The Silicon Valley has always been a magical place where the world's best known companies such as Google, Tesla and Apple were born. If you have half an eye on it, you would notice that these companies not only are the industry standard setters, but also take IP (intellectual property) as their top priority. Compared with the companies in developed countries in Europe and the US, Chinese enterprises have a weaker sense of IP protection. However, with the strong rise of Huawei, Chinese people have clearly realized that IP has become more and more important in the globalization process of an enterprise. According to the latest data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Huawei's international patent applications in 2018 reached up to 5,405, ranking number one in the world.

If technical innovation is an important prerequisite for an enterprise to achieve long-term survival and development, then IP is a core element for an enterprise to enhance its international competitiveness. Especially in the current wave of intelligent interconnection, domestic enterprises need more than ever to adapt to the needs of the times, and arm themselves with independent IPRs. What is gratifying is that there emerge a number of new hard & core technology powers that dare to innovate and change in China's IoV field, among which Shanghai PATEO is exactly one of the leaders.

In the recently released "2019 Top 50 China Automotive New Hard & Core Technology Power List”, Shanghai PATEO is impressively included. We can't help but ask why PATEO has been able to quickly become the leader of the IoV industry. And how does PATEO think about the IP and the future development of the IoV? 

Those Who Gain IP Win the Domination

It is no exaggeration at all to say that whoever holds the commanding heights of IP will control the industry standards. In the development process of China's IoV technology, Shanghai PATEO has become one of the few providers in the industry that offer integrated IoV services ranging from intelligent operating system and big data to content service integration & operation, map engine software & cloud architecture, embedded voice and cloud platform solutions.

Such an accomplishment wouldn’t have been possible without Shanghai PATEO’s considerable emphasis on independent R&D and IP. Data shows that its annual investment in R&D accounts for 28% of the total revenue. This percentage is at a leading level even across the whole world. You know, this percentage of Huawei in 2018 was 19.2%, while that of another tech giant, Google, was 15%.

Undoubtedly, it is precisely because of the emphasis on forward R&D and the sustainable R&D investment ratio that Shanghai PATEO's IP awareness has been continuously increasing, and top technical standards in the industry have been spawn one after another. Up to now, it boasts 2,967 IPRs, 85% of which are invention patents, creating many firsts in the industry and making itself the enterprise with the most IPRs in the field. Behind this lies the PATEO corporate culture that treats IP as the lifeblood.

Internally, the company has established a three-level IP work management system with the Founder and Chairman as the person in charge, and promulgated and implemented internal IP work rules and regulations, including dozens of management systems for patents, trademarks, copyrights and standards, thereby ensuring the effective operation of the patent management and results transformation work mechanisms. At the same time, it regularly organizes relevant personnel to conduct IP training, regularly discusses and determines the objectives, key products and technologies of the company's patent strategy; establishes and improves the company's patent database, carries out document retrieval and analysis; formulates and refines the company's patent strategy, and forms an innovation mechanism for sustainable development based on the patent layout of competitors as well as its own patent ownership and R&D capabilities. In addition, PATEO has also established an IP incentive mechanism to motivate the innovation potential of each employee, including patent application awards and patent exploitation incentives. These incentives have made a substantial contribution to the protection of the company's rights and interests, while driving its scientific research and technological breakthrough, thus doubling the creative power of the IP.

Of course, such strong R&D strength and the industry-leading number of patents are inseparable from the top-notch talents in the industry. In the words of Ken (Yilun) Ying, Founder of Shanghai PATEO, “70%-80% of IoV talents are now working for PATEO.” Such a figure may be the best annotation for the fact that PATEO has now become a global leading IoV brand with an extensive business coverage.

Factors that Restrict IoV Development 

However, it needs to be understood that currently the IoV development is also subject to many objective factors, which makes the development path of the IoV not as smooth as expected. First of all, the standards for the vehicle terminal, network communication, system & application layer and at various other levels still need to be improved, because standardization is the foundation for promoting the healthy development of an industry. Different models will produce different application systems, resulting in the lack of a unified reference platform and interface, and thus system incompatibility, waste of resources, as well as the inability of mutual information sharing. Secondly, there is still a certain gap between the overall technical level of China's auto industry and that of the developed countries. In particular, the cutting-edge core technology patents related to automotive electronics are basically in the hands of foreign enterprises.

