EU SME Centre published the Report on Incentives, Subsidies and Funding for Tech SMEs in China addressed to increase the awareness and accessibility of European tech SMEs to Chinese public resources.
The Report lists incentives and funding instruments available in China into five main groups:
1.Market entry incentives: made available by local administrations to attract innovative international companies to settle in their jurisdiction.
2.Status recognition: namely certain statuses that tech companies can be ‘recognised’ (认定) to hold for different purposes. Benefits associated with them involve tax deductions or cash rewards; at the same time, such statuses often constitute a key requirement (written or unwritten) for obtaining other government incentives and funding instruments, as they increase the ‘credibility’ of one company in the eyes of the local administration.
3.Subsidies (补助) and rewards (奖励) : offered ex post at all levels of administration for basically any type of innovation activity.
4.Research grants (资助): offered ex ante to support activities such as R&D, application, and demonstration in priority areas and topics specified in annual calls (年度申报指南) published on the websites of local departments of science and technology.
5.Innovation vouchers (科技创新券): consisting of small lines of credit granted to micro, small and medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs to purchase, at discounted rates, specific services provided by local providers.
On November 26, 2021 a launch event for the report, “Public Incentives for Tech SMEs: Examples from Zhejiang and Hangzhou” was held. The event also presented a concrete example and a case study of incentives and support offered to tech SMEs in Zhejiang province, Hangzhou municipality, and Gongshu district.
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Silk Council
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