The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a press conference today (November 22) during which Zhang Quan, director of the city’s science and technology commission, introduced latest government opinions on accelerating the development of local high-tech enterprises. Yuan Baiwei, inspector of the Shanghai Finance Bureau, Luo Dajin，deputy director of the city’s science and technology commission, and Jiang Zhenping, deputy head of the Shanghai Taxation Bureau, also joined him at the conference to take questions from the media.

High-tech enterprises are a significant driver for high-quality development and a major force in implementing the innovation-driven development strategy as well as for the city’s plan to build itself into a technology and innovation center with global impact. Over the past years, the number of high-tech enterprises has been growing steadily in Shanghai. With their continuously rising economic power, these enterprises have made notable contributions to the city’s high-quality economic development. By the end of September, the total number of high-tech enterprises exceeded 9,200 in Shanghai. In 2017, invention patent applications made by local high-tech companies stood at 28,539, a year-on-year increase of 18.56 percent and accounting for 52.17 percent of the city’s total. Revenues of local high-tech enterprise exceeded 2.3 trillion yuan and overall profit surpassed 200 billion yuan. Among that, privately held high-tech companies, which accounted for over 80 percent of the total firms and contributed nearly half of the combined revenue, have become a dominant force.

Municipal government leaders who are paying high attention to the development of high-tech enterprises have made important remarks several times with very specific requirements. Since July 2018, with an aim to better implement the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerate the city’s pace in building itself into a technology and innovation center with global impact, and further promote the high-quality development of high-tech enterprises and make the industry larger and stronger, the city government has set up a special investigation and research team to conduct some in-depth survey about those enterprises. And based on the city-wide survey and opinions solicited from various sides coupled with references of practices in other provinces and cities, “Several Opnions on Accelerating the Development of Local High-tech Enterprises”(hereafter referred to as “Several Opinions”) have been worked out by the city government. Paying specific attention to the demand, difficulty and effectiveness and following the growth rules of technology enterprise, “Several Opinions”have proposed the general thinking, main targets, key tasks and safeguard measures, which will be introduced as folllows:

I About the general idea. The “Several Opinions” focuses on the construction of an innovation center of science and technology with global influence. It will facilitate better growth of high-tech companies and strengthen the development of high-tech industries to make them a driving force in the nurturing of“Four Brands” and create a first-class business environment. It will pay more attention to the setup of an innovation ecosystem, while focus on the enhancement of innovation capability and market competitiveness of enterprises. At the same time, it will stick to the principle of improving quality and raising quantity. It will support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, and expand the backup force for high-tech companies. It will improve the quality of high-tech firms, at the same time, it will increase the number of them. It will stick to the market-oriented principle, allowing the government to guide while the market to operate to let high-tech firms grow healthily. It will also stick to the principle of a good combination of relaxation, management and services. Through the improvement of public services provided by the government, it will optimize the mechanism and work flow in the registration of high-tech companies. It will stick to more interaction between the city and the districts. With the setup of a collaborative work system, it will let the districts play a major role in the introduction, nurturing and supporting the growth of high-tech companies, creating a united power to push forward the development of the sector.

II About the target. The “Several Opinions” strives to create a united power to support the growth of high-tech companies through comprehensive policies with an overall service chain that makes the growth route smooth for high-tech companies and strengthens their innovative dynamics. It is expected that by 2020, Shanghai will have 15,000 valid high-tech companies, whose revenues will exceed 3 trillion yuan, profits of 280 billion yuan, and spending in R&D of 200 billion yuan. By 2022, the number of such companies will be more than 20,000, and Shanghai will accelerate the nurturing of a batch of leading companies with core and proprietary technologies that have international competitiveness.

