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Promoting Innovation through Openness: Huawei's Sixth Forum on Innovation and Intellectual Property

On November 11, 2025, Huawei held its sixth Forum on Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) in Beijing. This significant event brought together experts from around the world to explore the critical roles of openness and intellectual property protection in driving innovation and contributing to social progress.

A Commitment to Open Innovation

Liuping Song, head of Huawei’s legal department, emphasized that open innovation is in the company’s DNA, stating, “Open innovation drives society and technology forward, and we are committed to an open approach to innovations.” During the forum, Huawei reiterated its dedication to respecting others' intellectual property while firmly protecting its own rights, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

In fiscal year 2024, Huawei earned approximately $630 million from patent licenses while paying nearly three times that amount in licensing fees to other entities. This commitment to financially supporting the global innovation ecosystem illustrates Huawei's dedication to maintaining a balanced and fair approach to intellectual property.

Leading the Charge in Global Innovation

Marco Alemán, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), recognized Huawei as a leading user of WIPO’s Global IP Services, describing the company as a powerful engine for innovation. In 2024 alone, Huawei filed 6,600 published patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), marking it as the largest user of the PCT system since 2014. This impressive achievement underlines Huawei’s stellar contribution to global technology advancements.

Etienne Sanz de Acedo, CEO of the International Trademark Association, highlighted the importance of intellectual property as a universal language that turns innovation and creativity into quantifiable value. Ningling Wang, the newly designated President of the Licensing Executives Society International, urged industry leaders and policymakers to encourage collaboration, share knowledge, and practice responsible licensing.

Awards for Innovation

During the forum, Huawei announced the winners of its prestigious “Top Ten Inventions” awards, showcasing innovations spanning vital business sectors, including computing, the HarmonyOS operating system, and advanced storage solutions. Alan Fan, Vice President and Head of Huawei's IP Rights Department, reiterated that Huawei, as a leading provider in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, is dedicated to sharing its technological advancements through open-source software and hardware, patent applications, contributions to standards, and academic publications.

Continuing its trend of innovation, Huawei achieved a record 37,000 patent publications in 2024 and submitted over 10,000 technical contributions to standardization organizations while publishing more than 1,000 scientific papers. The OpenHarmony project significantly expanded with contributions from over 8,100 community collaborators, while openEuler surpassed 10 million installations, showcasing the robust growth of Huawei’s open-source initiatives.

As of the end of 2024, Huawei held licenses for over 2.7 billion 5G devices under its patents, and more than 1.2 billion consumer electronics devices were licensed under its Wi-Fi patents. Additionally, Huawei issued licenses for its video codec patents, covering more than 3.2 billion multimedia devices, establishing a vast ecosystem where 48 of the Fortune Global 500 companies are either direct or indirect licensees.

A Call for Global Collaboration

Heiwai Tang, Deputy Vice President of the University of Hong Kong, articulated the essence of innovation as a central driver of modern economic growth, underlining that its sustainability relies on a robust, open, and trustworthy patent system. He expressed his support for companies like Huawei that adhere to international intellectual property standards, thereby maximizing the value of IP while fostering a healthy business ecosystem.

In line with its commitment to promoting open innovations, Huawei launched the Chaspark Patent Website in June 2024—an essential tool for researchers worldwide to access patent information, often a service that can be prohibitively expensive for students and small organizations. During this forum, Huawei announced significant updates for Chaspark, including features like semantic search and AI summaries, enhancing accessibility for users.

Innovative Leaders Sharing Insights

The forum also featured notable guest speakers, including Yali Zhu, CEO of PatSnap China, Qi Wang, Asia-Pacific Lead at Clarivate, Mattia Fogliacco, President of Sisvel, and Laurie Fitzgerald, President of Avanci Vehicle, all of whom shared their insights and best practices regarding open innovation.

In conclusion, Liuping Song reiterated Huawei’s commitment to developing an environment that safeguards innovation and intellectual property, working closely with industry partners to promote constructive IP protection. He described this collaborative effort as crucial for the continued growth and development of the industry.