China is ramping up efforts to support innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a bid to accelerate technological advancements and drive new product development.
SMEs are pivotal in fostering innovation within the Chinese mainland, especially those leveraging specialized and sophisticated technologies to create unique products. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced an accelerated push for SMEs to migrate to cloud platforms, adopt digital tools, and utilize intelligent technologies. This initiative aims to cultivate distinctive industrial clusters and build a high-quality, efficient service system to support these enterprises.
As part of this drive, the MIIT will launch a special campaign to empower SMEs through digital transformation, targeting full digitalization of \"little giant\" enterprises by 2027. These enterprises are recognized for their niche market specialization and cutting-edge technologies. By mid-2023, China had cultivated over 140,000 innovative SMEs, including 12,000 \"little giants\".
The latest policy aligns with China's emphasized focus on the primary role of enterprises in driving innovation. To further encourage research and development (R&D), the government will increase the rate of additional tax deductions for SMEs' R&D expenses. Additionally, higher education institutions and research institutes will be encouraged to license their proprietary technologies to SMEs on a \"use first, pay later\" basis.
In terms of support infrastructure, China has established more than 1,780 public service institutions for SMEs across national, provincial, municipal, and county levels, achieving an 84 percent coverage rate at the municipal level and above. This progress marks significant steps towards the MIIT's 2025 goal of enhancing support capabilities and the 2035 vision of a sophisticated service system that includes top-tier institutions, robust platforms, rich resources, excellent services, and high satisfaction rates.
The SME promotion law mandates that local governments establish and improve public service institutions based on actual needs, offering services such as intellectual property protection, investment and financing, technical support, and talent acquisition to foster a thriving SME ecosystem.
Reference(s):
China ramps up support for cutting-edge SMEs in tech advancement drive
cgtn.com
