Yangquan has made major progress in strengthening its intellectual property landscape. By the end of 2024, the city had amassed 493 valid invention patents, a 22.02 percent year-on-year increase, along with 8,021 valid trademark registrations, up 19.02 percent year-on-year.

At the forefront of this success is the century-old Yangquan Valve Co, renowned for its 16 patented technologies. Harnessing intellectual property for financing, the company secured a 10-million-yuan ($1.39 million) loan, propelling its valves into international markets.

DFD Yangfu New Materials Co stands out with 36 patent applications, driving a 30 percent reduction in the production costs of lithium hexafluorophosphate and a 50 percent boost in production capacity.

To streamline intellectual property processes, authorities have established an Intellectual Property and Standardization Service Center, allowing market entities to handle intellectual property matters locally.

A collaborative platform has also been set up for government-bank-enterprise partnerships. Through a strategic cooperation agreement on intellectual property insurance with the Yangquan Branch of the People's Insurance Company of China, intellectual property pledge financing has been promoted, resulting in 60 million yuan in financing.

The convergence of industry, academia, and research institutes is nurturing innovative breakthroughs. Spearheaded by the Shanxi Institute of Technology, the creation of the Advanced Aluminum-Silicon Refractory Material Engineering Research Center has led to advancements in high-strength, corrosion-resistant castables and large-scale blast furnace repair materials.

Yangquan is fostering specialized, sophisticated, new, and high-tech enterprises, seeking to incubate companies which excel in patent industrialization. Eleven enterprises have joined the national patent industrialization model enterprise incubation pool.