Baotou in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region has made marked progress in its protection of intellectual property -- with the city's total number of patent applications standing at 3,204 as of the end of October, an increase of 24.2 percent over the same period last year, according to the Baotou Evening News.

A total of 1,591 patents were granted, an increase of 1.1 percent on the same period last year. The number of valid invention patents in the city increased to 1,604.

In recent years, IP has become a way to accelerate the transformation of economic development, as well as to boost innovation.

Officials said the intellectual property office in Baotou is to further enhance the ability and efficiency of the intellectual property system for innovation subjects, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, as well as fully promote its strategy on intellectual property rights.