Fifty winners from 188 candidate patents were recently announced as recipients of the Beijing Invention Patent Awards, with the largest proportion going to the electronic communication industry, according to the project office.

The chemical engineering and metallurgy industry ranked second in number of awards, followed by urban construction and environmental protection, which shared third place with computer automation.

As a result of their commercialization, the winning 50 patents each brought an average increase of 2.6 million yuan ($390,000) in annual sales to their companies over the past three years.

Five of the patents garnered first prize, 15 won second place and the remaining 30 placed third. The grand prize award of 1 million yuan was not distributed as no patent met its requirements.

"The highest award winner is required to be a major breakthrough and make a huge contribution to the national economy," Beijing Daily cited Gao Yongmai, director of the office's secretariat, as saying.

"And it must also be approved by more than 80 percent of the judges, much stricter than the other domestic awards, which have a one-half approval standard," Gao said.

Two candidates vied for the 1 million yuan prize and "one lost by just one vote", he said.

The patent closest to the grand prize is a vaccine used to treat porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, also known as blue-ear pig disease.

The vaccine is now used in 19 provinces and has also been exported to Vietnam, Laos and other Southeast Asian countries.

While most of the 50 patents were developed by high-tech companies, universities and research institutions, three came from individuals.

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One second prize award winner is an external dust catcher designed to significantly prolong the operating life of filters, which also aids in environmental protection.

Other individual winners relate to medical treatment.

The biennial award is the first of its kind by a provincial government nationwide, according to Beijing Intellectual Property Office Director Liu Zhengang.

It aims to encourage the owners of advanced technologies to file patent applications and to improve patent protection awareness among Beijing citizens, Liu said.

Its first awards were announced in 2008, when 49 of more than 300 candidates were selected. The grand prize was awarded that year, for a patented mobile x-ray container inspection system by the Nuctech, a prestigious high-tech company that originated at Tsinghua University.