City to encourage innovation of researchers

07 01, 2020

Research scientists can receive benefits and rewards prior to the industrialization of their research achievements instead of after the transformation, according to a draft regulation on science and technology innovation handed to city's lawmakers for review recently.The benefit of the draft clause is twofold, to encourage research towards invention and to create quality scientific achievements with bright market prospects, and to mobilize the enthusiasm of researchers in their achievement of commercialization and industrialization.The researcher or research team, in higher learning institutions and research institutes who engages research and are financed by the government can either own at least 70 percent of the proprietary rights of research results or at least 10 years of the rights to use the research results.As the researchers had gained benefits prior to commercialization or industrialization of their research achievements, the institutions they are working at do not have to repeatedly offer benefits after industrialization of their research achievements are realized, according to the draft.Enterprises that support basic research through donations and setting up foundations can enjoy preferential policies in line with the rules of philanthropic donations.At the meeting of the Standing Committee of Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress which ended Monday, lawmakers also reviewed a report on improving the city's social aid system, improving aid to vagrants and beggars, implementing social security guarantees to disadvantaged groups, enhancing construction of social aid capability and improving social aid facilities.The first-time reading of the report also suggests establishing a temporary fostering system for juniors and underage people who are in perilous positions of being orphaned or having no actual guardians.

City's exports up in May despite pandemic

06 29, 2020

Shenzhen's exports in May increased by 14.3 percent year on year to reach 149.9 billion yuan (US$21.4 billion) despite the backdrop of the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to Shenzhen Customs yesterday.Increasing exports of medical materials were the main reason behind the growth, official statistics released by the customs yesterday showed.Also in May, the city's imports grew by 6.9 percent to hit 105.4 billion yuan year on year and the total trade volume was up 11.2 percent to 255.4 billion yuan.Trade in May kept upward momentum from April, indicating further recovery with the resumption of work and production in the electronics industry that has stimulated exports of related products.In the first five months, the city's general trade kept positive growth and acceleration for three straight months. The general trade hit 548.36 billion yuan.Between January and May, Shenzhen's trade with ASEAN countries increased by 14.2 percent, thanks to the import increase in fruits and electronic components.The import and export trade of local private enterprises increased by 3.4 percent to 662.8 billion yuan in the first five months. In May alone, the figure increased 21.9 percent, 7 percentage points higher than the growth in April.Imports of electronic components and people's daily commodities increased sharply, the statistics showed.Meanwhile, China's exports declined in May, with experts predicting that shipments would continue to decline in coming months until the virus is brought under control and the global economy gets back on its feet.Overseas shipments fell by 3.3 percent in the month compared with a year earlier, following a surprise growth of 3.5 percent in April.The better-than-expected figure was due largely to continued strong exports of medical equipment and supplies used in fighting the coronavirus.Exports of medical equipment and instruments rose 89 percent in May from a year earlier, and shipments of textiles, yarns and fabrics (including masks) rose 77 percent, while exports of plastics (including medical protection equipment) increased 54 percent, noted Shen Jianguang, chief economist of JD Digits, the fintech arm of e-commerce firm JD.com.The outlook for Chinese exports in June and the second half of the year will depend on the development of the pandemic and the speed of the global economic recovery, Shen said.The demand recovery will lag that of supply, so Chinese exports will face greater pressure in the coming months.May's export dip was telegraphed by persistently low sentiment among exporters that showed up in official and private surveys of factory owners.The new export orders component of the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 35.3 for May, following a 33.5 reading in April. A number below 50 signifies contraction, the further below 50, the worse the mood among producers.

Subsidies available to aid emerging industries

06 23, 2020

Shenzhen-based enterprises and projects from emerging industries such as high-end equipment manufacturing, biomedicine, new materials, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) can receive subsidies, according to the city's industry and information technology bureau.The subsidies are drafted to support projects in four aspects, specifically supply chain promotion projects, industrial service system projects, market access projects and national and provincial supporting projects, according to staff with the Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau.The subsidies will all be issued after the conclusion of each project, according to the plan on supporting emerging industries released by the city.The subsidies for supply chain projects in industries including high-end equipment manufacturing, biomedicine, AI and IoT is set at 20 percent of the project cost confirmed by audit agencies, with the highest amount of 3 million yuan (US$423,974) for each project.The subsidies for new material industry's supply chain promotion projects will be mainly provided for testing fees on new products and technologies, which totals 30 percent of the testing-related fees determined by audit agencies.Each project can receive 3 million yuan at most. The subsidy limit for each company is 5 million yuan with no more than three materials receiving subsidies.For industrial services, 50 percent of the fees on public service projects will be subsidized, with the highest amount set at 3 million yuan.Forums and conferences, held in the city and organized on behalf of the municipal government, will be sponsored, but capped, at 3 million yuan.For those held on behalf of social organizations (firms in exhibition industry excluded), a subsidy worth 50 percent of the project fees will be issued, also with the maximum amount of 3 million yuan.Projects concerning market access, which have been recognized by international or national authorities, will be subsidized 50 percent of the project fees, capped at 1 million yuan and 500,000 yuan, respectively.Additionally, each firm can receive a maximum of 5 million yuan in subsidies each year.National and provincial supporting projects will be subsidized with the same amount of subsidies provided by the Central or provincial government, with the highest amount of 15 million yuan for each project. At the same time, the total amount of the subsidies and other funds received from the country, province and the city should be no more than 40 percent of the projects' total investment.

