China has further enhanced the efficiency of its patent application review process in the past year, with stronger protection of intellectual property rights, the country's top IP regulator said.

In a work report issued by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Tuesday, the average time spent reviewing an invention patent has been reduced to 15.5 months last year, while the average period of examining a trademark application remained stable at four months.

Both processes were among the fastest in the world, according to the report.

China's valid domestic invention patents were over 4.75 million last year, of which, nearly 1.35 million involved strategic and emerging industries, up 15.7 percent year-on-year, it said.

Last year, the country's IP protection has also been getting stronger, with 124 national-level centers set up for protecting IP rights and 2,230 organizations built for mediating IP disputes, it showed. Both figures were up from 2023.

Additionally, 33 venues for providing guidance in handling overseas IP disputes were newly established last year, bringing the total number to 80, it added.

Furthermore, China now leads the world with 26 science and technology clusters, reflecting the country's rapid growth in innovation output, the report cited the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index as showing.