Torch Mansion of Nanning High-tech Zone. (PHOTO: NHZ)

By CHEN Chunyou & LIU Hao

Nanning high-tech zone (NHZ), in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has all the advantages needed to develop the intellectual property (IP) industry.

So much so, that this August, NHZ was identified as one of the state-level demonstration parks for building an IP powerhouse by China National Intellectual Property Administration, which is evidence of Nanning's progress in IP sector.

Since 2019, NHZ has been prioritizing high-quality development of IP industry. In order to enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises in IP sector in China, NHZ targeted a batch of hi-tech enterprises with independent R&D ability and classified them into different groups, based on their development levels.

Experts are invited to local enterprises regularly. They help to establish IP working mechanisms, guide them to generate technological breakthroughs, and improve their ability in IP application, protection and management.

Guangxi Bossco Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. (Bossco) is a comprehensive environmental service provider. It holds 431 valid authorized patents, more than 70 percent of which have been transformed into real projects, said Zhu Xianghong, technical director of the company. Its environmental-friendly technologies and products are popular in countries, such as Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

This September, the China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Alliance was established at the 10th Forum on China-ASEAN Technology Transfer and Collaborative Innovation. The alliance is the first cooperation mechanism for technology transfer with ASEAN countries. Bossco became one of the 18 members of the alliance, which covers major technology transfer units, like universities, enterprises and public institutions from across China.

NHZ introduces incentive policies to support the innovative development of enterprises. For those identified as state-level IP demonstration enterprises and superior enterprises, a grant of up to 500,000 RMB and 100,000 RMB will be given respectively, which stimulates the enthusiasm of enterprises to promote IP applications.

In addition, NHZ also actively promotes IP pledge financing activities in which enterprises can pledge their intangible assets including trademarks, patents and copyrights to financial institutions, so as to ease their capital shortage and accelerate IP market transformation at the same time. By 2021, the IP pledge financing had totalled 159 million RMB.

Currently, NHZ is encouraging enterprises in fields such as new-generation information technology, intelligent manufacturing and healthcare to carry out industrial transformation and upgrading through IP initiatives.

As the only state-level demonstration park in Guangxi, NHZ will strengthen its IP creation, protection, application and related services in key strategic emerging industries, to enhance its competitiveness in the international market, said Li Geng, secretary of the CPC working committee of NHZ.