Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province ranks among the top 10 county-level cities in terms of intellectual property competitiveness. [Photo/VCG]

Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province ranked among the top 10 county-level cities in terms of intellectual property (IP) competitiveness, according to a report released on April 19.

The report was based on a comprehensive assessment of cities, including their IP input, IP creation capacity, and IP application ability, among 395 county-level cities.

Local authorities said that Zhangjiagang paid great attention to strengthening the protection of IP rights and the innovative development of IP protection in 2020.

Statistics show that the number of the city's patent licensing reached 9,991 in 2020, growing by 73.3 percent year-on-year, and the number of in-force invention patents totaled 7,239, while the number of overall invention patents per 10,000 people in Zhangjiagang reached 57.27 last year, increasing by 21.2 percent year-on-year.