Recently, the National Intellectual Property Administration announced the 2025-2027 Intellectual Property Powerhouse Construction Demonstration Creation List. Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary Huayou New Energy Technology (Quzhou) Co., Ltd. were successfully selected for the "National Intellectual Property Demonstration Enterprise Creation Candidate" list.

This selection represents a high-level recognition from national authorities of Huayou Cobalt's innovation-driven development strategy, marking the company's comprehensive intellectual property strength among the top tier nationwide, and further demonstrating its innovation leadership and industry voice in the global new energy materials sector.

For a long time, Huayou Cobalt has adhered to the development core of "innovation-driven, value creation," viewing intellectual property as a core strategic asset for sustainable development and the "core foundation" for global competition. The company has established a comprehensive intellectual property network covering major global markets and the entire industrial chain.

Relying on 24 provincial and national high-level research platforms including the National Enterprise Technology Center and the Zhejiang Province Key Enterprise Research Institute for Intelligent Manufacturing of High-Performance Lithium Battery Materials, the company has continuously increased R&D investment, with R&D expenses reaching 1.3 billion yuan in 2024, establishing a closed-loop system from "R&D project initiation—technological breakthroughs—patent layout—achievement transformation" to achieve simultaneous resonance between innovation achievements and industrial applications.

As of now, Huayou Cobalt has applied for more than **1,600 patents** domestically and internationally, forming technical barriers and competitive advantages centered on high-value patents. The intellectual property layout deeply aligns with core business, comprehensively covering key metal resource development such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium, R&D of new energy materials such as ternary materials, lithium-rich manganese-based materials, and sodium battery materials, as well as key links in the entire industrial chain from raw ore smelting to resource recycling.

Multiple core patent achievements have won industry honors, demonstrating original strength: Several Huayou Cobalt patents have won the Zhejiang Province Patent Gold Award and the China Patent Excellence Award. In areas such as multi-form cobalt resource development, new energy lithium battery material upgrades, and short-process efficient green manufacturing of cobalt-containing waste materials, the company has mastered a batch of internationally leading core independent intellectual property rights, continuously solving industry development bottlenecks. The core patent **"A Method for Preparing Low-Sulfur High-Tap-Density Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese Ternary Precursor (ZL201710747230.8)" won the 25th China Patent Excellence Award, precisely solving industry technical pain points and laying a solid material foundation for higher energy density and safety performance of downstream power batteries. Previously, Huayou Cobalt and its subsidiaries had successively received honors such as National Intellectual Property Advantage Enterprise and Zhejiang Province Intellectual Property Demonstration Enterprise, laying a solid foundation for this selection as a National Intellectual Property Demonstration Enterprise Creation Candidate.

Excellent intellectual property achievements are rooted in a scientific and comprehensive management system. Huayou Cobalt deeply implements the requirements of the "Intellectual Property Powerhouse Construction Outline (2021-2035)," deeply embedding intellectual property management into the entire process of R&D project initiation, manufacturing, and market operations. The company has established a standardized, normalized, and digital intellectual property management system, achieving deep integration of intellectual property with enterprise development strategies.

Relying on the "Huayou Zhitan" integrated management platform and ERP information system, the company achieves precise control over patent layout, achievement transformation, rights protection, and other aspects, efficiently revitalizing intellectual property assets, and fully stimulating the innovation vitality and creativity of R&D teams. In terms of intellectual property operations, Huayou Cobalt not only promotes efficient transformation of patent technology into product competitiveness, helping implement the "product leadership, cost leadership" strategy and empowering industrial quality improvement and efficiency enhancement; but also proactively shoulders industry leadership responsibility, taking the lead in compiling and participating in the preparation of 20 technical standards related to low-carbon development domestically and internationally, leading or participating in the formulation of over 200 national and industry standards, leading standardized and high-quality industry development with intellectual property discourse power.

This dual selection is not only a special recognition of Huayou Cobalt's intellectual property work but also a concentrated confirmation of the company's comprehensive strength across the entire industrial chain and innovation leadership role. As a leading enterprise in the global new energy materials sector and a China Top 500 Enterprise, Huayou Cobalt has established a complete new energy lithium battery industrial chain covering nickel-cobalt-lithium resource development, non-ferrous metal green smelting, lithium battery material R&D and manufacturing, and resource recycling. The company has built five business sectors: new energy industry, new materials industry, Indonesia nickel industry, Africa resource industry, and recycling industry, forming a unique industrial ecology of "upstream resources as foundation, midstream manufacturing as empowerment, downstream recycling as closed loop," providing full-chain support for technological innovation.

Relying on the collaborative advantages of the entire industrial chain, Huayou Cobalt deeply promotes the "six integrations" development philosophy. Enterprises within the system have successively been recognized as National Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Factories and Intelligent Manufacturing Excellent Scenarios, empowering intellectual property achievement transformation with digital and intelligent technologies, and continuously consolidating its industry-leading position. The company has achieved record-high performance while also ranking among the "Leader" enterprises in China's industrial carbon peak. Multiple products have won "Excellent Brand" and "Quality Brand" titles, interpreting the development philosophy of "technology creates brand, innovation leads the future" with innovation strength, and practicing the corporate mission of "green development, circular development."

Being selected as a National Intellectual Property Demonstration Enterprise Creation Candidate is both an honor and a responsibility, an opportunity and a mission. In the future, Huayou Cobalt will take this as an opportunity to comprehensively upgrade its intellectual property management system, deepen the deep integration of intellectual property with R&D, market, and industry, accelerate key core technology research and high-value patent transformation applications, and strive to officially become a national intellectual property demonstration enterprise.

The company will fully leverage its benchmark leadership role to drive collaborative innovation and improve intellectual property comprehensive capabilities among small and medium enterprises in the industrial chain upstream and downstream, empowering global strategic layout with high-quality innovation achievements, providing more "Huayou Wisdom" and "Huayou Solutions" for global energy transition, and contributing solid Huayou strength to building China into an intellectual property powerhouse, achieving high-level technological self-reliance and promoting the healthy and sustainable development of the new energy industry.