On October 29, 2025, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (CNIPA) issued the Notice on the Selection of the 26th China Patent Award. This session of selection has shown important changes in the number of awards, review orientation and procedural mechanisms, establishing a clear direction for the cultivation and evaluation of high-value patents in the new era.

1. From a Flexible “Proportional Quota” to a Rigid “Fixed Quota” for Award Numbers

This selection has made a major adjustment to the mechanism for determining the number of awards: the number of winners for the China Patent Excellence Award and China Design Excellence Award has been changed from the previous proportional system of “no more than 30% of qualified entries” to a fixed quota system of “up to 700 Patent Excellence Awards and 50 Design Excellence Awards”.Against the backdrop of a large patent base, this change has actually increased the intensity of competition and the scarcity of the awards.
The quantitative limits for Gold and Silver Awards remain unchanged: up to 30 China Patent Gold Awards and 60 China Patent Silver Awards; up to 10 China Design Gold Awards and 15 China Design Silver Awards.

2. Review Orientation Focuses Closely on Patent Benefits and Cutting-edge Science and Technology

The current award selection process further highlights the requirements for high-quality development. At the recommendation stage, it emphasizes the need to prioritize the recommendation of patents with outstanding patent industrialization benefits or social benefits, and specifically targets core patents formed in basic research, applied basic research, cutting-edge science and technology fields, and those that break through bottleneck technology problems. This guides innovation resources to gather in fields urgently needed by national strategies and links with higher industrial value.
Meanwhile, it is clearly stipulated that any entity or individual found to have filed a large number (or proportion) of abnormal patent applications will have their qualifications for application, recommendation, participation in the evaluation or award-winning revoked. This measure not only serves as a deterrent to speculative behaviors, but also promotes the patent system to return to its original purpose of protecting innovation and serving industries.

3. Strengthening Multi-level Review and Social Supervision in the Evaluation Procedure

The evaluation procedure of this session has been significantly refined, expanding from the original two stages of Examination and Public Notice to a four-stage process consisting of Recommendation, Preliminary Review, Reexamination and Public Notice, and Final Decision, thus forming a more rigorous closed-loop workflow.
Among these stages, the newly added Preliminary Review and Reexamination links by the National Intellectual Property Administration have strengthened quality control through the establishment of a multi-round professional review mechanism. In addition, recommending entities are required to seek opinions from multiple departments and conduct comprehensive inspections on all patentees and inventors, followed by a public notice for no less than 5 working days within their own system or region. This practice introduces broader social supervision and further enhances the fairness and credibility of the evaluation.
The changes in the evaluation requirements of this session provide clear guidance for innovation entities in their future patent layout and innovation management. This session’s Patent Award evaluation will serve as an important window to observe the progress of China’s construction of an intellectual property power and the evolution of its innovation ecosystem.
For applicant entities, competing for this session’s Patent Award requires selecting patents with genuine core technological value and market prospects from a higher strategic perspective, systematically preparing application materials, and actively responding to the complex evaluation process.

Notice of the National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC on the Selection of the 26th China Patent Award.
https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2025/10/29/art_75_202261.html