ZTE believes in technology innovation as a core value of the company, investing more than 10% of annual revenue in its R&D. The company has established state-of-the-art global R&D centres in USA, Sweden, China and so forth, and has filed applications for more than 80,000 patents, with over 40,000 granted. Since 2010, ZTE has been ranked among the world's Top-5 for patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) each year, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
With a vision of balanced, sustainable development in the social, environmental and economic arenas, the company promotes freedom of communication around the world. It has incorporated innovation, technological convergence and the concept of "going green" into its product life cycle, covering specifically R&D, production, logistics and customer service. Also, the company is also committed to maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing carbon emissions.
As a member of the United Nations Global Compact and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, ZTE has published the Sustainability Report/Corporate Social Responsibility Report for 12 consecutive years starting 2009. According to Research Report on Corporate Social Responsibility of China 2018 issued by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ZTE ranks among the top 100 in terms of Social Development Index. Moreover, the company has been included among the FTSE4Good Index Series for second consecutive year since 2018.
Looking forward, the company will be committed to building its core competitiveness in independent innovation in the 5G era, expecting to accelerate the global commercial deployment of 5G, leveraging its leading end-to-end 5G products and solutions.