1. Beijing

Proprietary sat-nav chip

China's proprietary satellite navigation system called Beidou - or Compass - has had "major breakthroughs" in its chip module, said Wu Hailing, a senior engineer for the project. Wu said the nation has "made great effort and invested much" in the design and manufacturing of the chip, which is now ready for commercial use. She added the system's R&D team will now focus on adapting it for use on mobile Internet devices.

People.com.cn

2. Henan

Bloom in tree species

The province added 34 new species of trees last year with a record-high 25 of them granted status as new plant varieties. Those with intellectual property rights include walnut, date and persimmon trees, according to the provincial economic forest and seedling workstation.

STdaily.com

3. Shandong

High-performance server

The nation's first home-developed high-performance server computer was recently put on the market after four years of research and development. Shandong's Inspur Group, developer of the fault-tolerant Tiansuo K1 server, said the system required 750 million yuan ($120 million) and more than 400 engineers to develop. The fault-tolerant design allows the system to continue operation even if some part of the system fails.

Beijing Daily

4. Hong Kong

'Global IP center'

The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has released plans to further develop Hong Kong into a global intellectual property trade and management center. Inventions introduced to Hong Kong will receive added value using local design and IP expertise, then be exported to the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia, said So Kam-leung, secretary of the bureau. As well, IP disputes involving foreign companies operating on the mainland can be settled by Hong Kong mediation and arbitration professionals, he said.

Chinanews.com

5. Taiwan

Acer devalues trademarks

The value of intangible assets related to trademarks held by computer maker Acer dropped by NT$3.5 billion ($120.4 million), according to the company's accounting report released last week. Acer has reevaluated its trademarks - including Gateway, Packard Bell and E-Ten - due to "changes in the PC market competition", said the report. Analysts said the purchase price was "too high" when Acer acquired Gateway and E-Ten.

it.sohu.com

6. Guangxi

Record patent growth

The number of patent applications in the autonomous region surpassed 11,000 in the first 11 months of last year, according to a government report released earlier this month. More than 5,200 were for inventions, a year-on-year increase of 130 percent, the highest growth rate nationwide. Over the period, the Guangxi government granted awards to some 2,300 patented projects.

People.com.cn

(China Daily 01/30/2013 page17)