Huawei’s Commitment to Open Innovation and Intellectual Property Highlighted at Sixth IP Forum
The recently held Huawei Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) Forum in Beijing brought together global experts to discuss the significance of openness and intellectual property rights in driving technological progress. In its sixth year, the forum served as a platform for Huawei’s leadership to emphasize its commitment to creating an ecosystem where innovation thrives alongside robust IP protection.
Huawei’s Focus on Open Innovation
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At the forum, Huawei’s Chief Legal Officer, Song Liuping, stressed that open innovation is a core value of the company. “Open innovation drives society and technology forward, and it’s in our DNA,” Song stated. He highlighted Huawei’s balanced approach, noting its respect for external intellectual property while actively protecting its own patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Despite achieving patent licensing revenue of approximately $630 million in 2024, Huawei has paid nearly three times that amount in royalties over the years, showcasing its role as both a contributor and a consumer in the innovation ecosystem.
Alan Fan, the Vice President and Head of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Rights Department, further elaborated on the company’s leadership in technological advancements. In 2024 alone, Huawei set a record with 37,000 published patents and over 10,000 technical contributions to global standard organizations. Huawei’s open-source projects, such as OpenHarmony and openEuler, have also seen significant growth, with millions of installations and active participation from the developer community. This inclusive approach underscores Huawei’s belief in the power of collaboration to drive industry-wide innovation.
Record Achievements in Licensing and Technology Sharing
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Huawei’s intellectual property achievements extend far beyond patents. By the end of 2024, Huawei-enabled technologies licensed under its patents include over 2.7 billion 5G devices, 1.2 billion Wi-Fi devices, and 3.2 billion multimedia devices globally. Additionally, 48 Fortune Global 500 companies count as direct or indirect Huawei licensees. The company’s contributions to industry standards, academic research, and open-source partnerships reflect its commitment to transparency and collective progress.
One notable recognition at the forum was the unveiling of Huawei’s Top 10 Inventions for the year. These innovations span key domains like computing, operating systems, and storage. Among these, the scale-up ultra-large scale SuperPoD system stood out, representing a leap forward in data storage and interconnectivity. Based on Huawei’s UnifiedBus protocol, the SuperPoD system enhances resource pooling, scalability, and long-term stability while improving cluster performance through advanced architecture. Huawei plans to license its UnifiedBus specs, enabling partners to develop their own hardware solutions to integrate with this system.
Balancing Openness with IP Protection
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The forum explored the intricate balance between fostering openness and protecting intellectual property rights. During a media roundtable, Alan Fan explained that even in open-source ecosystems, robust IP protections are crucial to preserving the integrity of the entire ecosystem. By safeguarding copyrights, licenses, and trade secrets, Huawei ensures that innovation remains secure and beneficial to the broader community.
Song Liuping echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that open-source efforts should be well-coordinated across industries. Huawei actively participates in numerous open-source organizations, contributing its technologies to promote collective progress while maintaining high standards of interoperability. This approach is particularly vital in fields like telecommunications, where transparency and cooperation enable vendors to develop competitive, advanced solutions.
In conclusion, Huawei’s efforts to combine openness with intellectual property protection align with its vision for a more collaborative and innovative global landscape. By promoting constructive IP practices and supporting open-source development, Huawei continues to set a benchmark for innovation-driven growth in the ICT sector. Its ongoing partnerships with industry leaders aim to ensure that innovation not only thrives but is also protected to benefit all stakeholders.
