Qianhai-regisered enterprises have submitted about 58,000 domestic patent applications over the past decade at an average annual growth rate 26 percent higher than the city’s average, according to a white paper released by the China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center on Monday.

Statistics from the white paper show that 44 percent of the 58,000 patent applications, or 25,000 patents, have been approved by the State Intellectual Property Bureau. Among the applications, the number of invention patents was 28,000, accounting for nearly half of the total number submitted by Shenzhen. Over two-thirds of the approved invention patents are related to high-tech industries such as computer science, communications, Internet, and biomedical testing.

Over the past 10 years, a total of 4,472 Qianhai-registered enterprises have submitted patent applications. Among them, four enterprises submitted over 1,000 applications, including OneConnect Financial Technology Co. Ltd. and WeBank, who applied for 2,766 and 1,301 patents, respectively.

There are 3,190 Qianhai enterprises with approved patents. Three of them, including CIMC (Group) Co. Ltd., Shenzhen TCL Digital Technology Co. Ltd., and Shenzhen TCL New Technology Co. Ltd., have more than 500 approved patents.

A complete intellectual protection system has basically evolved in the Qianhai and Shekou free trade area as intellectual property rights (IPR) protection services continue to be strengthened by several legal institutions such as the Intellectual Property Court of Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Qianhai Cooperation Zone People’s Court and Qianhai’s procuratorate, according to the white paper.

In addition, a State-level overseas IPR dispute resolution center and a one-stop IPR collaborative protection platform have been established at the China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center, which will further support and guarantee the innovative development of the key industries of Shenzhen.