07 December 2020
According to a recent report on the country’s AI development, over 30,000 related patents were filed in 2019, an increase of 52.4 percent over the previous year.
Released at the latest Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai, the report was compiled by researchers from over 10 institutions including the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
It shows that China published 28,700 papers on AI, an increase of 12.4 percent over the previous year.
Among the 100 most-cited papers on AI worldwide in the past five years, 21 were produced in China, which is the second highest in the world. The country has made innovative achievements with international influence in areas such as machine learning and brain-inspired computing.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area have become crucial engines for AI development, with the number of relevant enterprises accounting for 83 percent of the country’s total.
In 2019, 180 universities were approved to offer undergraduate programmes on AI, and 11 of them, including Peking University, have established AI colleges or research institutes, according to the report.
According to Catherine Zheng, a partner of Deacons’ Intellectual Property practice group in Hong Kong, there were governmental incentives for the private sector to develop AI and hence, the increased patents in the AI field.
“Since 2015, the government has taken a proactive and leading approach in robustly advocating the development of AI and filing of related patents among the private sector in China. In 2019, China surpassed the US and Japan in the number of worldwide AI-related patent applications. A majority of the patent filings were contributed by data processing system and data information transmission.”
The earliest governmental policy framework can be traced back to the Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Vigorously Advancing the “Internet Plus” Action published by the State Council in July 2015, Zheng says. “The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China have since been entrusted upon the responsibility to promote the application of AI in intelligent products, industrial manufacturing and other fields, as well as fostering backbone enterprises and innovation teams leading the development of global AI.”
Two years later, the State Council published the Development Plan on the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence. “The government pledged to accelerate the cultivation of leading companies in the AI industry. More importantly, the government would support the private sector by strengthening IP protection in the field of AI, reinforcing technological innovation in the whole field of AI, consolidating the mechanisms of patent protection, and promoting the copyright of AI innovations,” she says. “Further, the government would establish an AI technology public patent pool to promote the use and diffusion of new AI technologies.”
In December 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the Three-Year Action Plan for Promoting Development of a New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry (2018–2020), she adds. “According to the Plan, the state would research and establish a mechanism for the collaborative application of AI patents, and would support the construction of a patent collaborative operation platform and an IP service platform.”
In 2018, the China National Intellectual Property Administration issued the Catalogue of Industries under Key Support of Intellectual Property Rights, where AI, amongst other technologies such as cloud computing and big data, was listed as one of the 10 major industries that the country would focus on development and support.
“In the past few years, for the sake of promoting industrial upgrading, improving the business environment and attracting powerful high-tech companies to launch businesses in China, local governments have also been announcing guidance opinions with regard to AI industries, providing tax incentives, financial subsidies and implementing talent introduction programmes,” she says. “For example, between 2013 and 2017, the Shenzhen Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration has provided local high-tech industries in Shenzhen with tax concession reaching the amount of ¥114.3 billion (US$17.1 billion).”
In respect of filings of AI related patents, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in November 2019, she says. “In response to the current development of new industries and fields, the Opinions make clear that study shall be conducted on strengthening patent protection. Enterprises shall be encouraged to pay attention to the establishment of risk prevention mechanisms, and protection should be devised to cover the environment of business startups and innovations.”
In December 2019, the Guidelines for Patent Examination were amended by the CNIPA with a view to responding to the needs of innovation entities for further specifying the rules for examining patent applications involving AI, she says. “For example, it is now settled that in the specification of an application for an invention patent containing algorithmic features or business rules and method features, the solution adopted by the invention for resolving its technical problems shall be clearly and completely described. It is anticipated that the amendments to the Guidelines may further stimulate the filings of AI patents by providing potential applicants with a greater degree of clarity and legal certainty.
Over the past decade, China has evolved into one of the leading and dominant nations in the development of AI around the globe, she says. “AI development not only brings about multifaceted economic and social returns for the country, but also constitutes an integral part of China’s development strategy in strengthening its national security and military power.”
In 2016, President Xi Jinping first mentioned that the development of AI would profoundly change human lives, society and the world, she says. “The state must seize the opportunity in this high-tech field, and accelerate the deployment and implementation of AI.”
In July 2017, the State Council published the Development Plan on the New Generation of AI —it was stated that AI has become the new focus of international competition. “Firstly, AI is a strategic technology that will lead the future. Major developed countries regard AI as a crucial strategy to enhance national competitiveness and safeguard national security. As such, the government would strive to take the lead in the new round of international technology competition,” she says. “It would be necessary to think globally and place the development of AI at the national strategic level in order to firmly grasp the strategic initiatives of international competition in the new stage of AI development.”
Apart from being a strategic technology, AI will also perform as a fundamental new engine driving economic development. “Being the core driving force for the new round of industrial transformation, AI will further release the huge energy accumulated in previous scientific revolutions and industrial transformations. AI will create new powerful engines, and will restructure various economic activities including manufacturing, distribution, exchange and consumption,” she says. “Furthermore, AI will form new demands for intelligentization in both micro and macro spheres. This can trigger the introduction of new technologies, products, industries, business models, and in turn major changes in the economic structure, profound changes in human production, lifestyles and thinking patterns, which will realize a great leap in social growth.”
In addition, AI is capable of bringing a new potential for social construction. “As China is now experiencing its critical stage of building a well-off society, challenges such as ageing population and resource constraints remain severe. Through application of AI in sectors such as education, medical services, elderly care, environmental conservation, urban planning and judicial services, the standard of public services as well as people’s standard of living will improve. AI can accurately perceive, predict, and warn of the major trends in the operation of infrastructure and social security systems, timely grasp people’s cognitive and psychological changes, and take the initiative in making administrative decisions,” she says. “Therefore, AI can significantly improve the ability and level of social governance and would play an indispensable role in the effective maintenance of social stability.”
Soon after the pandemic outbreak in the first half of 2020, president Xi emphasized that it is necessary to encourage the use of big data, AI, cloud computing and other technologies to better play a supporting role in epidemic monitoring and analysis, virus traceability, prevention, control and treatment, as well as resource allocation, she says. “New technologies, such as AI and big data, can be optimized to carry out epidemiological and traceability investigations to find out the source of the disease and improve the accuracy and efficiency of screening.”
Johnny Chan
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