The Shanghai Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone's intellectual property rights service platform is set to become the largest of its kind in the municipality due to planned improvement projects.

It is also expected to become the largest IP service platform in the country within three years, according to Shanghai Jingyuan Group, whose subsidiary company is in charge of constructing and operating the platform.

To protect the intellectual property rights of innovation-oriented enterprises in Zhangjiang, Shanghai Jingyuan Group has been focusing on IP services and working to establish an IP-friendly environment for startups in the zone.

"This IP environment is essentially a community that offers IP-related services for newly established technology companies that don't have enough assets and capital to protect their core technologies," said Qiu Kejun, general manager of Shanghai Jingyuan Group.

According to Qiu, this style of IP service innovative community assists its members with the creation, protection, management, use and transfer of IP rights in all aspects. It offers both online and offline whole-industry-chain services to members, setting it apart from traditional patent agencies.

Helping to commercialize smaller startups' IP for practical use is an important part of Jingyuan's IP services. Qiu said there are a lot of potential projects, however, they are not well applied and are stuck in a dormant state.

In this situation, the platform has the role of identifying potential projects, especially those from newly launched enterprises, and trying to transform these IPs into products that benefit society, Qiu said.

The IP platform includes a financial mechanism that helps to solve any financial bottlenecks in startups' initial development stage. This move can allow them to pay more attention to research and development around their innovative products.

The platform has extended its services to cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces. It has more than 40,000 registered members so far, including IP rights owners, service providers and buyers.

In addition, Jingyuan also helps a number of domestic enterprises to export their technologies and IP rights, such as those related to intelligent manufacturing technologies, as well as solar and wind energy.

In the next three years, Jingyuan plans to serve 200,000 enterprises from all industries, offer training to over 15,000 IP professionals, attract over 300 overseas management personnel, and introduce and invest in more than 300 IP projects.

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(China Daily 05/16/2017 page19)