#China #Beijing #Huawei #Innovation #Intellectual Property

Huawei's Sixth Innovation and Intellectual Property Forum

On November 11, 2025, Huawei conducted its sixth Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) Forum in Beijing, bringing together experts from around the globe to discuss the essential role that openness and IP protection play in promoting innovation and social advancement. The event featured the announcement of the winners of the "Top Ten Inventions" award, a recognition given biannually to highlight significant contributions in innovation.

Liuping Song, Huawei's Chief Legal Officer, emphasized that "open innovation drives society and technology forward, and it is embedded in our DNA. We are committed to an open approach to innovation." Huawei respects the intellectual property rights of others while also safeguarding its own, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. In 2024, the company reported a revenue of approximately $630 million from patent licensing, a figure nearly threefold higher than the licensing fees it received.

Marco Alemán, Deputy Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), remarked that Huawei is the largest global user of WIPO's IP services and serves as a powerful innovation driver. In 2024, Huawei submitted 6,600 published applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), holding the position of the largest PCT user since 2014. The significance of IP as a tangible asset was further stressed by Etienne Sanz de Acedo, CEO of the International Trademark Association, who stated that "intellectual property as an intangible asset is a universal system that transforms innovation and creativity into quantifiable value."

Ningling Wang, elected President of the International Licensing Society, urged industry leaders, policymakers, researchers, and entrepreneurs to foster collaboration, exchange knowledge, lower barriers, and practice responsible licensing. During the forum, Huawei presented the innovations recognized by the sixth edition of its "Top Ten Inventions" award, covering a range of business sectors critical for future development, such as computing, the HarmonyOS operating system, and data storage.

Alan Fan, Huawei's Vice President and Head of Intellectual Property Department, highlighted that as a leading technology developer in the ICT sector, Huawei shares its technologies through open-source software, open hardware, patent applications, contributions to standardization, and research publications. In 2024, Huawei set a company record by publishing 37,000 patents and filing over 10,000 technical applications with standardization organizations. Furthermore, the source code for the OpenHarmony system grew by 10 million lines, contributed by over 8,100 community participants, while the openEuler product surpassed 10 million installations.

As of the end of 2024, more than 2.7 billion 5G-supported devices had been licensed under Huawei's cellular standards patents. Additionally, over 1.2 billion consumer electronic devices were licensed under Huawei's Wi-Fi patents, and more than 3.2 billion multimedia devices were licensed under the company's video codec patents. A total of 48 Fortune Global 500 companies are direct or indirect licensees of Huawei.

Heiwai Tang, Deputy Vice President of the University of Hong Kong, also addressed the forum, stating, "Innovation is the primary driving force behind modern economic growth, and its sustainable development relies on a reliable, open, and globally trusted patent system. I'm pleased to observe that companies like Huawei are adhering to international IP norms, maximizing the value of IP while fostering a healthy business ecosystem."

In its efforts to bolster open innovation, Huawei launched the Chaspark patent website in June 2024. This free and efficient platform provides patent information search services for researchers around the world—a service that can be prohibitively expensive for students, individual researchers, and small tech organizations. Today, Huawei announced significant updates to the Chaspark patent site, introducing new features like semantic search and AI-based referencing.

Other invited speakers at the forum included Yali Zhu, General Manager of PatSnap China; Qi Wang, Director of Clarivate for the Asia-Pacific region; Mattia Fogliacco, President of Sisvel; and Laurie Fitzgerald, President of Avanci Vehicle. They shared valuable insights and best practices in the realm of open innovation.

In conclusion, Liuping Song asserted, "We are committed to creating an environment that protects innovation and intellectual property while collaborating closely with industry partners to foster constructive IP protection. This cooperative approach will facilitate joint growth and advancement across the industry."