The China National Intellectual Property Administration has recently announced the winners of the 26th China Patent Awards. Changchun has achieved an impressive haul, securing one China Patent Gold Award and one Industrial Design Gold Award, alongside one Patent Silver Award and one Industrial Design Silver Award, plus three Patent Excellence Awards.

This remarkable result marks a "double harvest" of the two highest honors in the field. The China Patent Award is the most authoritative and influential national-level accolade in China's intellectual property sector, with winning achievements representing the absolute pinnacle of domestic industry technological innovation.

Where the success lies

The China Patent Gold Award was earned by the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences for its innovation titled "A Functionalized Polyurethane and Its Preparation Method and Application." This breakthrough fundamentally dismantles the long-standing monopoly that foreign chemical industry giants held over durable medical polyurethane elastomers, directly resolving the most critical bottleneck in China's high-end medical device industry chain.

The Industrial Design Gold Award went to CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. for its "Bullet Train Head Car" design. This creation seamlessly integrates regional cultural elements, traditional Chinese aesthetic principles, and the practical demands of modern rail transit, successfully propelling Chinese rail transit equipment into European markets and establishing a distinguished benchmark in the Belt and Road rail transportation initiative.

Additional silver awards and technical excellence

The China Patent Silver Award was presented to the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics for its "Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) with Mode Filtering Function and Its Preparation Method." VCSEL technology, widely applied in high-speed communications, sensing, measurement, and imaging, offers superior communication speeds, enhanced imaging resolution, and more precise atomic manipulation, positioning it as a new productive force for future 6G communications, autonomous driving LiDAR, and quantum sensing applications. The core patented technology has received support from 30 projects, including special initiatives from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and key national R&D programs, attracting project funding of 293 million yuan. Thanks to the rapid preliminary examination by the Changchun Intellectual Property Protection Center, this patent was granted in just 62 days, dramatically shortening the timeline for technological commercialization.

The Industrial Design Silver Award was granted to FAW Pentium Automobile Co., Ltd. for its "Automobile (Pentium Pony)." This model represents FAW's popular mini electric vehicle, designed around the core principles of "cute, playful, versatile, and reliable," establishing itself as a phenomenal product in the A00 market segment. Offering a practical 222km cruising range on the full series, with remarkably low energy consumption of just 8.8kWh per 100 kilometers, the vehicle benefits from FAW's manufacturing quality, balancing both safety and practicality. With its attractive design and robust product capabilities, cumulative sales have surpassed 200,000 units, earning widespread market recognition and becoming the preferred choice for national-quality compact commuting.

Strategic approach behind the achievement

In recent years, under the guidance of provincial authorities, Changchun has persistently advanced its "Intellectual Property Strong City" strategy. The city has adopted a dual-drive approach, combining intellectual property operation city development with intellectual property protection highland construction, optimizing innovation services across the entire chain.

Firstly, the city emphasizes policy guidance and forward-looking strategic planning. By leveraging intellectual property operation city project funds, it supports enterprises in partnering with universities and research institutes to conduct "patent navigation plus high-value patent cultivation," ensuring strong technical relevance and coordinated layout of patent portfolios while securing core patents ahead of time to build technical barriers.

Secondly, there is a focus on concentrating service resources for comprehensive coverage. An intellectual property services cluster has been established, introducing and nurturing 114 service institutions covering operations, agency services, certification, comprehensive support, finance, and legal affairs. A professional management service platform has been developed for diverse regional users, achieving complete integration of public services, government services, and market-based services.

Thirdly, the city provides precise pre-examination services for safeguarding innovation. Specialized teams have been formed through collaborative efforts, offering one-on-one precise services with coordinated batch reviews to accelerate the protection of achievements. Post-authorization, the city continues to provide follow-up and extended services, facilitating the swift transformation of patent value into industrial competitiveness.

Looking ahead to future development

Going forward, the Changchun Market Supervision Administration will use this milestone as a new starting point. The city will continue deepening its intellectual property strong city initiatives, intensifying cultivation efforts around core industry chains, and guiding more innovation entities to prioritize patent portfolio development and commercialization. The city aims to optimize the intellectual property ecosystem across all chains, rapidly converting innovation momentum into industrial competitive advantages. Additionally, it will standardize cross-regional patent pre-examination procedures for innovation entities within the metropolitan area, establishing an integrated rapid coordination system for intellectual property protection in the Changchun metropolitan sphere. This will accelerate the development and acquisition of high-value patents, injecting robust intellectual property momentum into regional industrial upgrading and high-quality development.