Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, has taken a series of measures to stimulate innovation and the use of intellectual property rights (IPR) in local companies.

The city's market regulation authorities, for example, have offered one-stop IPR-related online services and training sessions to market entities. Due to these efforts, 233 Zhangjiagang companies enjoyed expedited approval for their 541 invention patents, said Zhang Weiqi, director of the IPR department of the Zhangjiagang administration for market regulation.

In 2022, market entities in Zhangjiagang obtained 1,671 new invention patents, up 107.3 percent year-on-year compared to 2021.

Jiangsu Feymer Technology Co. [Photo/feymer.com]

Jiangsu Feymer Technology Co, which is located in Zhangjiagang, specializes in providing wastewater treatment solutions. The high-efficiency flocculating agents developed by the company were recognized as a valuable patent by the Suzhou government at the end of last year.

Wang Qin, the technical director of Feymer, said the flocculation technology can separate water from sludge in a more effective manner and result in a dryness level of 40 percent. Previous technologies could only achieve a dryness level of 25 percent.

Feymer currently owns 164 national patents and aims to have 150 more in the coming years to enhance its competitiveness in the international market. Innovation has brought significant growth to the company, which generated annual sales of over 1 billion yuan ($145.13 million) in 2022.