We often measure the technology prowess – of a nation, a company, an educational institution – by the number of international patents filed and granted. While this isn’t the only yardstick, it offers a basis of comparison on a global scale.

A case in point is China’s telecom giant Huawei Technologies, which was the top applicant for international patents in 2014, according to a report published March 19 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency.

Huawei, with 3,442 published applications, overtook Panasonic Corp. of Japan as the largest applicant in 2014. San Diego, Calif.-based Qualcomm Inc. was second in 2014, with 2,409 published applications. China’s ZTE Corp., in third, had 2,179 applications.