BEIJING - More than 367,000 technical contracts were signed in China in 2017, up 14.7 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology on Sunday.

The transaction volume of the contracts totaled 1.34 trillion yuan ($213 billion), with a year-on-year increase of 17.7 percent, the ministry said.

Technical service contracts totaled 682.6 billion yuan in value, an increase of 16.7 percent from 2016. Contracts for technical development also saw a rise in transaction volume.

Electronic information, urban construction and social development, and transportation are the top three fields that gained the most value.

The transaction volume of aeronautics and astronautics contracts went up 59 percent while those for nuclear application technology went down 62 percent than the previous year.

A rise in transaction volume also occurred in such fields as new energy, high-efficiency and energy-conserving technology, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, environmental protection and bio-medical industries.

Over 40 percent of transactions were contracts involving intellectual property rights. The transaction volume of invention patents grew by 19.2 percent in value year-on-year.

China's patent ownership is expected to increase from 6.3 per 10,000 people in 2015 to 12 per 10,000 in 2020, according to State Council plan on intellectual property as part of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).