Strategic emerging industries, SZ's driving force

06 19, 2020

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. To mark the occasion, we are publishing a series of reports celebrating the city's achievements in different aspects over the past four decades.THE industrial added value of strategic emerging industries in Shenzhen reached 1.01 trillion yuan (US$142 billion) in 2019, an 8.8 percent increase year on year, and weighing 37.7 percent of GDP, a report of Shenzhen Economic Daily said Thursday.Strategic emerging industries mainly comprise new-generation information technologies, digital economy, high-end equipment manufacturing, low carbon, marine economy, new materials and biopharmacy.In the early 1990s, Shenzhen designated high-tech, logistics, finance and culture as its four pillar industries. After the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, the city planned a layout of newly emerged, strategic industries. The city took initiatives for the development of biology, new energy and Internet in 2009 and then added new materials, culture and creation, new-generation information and technology, and energy conservation to its list of priority for development in 2011.Starting from 2013, the list was further extended to marine economy, space and aviation, health, robotics, wearables and intelligent equipment.For development of newly emerged industries and future industries, the city set aside, in a special fund, 5 billion yuan a year to support enterprises and institutions to engage in technological innovation and science achievement commercialization.

SZ ranks 3rd in business environment

06 19, 2020

Shenzhen is ranked third in urban business environment among Chinese cities in 2019, following Beijing and Shanghai, according to a report released by State media China Central Television (CCTV) on Thursday.As for the remaining top 10, Shenzhen is followed by Guangzhou, Chongqing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin and Ningbo.The CCTV report took the international and World Bank standards as benchmarks and evaluated the business environment of Chinese cities through a wide range of indicators for the difficulty of starting and running a business.It surveyed four municipalities directly under the Central Government, 27 capital cities in provinces and autonomous regions and five specially designated cities in the State plan.The latest version of the report also evaluated the business environment of 100 Chinese cities with the most active economic activity.The top 10 cities are Suzhou, Nantong, Yantai, Wuxi, Dongguan, Shaoxing, Wenzhou, Weifang, Jinhua as well as Zhuhai.According to the theoretical framework of "element + environment," the report uses an evaluation system composed of five dimensions, including infrastructure, human resources, financial services, government administration and inclusive innovation.The report also released five sub-rankings that cover the key links affecting the running of a business, such as system, market, resources, technology, talented staff and capital.Both the 2018 and 2019 versions of the report show that China has made some of the biggest strides among the world's economies in improving its business environment over the past two years.

Underground 5G

06 19, 2020

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, in partnership with China Mobile, worked with Yangquan Coal Industry Co. Ltd. in Shanxi Province to install a 5G system in the coal mines that are 534 meters underground, according to a report by Shenzhen Economic Daily.The deepest underground network in the world, the system will help coal mine operators establish a highly efficient, reliable safety monitoring system and introduce unmanned, visualized, remote-controlled coal mine operation and maintenance.

Coupons offered to startups

06 05, 2020

A total of 125 enterprises received innovation coupons totaling 94.25 million yuan (US$13.27 million) in the latest release. The coupons can be redeemed for several tech-related service fees, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported. The coupons were released by the Shenzhen Municipal Science, Technology and Innovation Commission to reduce costs of innovation for startups. When small and medium-sized firms and startups buy technological services such as research and development service and technology transfer service, they can use these coupons to redeem the fees. At the end of April, innovation coupons worth 15,000 to 200,000 yuan were issued by the city to 5,086 different businesses including Huawei, Centre Testing International and Shenzhen University. In another development, the city planned to provide funds totaling 2.77 billion yuan to 10,236 Shenzhen-based companies to help enhance their innovation capabilities, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. At present, the list of companies that have successfully received portions of the fund is being published to seek opinions. Firms including BYD, Tencent, ZTE, Skyworth, and Hytera were on the list, according to the report.

Science, technology workers help boost economic growth

06 02, 2020

The number of professionals and technicians, the backbone of those working in the science and technology sector in Shenzhen, had reached 1.83 million by the end of 2019, statistics from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Association said Saturday, the National Science and Technology Workers' Day.For every 10 permanent residents in Shenzhen, there are 1.5 professionals and technicians. In 40 years, the number of science and technology workers in the city has increased by 900,000 times compared with 40 years ago at which time there were only two professionals, one was a technician in tractor repair and maintenance, and the other was a veterinarian.In 40 years, the city's GDP also increased by 10,000 folds, evidencing the statement that "science and technology constitute a primary productive force."The science and technology workers underpin the development of Shenzhen as a city of innovation. In 2019, the number of invention patents in Shenzhen was 106.3 for every 10,000 people, eight times the national average.The number of ICT applications reached 17,459, taking up one-third of the total number of applications for the entire country, and taking the lead among major Chinese cities for 16 straight years.The major force of science and technology workers comes from enterprises and the high-tech industry. In 2019, the production value of Shenzhen's high-tech enterprises exceeded 2.6 trillion yuan (US$364 billion) and 2,700 State-level high-tech enterprises were added, bringing the total number of enterprises to 17,000, second only to Beijing.By the end of 2019, Shenzhen had 2,258 innovation incubators, attracting talented staff from around the country and the world.In a letter to mark the National Science and Technology Workers' Day, the Shenzhen CPC committee and city government said the city will further create an atmosphere for respecting talented individuals and knowledge, and create favorable conditions for growth, innovation and entrepreneurship of science and technology workers.

Internet of Vehicles

05 29, 2020

Shenzhen has released a slew of measures to further support the Internet of Vehicles industry by funding research and development (R&D), encouraging platform construction, improving infrastructure and optimizing supporting facilities. Innovators who carry out city-level scenario simulation, industrial public services, key technology research and R&D of major facilities will be funded up to 5 million yuan (US$698,860), 10 million yuan, 15 million yuan and 200 million yuan, respectively.