Seven Shenzhen enterprises were among the world’s top 50 applicants in terms of the number of international patent applications last year, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Saturday, citing data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Despite the pandemic, WIPO received a record number of 277,500 international patent applications filed by innovative companies and individuals worldwide in 2021, according to the organization.

International patent applications filed via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are widely recognized as a metric for measuring innovative activity. China manifested its lead as the largest origin of international patent applications by registering 69,540 applications, up by 0.9 percent year on year. It was followed by the U.S. with 59,570, Japan with 50,260, South Korea with 20,678 and Germany with 17,322.

WIPO’s report showed that for the fifth consecutive year, Shenzhen-based telecom giant Huawei led the list of filers worldwide, with 6,952 published PCT applications. Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications and BOE IoT (Internet of Things) Technology Group also made it to the top 10.

Among the top 50 filers, 12 were from China, with seven based in Shenzhen. Aside from Huawei, Ping An Technology (Shenzhen) ranked 11th, ZTE Corp. ranked 13th, DJI ranked 20th, AAC Acoustic Technologies (Shenzhen) ranked 29th, Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology ranked 33rd and Tencent ranked 42nd. These companies each reported growth in PCT filings in 2021, WIPO said.

Four Chinese universities entered the list of top 10 applicants among educational institutions in 2021. Zhejiang University ranked second, followed by Tsinghua University ranking fourth, South China University of Technology ranking seventh and Soochow University ranking ninth. The top 50 universities list had 19 Chinese universities, including Shenzhen University.

In terms of WIPO’s Madrid International Trademark Registration, China continued to rank third with 5,272, after the U.S. and Germany. Two Shenzhen enterprises were among the top 50 filers, namely Huawei and Honor Device ranking fourth and 36th, respectively.

Electrical engineering, instrumentation, and chemical and mechanical engineering saw the largest number of filings. In 2021, the electrical engineering sector posted the fastest growth in PCT applications, particularly on audiovisual technology, telecommunications, digital communications, computer technology and semiconductors.