In 2014, Shanxi province applied for 6,107 patents of invention, up 1.4 percent from the previous year. Meanwhile, a total of 1,559 patents of invention were approved, an increase of 17 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office.

The province's valid invention patents broke 6,000 to reach 6,284 this year, and the number of patents per capita in the province reached 1.7, growing 19.7 percent.

It is notable that most of the valid invention patents were located in the province's capital, Taiyuan, with a total of 4,030. There are 11 patents per 10,000 people in the city, a ratio two times higher than the national average. Half of the valid invention patents were owned by enterprises.

Edited by Michael Thai