On the afternoon of December 7, 2024, the sub-forum of the 21st Shanghai International Intellectual Property Forum was convened at the Sino-French Center of Tongji University. Yu Chen, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office, and Wu Guangming, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Tongji University, attended and addressed the opening ceremony.

Yu Chen stated that the theme of the sub-forum closely aligns with cutting-edge trends in intellectual property development and reflects the era of technology empowerment and data-driven innovation. With the rapid growth of the digital economy, breakthroughs in digital technologies, and the application of massive data, intellectual property work faces new opportunities and challenges. In recent years, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office has prioritized advancing the digital transformation of IP, strengthened IP information services and data governance, enhanced administrative efficiency through digital solutions, and actively explored data product protection mechanisms to provide specialized IP solutions for emerging industries.

Wu Guangming welcomed and thanked domestic and international guests on behalf of Tongji University. He emphasized that the university is deepening its digital-intelligent, green, and integrated transformation, adapting to societal and technological changes through interdisciplinary convergence, and cultivating interdisciplinary talent for future industries. He noted that the forum is closely related to the core issues of today's science and technology and economic development, which is of great significance for strengthening the construction of the three modernizations of schools.

During the forum, experts delivered speeches on the application of IP data in innovation research. Professor Dietmar Harhoff, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, presented on Returns and Mobility of Inventors, analyzing the impact of inventor mobility on innovation outcomes through linked employer-inventor-patent data. Professor Kazuyuki Motohashi from the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Advanced Sciences shared research on Corporate Scientists in Innovation Ecosystems, using disambiguated data merging scientific paper authors and patent inventors to explore the role of corporate researchers. Professor Frank Tietze of the University of Cambridge proposed a conceptual model for disruptive innovation pathways and discussed measuring disruptive innovation using patent data. Associate Professor Dang Jianwei, Vice Dean of the Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property, presented progress in constructing Chinese patent citation and inventor disambiguation databases, along with new research measuring product innovation through trademark data and regional clustering effects.

 A roundtable discussion featured young scholars including Associate Professor Li Xibao (Tsinghua University), Associate Professor Gao Ming (Peking University), Associate Professor Shi Dongbo (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Associate Professor Sun Wei (China Agricultural University), Associate Professor Li Guangwei (ShanghaiTech University), Assistant Professor Tang Aocheng (East China Normal University), and Assistant Professor Wang Jie (Tongji University). They engaged in in-depth dialogue on inventor mobility, large language model applications in patent and trademark data, and related research practices.

 In the closing session, Associate Professor Liu Xia of Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property and Professor Dietmar Harhoff introduced the latest progress and international collaboration prospects for open patent and innovation research projects.

 Co-hosted by the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office, organized by the Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property at Tongji University, and co-organized by the Shanghai Intellectual Property Research Association, the sub-forum was chaired by Yu Xinmiao, Executive Vice Dean of the college, with approximately 100 participants including global experts, scholars, and students.