China continues to set the pace for innovation around the world, filing a record number of patent applications last year. The World Intellectual Property Organization reported that China's one million or so applications accounted for more than a third of world's total.

Following China are the U.S. and Japan, with about a half-million each. While most of China's focus lay in the area of electrical engineering, other sectors with a strong focus were computer technology and digital communications.

Overall, the number of patents grew by about five percent to 1.2 million. Trademark applications jumped 15 percent to nearly 6 million, while industrial design applications rose 2.3 percent to nearly 900,000.