China came out on top in high-tech – Reuters

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 2021, China saw a record number of patent applications and granted licenses – around 420,000. This is 15% more than the previous year. Since 1978, the United States has always led the way, but in 2019 China overtook the United States for the first time, with about 1,000 additional filings. And since then, not only has he kept the lead, but he’s widened the gap.An interesting situation is developing in microelectronics. Although China is not the world’s largest developer and manufacturer of semiconductor products, Chinese companies filed more than half of the total number of semiconductor-related patent applications in the world last year. There are 69,190 in total, up 59% from just five years ago. This growth indicates China’s desire to reduce its dependence on Western technology. The United States comes second with 59,230 requests, while Japan is third with 50,520 requests.China’s leadership in high technology was also confirmed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s study, which counted the number of publications on key technologies. It turned out that China ranked first in 37 out of 44 areas: from the creation of nanomaterials and robotics to advanced radio frequency communications, defense and space technologies.
In second place in the technology race, the United States leads in eight areas, including quantum computing and vaccine development. The other countries lag far behind. The top 5 in terms of the number of advanced scientific publications is most often in India and the UK, less often – South Korea, Germany, Australia, Italy. As for Russia, it entered the top 5 in only one area – modern explosives and energetic materials.