North China's Shanxi province reported 16,018 valid invention patents and 4.3 invention patents per 10,000 people at the end of October -- 1.98 times and 1.94 times, respectively, the level at the end of 2015, according to Shanxi Market Regulation Bureau on Dec 8.

Local officials said the boom in intellectual property (IP) innovation, was due to multiple efforts made by the province over the past few years. 

Shanxi has implemented patent promotion funding projects to promote its IP transformation and applications. At the end of June, 37 programs had won the provincial financial support with 5.32 million yuan ($811,989) in place. 

The province has strengthened utilization of geographical indications to promote the development of rural industries and alleviate poverty. By the end of October, there were 75 geographical indication trademarks and 26 geographical indication products in the province.

Meanwhile, it has advanced the establishment of an IP protection assistance system at the provincial, city and county levels. Five branch centers and two workstations have been built in Taiyuan, Changzhi, Yuncheng, Lyuliang, and Jincheng cities.

To improve the quality of patents and enhance the core competitiveness of Shanxi province's industries, the provincial government set up a patent award, which is the highest recognition in the field locally, and a total of 50 projects won the award this year.

Early in September, the China National Intellectual Property Administration approved the establishment of China (Shanxi) Intellectual Property Protection Center, which was regarded as a major breakthrough in the construction of IP protection institutions in Shanxi.

Currently, Shanxi has put together a construction plan for the proposed China (Shanxi) Intellectual Property Protection Center and plans to accelerate the establishment of a working mechanism integrating rapid IP reviews, IP confirmations and IP protection.