How does Chinese patenting activity in U.S. (and WIPO) compare with GDP growth?

Napoleon once referred to China as a “sleeping giant,” alluding to the potential awesome military might therein.  And while nobody today is unaware of China’s massive economic growth and potential (and the impact their prospects and performance will have on the world economy), evidence of “hockey-stick” growth really becomes apparent around 1998.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that Chinese GDP (adjusted for PPP (normalized)), as a share of the global economy, will cross both the European Union GDP line and the U.S. line some time in the middle of this decade.

In other words, China will become a bigger economy GDP-wise than the U.S. or the European Union very soon.  It is worth noting that while this potential has been recognized for hundreds of years, the “hockey stick,” or even exponential potential has only been really evident since just before the turn of the century.  If you look at patenting trends as a potential marker for innovation (or even “openness” of the economy), it paints an interesting picture.

While I am in no way suggesting direct causation, the fact is that patenting trends for inventors in China filing with the WIPO or the U.S. Patent Office have surged since just before 2000 (keep in mind that published patent figures are a bit of a delayed data point given pendency at the patent offices, in particular in the U.S.).  Plotting this data shows impressive growth for the economy of China (projected out to 2016) – but it also shows dramatic increases in patenting activity.  Chinese inventors and companies have certainly awoken to the potential of IP – in a global way.

Data for patenting from SumoBrainSolutions.  GDP data/projections from the IMF (http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php ).