#China #Open Innovation #Beijing #Huawei #Intellectual Property

Huawei Hosts the 6th Innovation and Intellectual Property Forum

On November 11, 2025, Huawei carried out its sixth Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) Forum in Beijing, marking a significant milestone in their efforts to promote openness and collaboration within the tech industry. This event brought together experts from around the globe to dissect the vital roles of openness in innovation and the protection of intellectual property.

During this forum, Huawei announced the recipients of the biennial "Top Ten Inventions" awards, highlighting innovative solutions that can drive progress in various sectors. Liuping Song, Huawei's legal director, emphasized the company's commitment to openness in innovation, stating, "Open innovation is embedded in our DNA and is crucial for societal and technological development. We respect the intellectual property of others while ensuring the safeguarding of our own."

In 2024, Huawei generated approximately $630 million in patent licensing revenues, showcasing its commitment to fostering innovation on a global scale. Their licensing fees paid over the years have nearly tripled the amounts received, underlining their investment in supporting a collaborative IP environment. Marco Alemán from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) noted that Huawei is among the leading global users of WIPO's IP services and a strong contributor to innovation, with 6,600 PCT applications filed in 2024 alone, solidifying its position as the top user since 2014.

Etienne Sanz de Acedo, CEO of INTA, recognized the significance of intellectual property as a universal asset that translates innovation and creativity into measurable value. He underscored the necessity of collaboration among industry leaders to enhance responsible licensing practices. During the forum, Huawei presented notable inventions from the 6th edition of the "Top Ten Inventions" awards, spanning crucial advancements in computing, the HarmonyOS operating system, and data storage technologies.

Huawei continues to lead in the ICT sector by distributing its solutions through open-source software, open hardware platforms, patent applications, participation in standards creation, and scientific publications. In 2024, the company published a record of 37,000 patents, alongside over 10,000 technical submissions to standardization organizations and more than 1,000 academic articles.

Furthermore, the OpenHarmony source code increased by over 10 million lines, contributed to by more than 8,100 community co-creators, and the number of installations of openEuler surpassed 10 million. By the end of 2024, Huawei's patent licensing efforts encompassed over 2.7 billion 5G devices and 1.2 billion consumer electronics empowered by their Wi-Fi technology. Additionally, over 3.2 billion devices utilized Huawei's patents concerning multimedia codecs, with 48 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list being direct or indirect licensees of Huawei.

Heiwai Tang, a vice president at the University of Hong Kong, remarked on the criticality of innovation as a growth driver in the modern economy, attributing its sustainability to a robust, open, and globally trusted patent system. He expressed satisfaction that firms like Huawei adhere to international IP norms, maximizing the value of intellectual property and fostering a healthy business ecosystem.

In line with their mission to support open innovation, Huawei launched the Chaspark Patent platform in June 2024—an advanced free tool for researchers worldwide to search for patent information, a resource often financially unfeasible for students, individual scholars, or small tech organizations. The platform just announced a major update, introducing new features like semantic search and AI-generated summaries.

Among the distinguished speakers at the forum were Yali Zhu, CEO of PatSnap China; Qi Wang, director at Clarivate for the Asia-Pacific region; Mattia Fogliacco, president of Sisvel; and Laurie Fitzgerald, president of Avanci Vehicle. They shared experiences and best practices centered on open innovation.

Concluding the forum, Liuping Song reiterated Huawei's commitment to building an environment that protects innovation and intellectual property, stressing the importance of collaborating with industry partners to enhance the constructive protection of IP. This collaborative approach, she affirmed, is essential for the continued growth of the entire industry.