.
“China-based filers are behind much of the growth in international patent and trademark filings, making great strides in internationalizing their businesses as the country continues its journey from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’,” says Francis Gurry, director-general of WIPO.