Editor's note: This article is from Chain World Official Weibo (ID: bcsky_pro), author: Huang Xiaojun. 36氪 is authorized to publish.
Recently, the "Financial Times" reported that China ranked first among the countries that "submitted" patent applications related to blockchain technology to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2017. This result is both unexpected and reasonable. At present, whether domestic or foreign, the blockchain competition pattern is not yet clear; to lead the blockchain industry, in addition to patent leadership, which trump cards should China hold? ?
Representativeness of patent data
More than half of the 406 blockchain-related patents filed globally in 2017 came from China, according to data collected by Thomson Reuters (sourced from international patent organizations). It is understood that China has applied for a total of 225 blockchain-related patents, followed by the United States (91) and Australia (13), which is 2.5 times the number of the United States.
In February this year, IPRdaily Chinese website and incoPat Innovation Index Research Center also jointly released a list of "2017 Global Blockchain Enterprise Patent Ranking (Top 100)". This list shows that the proportion of Chinese shortlisted enterprises is 49%. %, the United States accounted for 33%; among single enterprises and institutions, Alibaba ranks first, and the number of patents is very different from the second.
source network
The most obvious conclusion of the two lists is that China has taken the lead in the application and number of blockchain patents. The former data comes from the international patent organization; the latter data mainly comes from the number of patents publicly announced globally in 2017. Including invention applications, utility models, design patents, etc. International patent organizations and global public announcements can basically cover the status quo of the global blockchain. From this point of view, it is clear that China has temporarily taken the lead in the exploration of blockchain technology.
How far is China leading the blockchain?
It is true that the number of patents does not represent the level of leadership in this field. Although China is temporarily leading in patent applications, can the leading position in patents mean that patent applications can only be used as a reason for leading, because it is not a simple matter to transform innovative technology into productivity. The number of patents can be supported, but it will take a long time to transform. Of course, there are other reasons, including the integration of production, education and research, application landing, policy environment and other variables.
From the perspective of industry-university-research, blockchain is a comprehensive technology, covering cryptography, computer and other disciplines. At present, Chinese universities do not offer blockchain courses. In the future, can China provide innovative technology incubation and talents, and whether it is suitable for innovation The development environment is particularly important. In the next period of time, colleges and universities are also required to shine in blockchain innovation.
From the perspective of application, the widely recognized blockchain application is currently only digital currency represented by Bitcoin. The exploration of blockchain technology in the fields of finance, credit reporting, traceability, copyright and other fields is still in the trial and error stage. From the perspective of the policy environment, on March 13 this year, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued an announcement stating that it will prepare to establish a national standardization technical committee for blockchain and distributed accounting technology to promote the standardization process of blockchain and distributed accounting technology. It shows that the core departments of my country's informatization development have incorporated blockchain standardization into their work plans to further implement the blockchain application process.
Previously, the person in charge of 33 Complex Beauty, a blockchain technology company, said in an interview: "Blockchain companies without R&D capabilities are short-lived after all. As an enterprise, we must maintain our ability to create and innovate; blockchain is not only a new Technology is still a multi-faceted composition of business forms, and formulating and unifying various standards is the primary task, and in this case, the development of patent layout cannot be ignored.”
Patent applications have become the "secret weapon" for many technology giants and forward-looking institutions to fight against the future blockchain world. Nick Spanos, CEO and founder of the blockchain technology company, once said, "The patent war is like the late 1990s. The software technology 'war' is implicit 'war'". Only by grasping the overall situation on the premise of occupying the patent advantage can China truly lead the blockchain and become a well-deserved "king".