Buildings alongside the Qiantang River in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/Hangzhou Daily]

Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, was recognized as a pilot demonstration city for effective intellectual property protection, according to a notice released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Aug 11.

The notice states that 38 cities have been included in the list of demonstration cities for IP protection, and 72 cities have been designated as pilot demonstration cities for IP protection.

The pilot demonstration will run from July 2022 to June 2025.

Hangzhou was ranked 21st in the 2021 Global Innovation Index Cities list released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, four places higher than the previous year.

In the 2021 list of top 100 enterprises for innovation and creativity in Zhejiang released by the Zhejiang Intellectual Property Research Association, 54 of the companies are headquartered in Hangzhou.

As of the end of 2021, Hangzhou owned 106,000 effective patents for innovation and had submitted 2,062 PCT applications.