The number of PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) applications from Shenzhen reached 18,000 in 2018, making up 34.8 percent of China’s total and ranking No. 1 among Chinese cities for the 15th consecutive year, according to the city’s 2018 intellectual property rights (IPR) work report, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The report was released at the launch ceremony of the city’s IPR week Wednesday, just ahead of The World Intellectual Property Day, which is marked April 25 each year.

There were 228,600 patent applications from Shenzhen last year, up 29.1 percent over the previous year, and 69,900 of them were for inventions, a year-on-year increase of 16.1 percent, the report showed.

The number of granted patents increased by 48.8 percent compared with the same period of the previous year, and 213,000 of them were for inventions, a growth of 12.6 percent year on year.

By the end of 2018, the number of valid invention patents in the city reached 118,800, accounting for one-10th of the national total, according to the report. Meanwhile, the maintenance rate of valid invention patents for Shenzhen enterprises over five years reached 85.6 percent, ranking first on the Chinese mainland.

At the IPR work meeting held Wednesday, Huang Min, vice mayor of Shenzhen, said Shenzhen leads Tokyo, Silicon Valley, New York and Israel in PCT applications for 5G technology, graphene, robotics, blockchain and other technologies.

According to statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization, Huawei took first place in the world with 5,405 PCT applications. Shenzhen University outnumbered Harvard University’s 169 PCT applications with 201, ranking third among global educational institutions and first among Chinese universities.

The report also showed that the number of Shenzhen’s patent applications, granted patents, trademark applications and registrations, and copyright registrations achieved more than double-digit growth last year.

Additionally, invention patents, well-known trademarks, computer software copyrights and other IPR categories contributing greatly to economic growth have achieved balanced development.