1. Beijing

Top city in per-capita patents

The ratio of invention patents for every 10,000 Beijing residents reached 33.6 last year, ranking the city at the top of the country, Fu Xiaohui, deputy chief of the city's intellectual property office, announced on April 10. "Intellectual property has added vigor and motivation to the change in the capital's economic development model," Fu said. To enhance the IP environment, local authorities campaigned to fight infringement and strengthen cross-regional protection last year, he said. Beijing police investigated more than 1,700 IP cases in 2012.