Intellectual property is seen as the backbone of private businesses' innovation and high-quality development amid fierce competition in a fast-expanding market, industry experts said.

Trade secrets, as a key part of IP, are a vital sign of companies' innovation capability, Nan Cunhui, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and chairman of CHINT Group, said during the two sessions, the annual gatherings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

It is necessary to optimize the legal system of trade secret protection and safeguard the technology confidentiality of private businesses, especially those that are technology-driven, Nan added.

Nan's proposal is only an example of Chinese companies' strengthened awareness of IP protection in recent years.

Leng Ling, president of AUX Group, told Science and Technology Daily that his company attaches great importance to technological innovation and IP protection, with a rich IP portfolio including patented technologies for smart control systems and noise reduction.

The company has set up an office consisting of 20 IP experts, who are responsible for conducting IP-related projects ranging from research and development to production and marketing.

Yan Dong, legal counsel at AUX, said the office has veto power over any business decisions that involve potential IP risks.

To date, the company's electrical appliances department has applied for nearly 6,000 patents.

Another shining star in the IP field is Dt Dream, a provider of overall solutions related to industrial big data and the development of cloud computing platforms.

By the end of 2018, the company had won the certification of CMMI, or Capability Maturity Model Integration, at level 5, the top level of the internationally acclaimed software development process management certification.

Statistics show that only 11 percent of global companies have gained the level 5 certificate and the proportion in China is 7 percent.

Wu Jingchuan, chairman and CEO of Dt Dream, said the certificate covers R&D sectors including cloud computing, big data and information security.

Established in 2015, the Hangzhou-based internet startup has centered on innovation and viewed its core technologies' IP as the key to its further development, with many leading achievements in internet architecture, cloud computing, big data and information security.

The number of Dt Dream's invention patent applications accounts for more than 98 percent of its total filings, according to Wu.

The company's high-quality patents in the data source and exchange platform fields play a key role in advancing the big data industry, Wu said.

In addition to the traditional manufacturing and internet, companies in the biomedicine field are also paying close attention to IP expansion.

One such example is Hangzhou ACEA Pharmaceutical Research, a private pharmaceutical company committed to developing and providing innovative drugs.

Xu Wanghong, general manager of the company, said the company has been granted more than 20 invention patents across the world and every patent has been applied in dozens of countries.

"Our patents play a leading role in cell analysis and detection across the world," Xu said.

In 2002, Xu Xiao and Wang Xiaobo, two founders of the company, invented a patented technology for detecting cells and developing a real-time cell analysis system.