Zhejiang has reduced the average time to secure an invention patent through its fast-track services from 15 months to 70 days, according to a briefing in Hangzhou on Nov 3.

The province has established 22 national-level centers for intellectual property protection and rapid rights protection. Fast-track services cover 26.7 percent of its invention patents, while patent pre-examination applications in emerging fields have exceeded 20,000 this year.

Zhejiang ranks second among China's provinces and autonomous regions on the comprehensive intellectual property development index. It has 132,000 high-value invention patents in strategic emerging industries and 34,100 data intellectual property registrations.

The province has issued guidance on AI patent strategies and coordinated protection of data intellectual property and trade secrets. It was also the first in China to incorporate data intellectual property into two local regulations.

By October, cumulative applications for data intellectual property registration had reached 96,436. Its Shuzhitong public service platform supports 10 channels for putting these rights to use, including transactions, licensing, financing, and recognition as assets on balance sheets. The value of direct use reached 19.73 billion yuan ($2.96 billion).