In addition, the core technologies of both the high-end sensor chips used for information collection in the IoV era and the cloud computing & super-massive data processing are yet to be mastered in China. If an enterprise is not able to build a competitive edge in the core IoV technology – the basis for IoV development – it will be manipulated or dominated by others, and the development prospects will naturally be restricted.

Therefore, the Chinese IoV enterprises represented by Shanghai PATEO have begun to take action, defending our country's IoV technology with the weapon of independent R&D and IP, and have even earned a place in the global IoV industry. As of Jul. 31, 2018, Shanghai PATEO ranked first in China and fifth across the whole world with regard to the number of ICV-related patent applications.

More importantly, the more than 2,000 patents of PATEO cover the various aspects of hardware circuits, OS, application software, HMI, map & navigation, cloud services and autonomous driving, which can be said to be a very comprehensive layout. An enterprise fostering innovations on such a long industry chain are quite rare in the world, as most enterprises are only able to handle a section of the industry chain.

At the same time, PATEO has applied for patents for many of its innovations at the beginning of R&D, which has both effectively protected technological innovations and further restricted plagiarism by competitors. It is the comprehensive protection of IP and the intensive investment in innovation and R&D that make Shanghai PATEO an IoV enterprise in the world boasting the largest number of customers, the most extensive coverage, and the highest level of core technology.

The future of the IoV

In a certain sense, the hard & core technology represents the scientific and technological "hard power" of a country, which plays a powerful leading and supporting role in the industrial development as well as a promoting role in the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy of the country. Today, China has the largest auto market in the world, while the IoV industry is in the growth stage, with a hugely potential market, as well as the unstoppable trends of cloud computing, big data and intelligentization. PATEO positions itself clearly, namely, more of an expert in internet than automakers and more of a specialist in automobile than internet companies.

As Ken (Yilun) Ying said, “To some extent, the capability of the IoV enterprise determines the level to which intelligent vehicles (IV) can really evolve, while the underlying system of the IoV – the vehicle OS – is the core part that determines the capability and ecosystem of an IoV enterprise.” At present, PATEO boasts a product lineup that includes Qing Core, Qing OS, Qing Map, Qing AI, Qing Cloud and Qing Pay, which integrates the four services of automotive electronics, software, cloud platform services and business model innovation, to link up the internet with the automobile. Among them, Qing OS is an important achievement that represents the development trend of the future IoV, as it removes the cumbersome traditional control, truly achieves full-scenario speech coverage, provides personalized service for the user, and allows access to vehicle infrastructure data, user data and cloud interfaces, thus laying a foundation for the realization of the whole IoV ecosystem.

Besides this, Shanghai PATEO is continuously expanding its eco friend circle, to work with partners from the internet, communications, technology, automobile, finance, retail, insurance and other industries to offer vehicle companies one-stop ICV products and services that feature minimal interaction as well as Ultimate Quality, Ultimate Intelligence and Ultimate Interaction.

In recent years, PATEO has not only established multifaceted cooperation with many luxury, joint venture and Chinese self-owned brands, but also partnered with Suning in the areas of auto new retail, after-market service and new mobility model. What’s more, PATEO has signed a memorandum of cooperation on the IoV platform with Huawei, reached a cooperation agreement on mobile payment with China UnionPay and Bank of China, and built its own private cloud voice platform and map capabilities with partners to co-construct an IoV ecosystem. It is no exaggeration to say that the PATEO R&D team shoulders the mission of not only the present, but also the future of IV. 

As a leading IoV enterprise that is growing up with the global IoV industry, Shanghai PATEO is becoming the benchmark for China's new hard & core technology powers. In the future, it will also give full play to its advantages as a hub platform, i.e., opening, cooperation and sharing, to focus on the leveraged SBU of the ecosystem, promote the development of the IoV and IV industry chains, create a true mobility ecosystem, and bring the best smart mobility experience to the user.