(ECNS) A Chinese enterprise and eight foreign ones became the winners of this year’s World Intellectual Property Organization Küresel Awards for their innovation in diverse areas such as health, environment and agriculture.
The organisation announced the results on Friday, praising the IP achievements of the nine outstanding companies in driving progress and enhancing quality of life in the sectors.
A panel of eight international jurors selected the 2024 winners, who beat out competition from more than 660 other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups that applied from 107 countries, the organization said.
It noted that the award recognizes SMEs worldwide that have made contributions to economic, social and cultural progress at home and abroad through the use of IP.
The Chinese winner, Healinno Tech, is a medical technology company founded in Beijing in 2021. With strong skills in IP management, it focuses on the research and development of surgical robots and intelligent medical equipment, according to the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office, the city’s top IP regulator.
The administration also revealed that Healinno Tech was selected as an IP pilot company and included in the list of new SMEs in Beijing in 2023, adding that the winner has applied for 42 patents domestically so far.
According to the WIPO, the other winners are from Argentina, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkiye, with products ranging from 3D printed bone implants and waste sorting robots to brain injury scanners powered by artificial intelligence.