Co-operation with IP5 partners

Left to right: KIPO Commissioner Kim Wan Ki, EPO President António Campinos, CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu, JPO Commissioner Ono Yota and WIPO Senior Director, PCT Services Department, Tsuyoshi Isozumi. Photo courtesy of CNIPA.

Last week President Campinos and a delegation from the EPO travelled to Tianjin, China to attend the annual high-level meetings of the world’s largest intellectual property offices, known as the IP5. 

Last week European Patent Office (EPO) President António Campinos and an EPO delegation travelled to Tianjin, China for high-level meetings with the world’s largest intellectual property offices, known as the IP5. 

On 27 May the EPO President gave a keynote speech at the Tianjin International Conference on Intellectual Property. The event, dedicated to the role of IP in enhancing the business environment and supporting innovators, was hosted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and featured keynotes from the IP5 heads of office.

In his address, President Campinos emphasised the essential role of high-quality, legally robust patents in supporting innovation, attracting investment and helping businesses scale. He highlighted the EPO’s excellence in search and examination, enabled by advanced tools such as ANSERA which efficiently covers over 160 million patent documents, as well as 197 million non-patent literature documents including more than 5.5 million standards-related documents (see the EPO’s recently launched projects on the interaction between patents and standards). This commitment to quality is the bedrock for commercialising innovation – it gives investors and inventors the confidence to innovate.

The President also reaffirmed the EPO’s commitment to developing digital tools that increase access to knowledge and connect innovators with investors, such as technology platforms, the Deep Tech Finder, studies, including on the financing of innovation and SME commercialisation; and data-driven insights such as the annual Patent Index.

Furthermore, the EPO President illustrated how patents can support access to finance and business growth and reinforced the role of global co-operation in creating a global business environment that drives investment and innovation growth.

"We can’t afford to think of patents in purely narrow terms of protection," EPO President Campinos said. "We need to see the value of a patent as part of a broader, more integrated framework – one that supports invention at every stage of the journey, from the very beginning when ideas are still forming all the way to the market."

Advancing IP5 co-operation with offices and industry 

On 28 May the EPO President attended the annual high-level meeting of the IP5 offices with his counterparts, the Commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), Shen Changyu, the Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Ono Yota, and the Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), Kim Wan Ki; with the Senior Director, PCT Services Department, of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Tsuyoshi Isozumi, attending in an observer capacity.

A particular focus of this year’s discussions was the promotion of IP utilisation and commercialisation as a driver of innovation-based economic development. On this topic, the offices discussed practical measures to support the transformation of IP assets into market value, including initiatives related to IP financing, voluntary patent licensing, and raising public awareness of IP.

"With the IP5 accounting for over 90% of global patenting activity, including more than half a million cross-filed applications each year, we are the foundation upon which global growth is built," President Campinos said. "Growth not just measured on spreadsheets, but felt in people’s lives — through rising prosperity, technological progress, and increased opportunity."

In a further meeting, the IP5 heads of office met with industry representatives from their regions to gather feedback and exchange views on recent IP developments. Discussions focused on the growing importance of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (NET/AI), and the IP5 offices’ ongoing endeavours to modernise their tools and optimise their respective patent granting processes. Additional efforts are needed to develop AI-driven solutions to enhance efficiency in patent operations and increase accessibility to the patent system. The EPO President advocated for technology-driven solutions, emphasising a flexible and iterative approach to establish a user-friendly innovation system.

The European delegation, including representatives of BusinessEurope and epi, emphasised the importance of ongoing communication between the offices and users. They also highlighted the need to prioritise and complete the current IP5 initiatives, such as the Global Assignment – which is aimed at making it easier to register changes in patent ownership across all five offices – in a timely manner. IP5 users also called for continued, closer collaboration in the area of NET/AI and the launch of the Global Dossier active component, which will enable real-time transfer of documents from the dossier of one IP5 office to another.

Bilateral meetings with CNIPA and JPO

President Campinos held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from CNIPA and the JPO. In his discussion with CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu, they reviewed progress in their ongoing collaboration, particularly in their successful pilot project that enables Chinese applicants to designate the EPO as their International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority for international patent applications filed in English under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Specific reference was made to the growing interest of Chinese innovators in the Unitary Patent system as a cost-effective path to patent protection in Europe. It was noted that the uptake rate by Chinese patent owners has increased significantly, from 10.8% in 2023 to 19.6% in 2025.

The meeting with JPO Commissioner Ono Yota focused on digital transformation and in particular AI tools. The two offices explored new areas of co-operation in the development of smart search platforms, and President Campinos presented the EPO’s Legal Interactive Platform, the CPC prediction tool and the Deep Tech Finder.

Welcome by Mayor of Tianjin and CNIPA staff

The programme in Tianjin also included a reception hosted by the Mayor of Tianjin, Zhang Gong, at the Municipality, and a visit to CNIPA’s Patent Examination and Cooperation Center. During the visit, delegates received a comprehensive tour of the facilities, met with local staff, and enjoyed a cultural programme showcasing the rich heritage of the city.