China's prominent position in the global innovation clusters rankings is down to its continuous investment in the field, as well as its increasingly optimized intellectual property protection environment, an official has said.

Du Yu, spokesman for the China Intellectual Property Administration, outlined the reasons for the country's high ranking in innovation at a news conference on Friday.

His remarks came after the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ranked top of the world's 100 leading innovation clusters in the 2025 Global Innovation Index, which was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization on Monday. It was the first time the cluster has surpassed Japan's Tokyo-Yokohama cluster on the list.

For the third year running, China, with 24, had the highest number of clusters on the list followed by the United States and Germany. Three Chinese innovation clusters are in the top 10.

Speaking on Friday, Du revealed that China's total expenditure on research and development in 2024 exceeded 3.6 trillion yuan ($505 billion), an increase of 8.3 percent compared to the previous year.

"The country has also stepped up efforts to protect IP rights by rule of law, aiming to give stronger IP supports for innovators through an optimized legal framework," he said.

As of June, around 524,000 companies in China had attained valid invention patents, with the total number of valid invention patents held reaching 3.73 million, he added.

Innovation clusters have played a lead role in promoting the integration of innovation and industry in China, driving the development of new quality productive forces, and providing a strong engine for high-quality regional economic and social development, Du said, emphasizing that "they form an important pillar of the national innovation ecosystem".

"Taking the Greater Bay Area, where the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster is located, as an example, in 2024, the three regions had 113,000 invention patents granted, accounting for 12.1 percent of the national total," he said.

"Such a vibrant innovation ecosystem has also attracted a large number of high-tech companies and highly skilled talents, providing a continuous source of momentum and vitality for regional innovation and development."