On September 29, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter to WIPO on the launch of GII 2022. On September 30, Boao Forum for Asia and WIPO Office in China (WOC) organized a Roundtable on the Reading of GII 2022. Yu Xiang, Professor at the School of Management of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Dean of Sino-European Institute for Intellectual Property of HUST, and Vice President of Hubei Normal University (HNU), was invited to attend the Roundtable. The Roundtable was presided over by Ms. Liu Hua, Director of the WOC.

At the Roundtable, Prof. Yu Xiang analyzed and summarized three characteristics from the data of the GII2022 report :(1) The geographical pattern of global innovation is unbalanced, and the traditional powers of Europe and the U. S. are still in the leading position. (2) Asia is vigorous in innovation and is gradually narrowing the gap between the U.S. and Europe. (3) China ranked 11th this year, which has moved up one place from last year, and has steadily improved its ranking for ten consecutive years. China's innovation strength is on the rise, especially in terms of the investment and performance of R&D, which has provided a solid foundation for China to become a strong intellectual property power. However, there is still a gap between China's overall innovation capacity and that of the developed countries, especially the indicators of higher education and technology transfer.

In order to achieve better innovation performance in China, higher quality of global innovation, and promote the common development of mankind, Professor Yu Xiang put forward five suggestions:

01

The Chinese government should accelerate the reform, and adopt a multi-dimensional evaluation system, which could encourage different categories of talents to give better play to their respective strengths, so as to guide the output of more research findings that can solve the practical problems faced by industrial development.

02

As for the higher education system, China should learn further from Switzerland and Germany, which pay attention to the training of talents who are skilled in solving practical problems and promoting the commercialization of research findings, and ulteriorly reform the human resource regime systematically and institutionally.

03

Professor Yu Xiang suggested that WIPO take more effective measures to further strengthen international innovation cooperation, especially in green innovation (for example, the European Commission's 2019 European Green Deal and the new development concept proposed by China have similar goals and important program nodes, especially the innovation activities aimed at achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, which means China-Europe cooperation and global cooperation should be strengthened).

04

Professor Yu Xiang suggested that the Chinese government further guide and support both green innovation and precise innovation. The government should strengthen the Green Innovation Platform of China and Europe of Sino-European and Chinese green innovation cooperation platforms (for example, the China-Swiss Innovation Strategic Partnership established in 2016, the EU-China Joint Innovation Center established in 2017, etc.); build intellectual property sharing and utilization mechanisms; promote the training of talents and mutual exchanges. What’s more, we need to strengthen the implementation of patent navigation projects to guide precise innovation, optimize the legal system of patent licensing for green innovative technology products such as new environmental protection materials, as well as preferential policies for market access and promotion.

05

In the digital economy and high-tech era, we should continue to promote the development of technology, but also focus on guiding the development of technological innovation in the key technology areas that were outlined by GII2022, such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and establish a sound legal system and policies for innovation that guarantee the principles of safety, ethics, and fairness. These will enable that technological innovation to become a positive productive force for the sustainable benefit of all mankind.

It is reported that WIPO has been publishing the Global Innovation Index since 2007, and it has become an authoritative benchmark for measuring the level of innovation and intellectual property internationally, which is highly concerned by the international community. This roundtable is a special event under the framework of the 2nd General Assembly of Boao Forum for Asia International Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation. About 30 officials from international organizations, leaders of government departments, business leaders and academic elites were invited to attend the meeting to deeply interpret the significance of GII2022 in China, jointly discuss the way forward for innovation under the big change market, and promote the protection and development of the intellectual property.