GUANGZHOU, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangdong Province has topped the country in the number of valid invention patents over the past eight years, according to local authorities.

By the end of 2017, the number of valid invention patents in the province reached 208,500, said He Jufeng, deputy director of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office.

He said companies in the province were leading contributors to the rising number of invention patents.

Last year, Guangdong had accepted 455,400 patent applications from 56,000 companies, accounting for more than 72.5 percent of the total number of patent applications in the province.

In 2017, Guangdong had four firms in the list of top 10 companies in invention patent grants on the Chinese mainland.