III About major measures. To realize the target, the “Several Opinions” proposes 12 policies to respond to four parts of contents of “Projects for nurturing high-tech companies,” “Enhancement of innovation capability of high-tech companies,” “Optimization of policy environment for innovation” and “Improvement of government services.” They include the following main contents:

First, step up efforts to develop high-tech enterprises. Implement development project of high-tech enterprises, form the development mechanism of “finding, serving, launching and licensing” and make enterprises that whether are in accordance with “key scientific technologies and fields supported by the nation”, belong to strategic emerging industries of Shanghai such as biomedicine, new generation information technology, high-end manufacturing equipment, mew materials, new energy vehicles, new energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, digital creative industry, or have relatively strong scientific innovation competence or bright market prospect, fit into the repository of scientific enterprises to develop; gather together social service resources for innovation, improve development mechanism of high-tech enterprises, step up support, improve enterprises’ innovation competence, build a high-tech enterprise development chain of “scientific entrepreneurial teams, start-up high-tech enterprises, high-tech development enterprises, and high-tech enterprises”; optimize development carriers for high-tech enterprises, give full play to the development function of science parks, industry parks, university science parks, makerspaces as well as culture and creation parks.

Second, improve the technical innovation competence of enterprises. Strengthen enterprises’ research ability and strength, and promote the construction of technical innovation system and research institutions for high-tech enterprises; promote the synergistic innovation among enterprises, universities and research institutions, and support high-tech enterprises and high-tech development enterprises to construct technology transformation platforms for testing concept and incubation with universities and research institutions; enhance the cultivation and centralization of talent for high-tech enterprises, provide favorable talent plans for high-tech enterprises; accelerate popularization of the application of innovative products, and optimize government’s purchasing policies to support the innovative products of medium to small-size high-tech enterprises to enter the market.

Third, decrease enterprises’ technical innovation costs. Innovate financial support, implement the research support system for high-tech enterprises, bestow 200,000 to 2 million yuan on enterprises in the repository of scientific enterprises, and expand the power and range of “scientific innovation ticket” and “four-newness ticket”; optimize ecology of the scientific finance, encourage commercial banks to provide credit extension for high-tech enterprises, and broaden the financing channel for high-tech enterprises; carry out favorable income tax policies for high-tech enterprises, and further cut down enterprises’ cost. Carry out the project to evaluate medium to small-size scientific enterprises, and extend the carry-over of loss term to ten years. Give priority to high-tech enterprises’ land need, and support high-tech parks to offer favorable rent policies for high-tech enterprises accommodated.

Fourth, improve the level of government innovation services. "Several Opinions" clearly stated that "reduction of high-level identification processes and time, cancellation of declaration forms covering monthly data declaration, patent reporting materials, search for new reports and industry-university-research cooperation reports; reform of the declaration process, cancellation of unreasonable pre-links, better use of intermediary special audit report contents, strengthen post-event supervision; speed up the review, implement immediate acceptance of declaration, monthly review; speed up patent examination, shorten the patent authorization cycle for biomedicine, integrated circuit, brain science, AI and big data firms registered in Pudong, through the China (Pudong) Intellectual Property Protection Center and expand the service citywide later." These measures will effectively reduce the cost of corporate reporting, enhance corporate expectations and build a good business environment in Shanghai.

To ensure the full implementation of the “Several Opinions", the city’s science and technology commission also proposed to establish and improve the departmental consultation system, urban linkage work mechanism and dynamic monitoring on the development of high-tech enterprises, covering organization and coordination, working mechanism, statistical monitoring and evaluation.

In the next step, the science and technology commission will work with relevant departments and districts to focus on the following tasks to effectively enhance service experience of corporates:

First, strengthen policy awareness. Organize various innovation carriers such as incubators, mass creation spaces, high-tech zones, industry parks, etc., and use various media channels to target technology companies and entrepreneurial teams and widely publicize and interpret the spirit and main contents of the “Several Opinions”.

Second, better serve clients. We will promptly formulate and issue implementation rules, start high-level cultivation as soon as possible and implement the requirements of “reduction of process, materials and time”. We will strengthen the service and management of cultivating enterprises, and implement various fiscal and taxation policies for technical innovation at high-tech enterprises, which will enhance service for companies.

Third, strengthen supervision and implementation. In conjunction with all relevant departments and districts, we will establish an evaluation system for service for high-tech enterprises to implement the "Several Opinions" and various policies, which will promote the development of high-tech enterprises.