Only a small portion of patents owned by universities in China become commercial products. Credit: Xu Changliang/VCG via Getty

China’s intellectual-property regulator has been playing matchmaker — connecting researchers with patents to companies that can commercialize them.

Last month, the China National Intellectual Property Administration said that as a result of these introductions, around 80,000 patents from universities and research institutes were commercialized between 2023 and 2025.

The effort is part of the government’s desire to translate more research into products and services. China holds more than five million domestic-invention patents, but few are brought to market.…