BEIJING -- China saw major progress in invention patent applications and grants as the country aims to forge an innovation-powered economy.

The State Intellectual Property Office accepted 156,000 invention patent applications in the first quarter of 2014, up 10.6 percent year-on-year.

The portion of such applications in all the accepted patent applications expanded to nearly 40 percent in the first three months.

According to a joint survey conducted by the SIPO and the National Bureau of Statistics, every 10,000 people owned an average of 4.2 invention patents at the end of March, 0.2 more than at the end of 2013.

The SIPO director Shen Changyu said intellectual property creativity in China is improving notably and the number of patents, trademarks and copyrights, is growing at a fast speed.

The survey also showed that patented inventions play an important role in enhancing profitability in major industrial enterprises.