发明专利是衡量一个行业技术创新水平的重要指标之一。本文对“十一五”期间在我国申请的2 228件茶叶发明专利信息进行了分析,结果表明：（1）我国茶叶发明专利申请量逐年增加,年均增长23.3%,但授权量和授权率较低;（2）企业和个人申请的发明专利占76.7%,已成为专利技术研发的重要力量;（3）浙江、江苏和云南三省的发明专利申请量较高,排名全国前三;（4）茶叶加工和综合利用是专利申请的热点领域,其申请量占82.2%。本研究从发明专利的角度进一步分析了我国茶业技术创新的特点和水平,指出了我国茶业技术创新面临的问题、挑战,并提出了相应对策。

Invention patent is one of imporant indicators to evaluate the level of technological innovation in an industry. In this paper, the author analyzed the information of 2 228 tea invention patents which were applied and published in China from the year of 2006 to 2010. Results showed that 1) the application amount of tea invention patents increased by 23.3% per year, but their license amount and license rate was low. 2) 76.7% of tea invention patents were applied by enterprises and individuals. 3) Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Yunnan were the top three provinces on the application amount of tea invention patents in whole China. 4) 82.2% of tea invention patents were concentrated on such professional areas as tea processing and maufacture and comprehensive utilzation, which indicated the research hotspots of tea techonological innovation. Based on this study, the author reviewed of the questiones and challenges for tea technological innvovation, and proposed a few of advices to impove the level of technogical innovation for Chinese tea industry.