An industrial report recently released by the Jiangnan Graphene Research Institute in Changzhou, Jiangsu province showed that the number of patent applications in the graphene sector surpassed 50,000 worldwide by September 2016.
China contributed nearly half of them, more than any other country. The United States took second place, followed by South Korea and Japan.
Despite the large number of patent applications, Chinese filers have yet to improve the quality of their patents, Zhang Zhaohui, president of the institute, told China Intellectual Property News.
Utility models, a type of patent with less stringent requirements than invention patents, accounted for approximately 29 percent of domestic graphene patents in 2016, while the same proportion in overseas patents was 5.2 percent, Zhang said.
The majority of the Chinese filers focused on the domestic market, with far fewer applications filed abroad than their peers in the US, South Korea and Japan, which could hinder their future global expansion, he said.
The report found that China has been a target market with enormous potential since 2009, with major graphene researchers and companies from foreign countries frequently filing patent applications with the State Intellectual Property Office.
Through the Made in China 2025 initiative, a 10-year plan issued by the State Council in May 2015 to promote advanced manufacturing, the country's graphene sector is projected to generate 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) in annual industrial output value in 2020 and 100 billion yuan in 2025.
Known as a "wonder material" for its unusual properties, graphene is reportedly less than 0.34 nanometer thick, about one millionth of a piece of paper, yet is over 100 times stronger than the strongest steel. The substance is efficiently conductive, flexible and almost transparent.
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