Shanghai has recently completed a comprehensive inventory of altogether 68,000 patents from its universities, research institutions and medical facilities, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

Among them, more than 43,000 patents identified with market demand potentials and high economic values have been included in the national resource pool of convertible patents, with more than 7,800 patents having been converted to practical achievements in various industries.

Starting in March, the administration joined hands with the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission and organized a city-wide inventory of existing patents at universities, research institutions and medical institutions to revitalize them.

The administration said that this inventory work involved a total of 112 units. Institutions of higher education held the largest number of patents, altogether 51,000 patents were recorded from 41 universities and colleges.

"The overall awareness of high-quality intellectual property creation in society has significantly increased over these years. Valuable invention patents continued to emerge, leading to a continuous growth in Shanghai's per capita ownership of high-value invention patents and the number of PCT international patent applications," said Kong Yuanzhong, head of the department of intellectual property application promotion at the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT, is one of the most important international treaties in the field of intellectual property. It has 158 state parties currently. This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's participation in the PCT.