Roadmap for Small and Medium S&T Businesses Growth
Recently the Administration Center of Innovation Fund for Small and Medium S&T Businesses, a part of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the State Development Bank, in collaboration with other governmental agencies, have jointly worked out a solution to create a favorable social environment for the growth of small and medium enterprises at different development phases, namely the roadmap for small and medium enterprises growth.
The road map has defined assistance to small and medium S&T businesses in seven directions: 1) the innovation fund will direct its investment to the small and medium S&T businesses that are in seeding, pioneering or early development phases, helping them raise the needed capital, and wade through the “death trap”; 2) the innovation fund will also support technical innovations of the small and medium businesses that are in seeding, pioneering and early development phases, taking full advantage of the Fund’s strong fund raising role in supporting technical innovations of the small and medium businesses; 3) with S&T industrial incubators as the ‘knot”, establishing a greatly enhanced supporting and incubation network for small and medium S&T businesses; 4) promoting the establishment of the policy oriented shareholding and fund raising mechanism, especially for the small and medium businesses in seeding and early development phases; 5) the State Development Bank shall play a demonstration role for commercial banks in providing loans for S&T businesses; 6) Creating more loan guarantee agencies for S&T businesses and enhance their strength, raising the overall structural capacity of these agencies; and 7) establishing an interfacing platform with the small and medium businesses section of the Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.
To promote the implementation of the roadmap, the sponsors have promised to create an information resources sharing system for small and medium S&T businesses, establishing an indicator system to evaluate the growth of small and medium S&T businesses, and making the roadmap a well tailored and systematic policy guiding tool for facilitating the fast growth of small and medium S&T businesses.
China’s Small and Medium S&T Businesses Booms
According to a briefing issued on October 8, 2004, by the Administration Center of Innovation Fund for Small and Medium S&T Businesses, a part of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, China’s Small and Medium S&T Businesses Fund has, in the past 5 years since its establishment in 1999, helped to create 4,946 projects with RMB 3.3 billion worth state treasury support.
According to the briefing, the projects financed by the innovation fund have produced 2,489 patents, of which 35% are invention patents, 69 class one new drugs, 105 class two new drugs, and 887 software projects that have rolled off proprietary products. In addition, 40% of the projects financed are the spin-offs from the S&T projects at the national or provincial levels; 13% have reached an international leading level, or an internationally advanced level, and 85.17% secured their domestic leading position. 53% of the projects have become the replacements for their imported counterparts. The innovation fund has forcefully spurred the spin-off of high tech findings, and stimulated technical innovations and fast growth of small and medium S&T businesses in China.
Roadmap for Small and Medium S&T Businesses Growth
Recently the Administration Center of Innovation Fund for Small and Medium S&T Businesses, a part of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the State Development Bank, in collaboration with other governmental agencies, have jointly worked out a solution to create a favorable social environment for the growth of small and medium enterprises at different development phases, namely the roadmap for small and medium enterprises growth.
The road map has defined assistance to small and medium S&T businesses in seven directions: 1) the innovation fund will direct its investment to the small and medium S&T businesses that are in seeding, pioneering or early development phases, helping them raise the needed capital, and wade through the “death trap”; 2) the innovation fund will also support technical innovations of the small and medium businesses that are in seeding, pioneering and early development phases, taking full advantage of the Fund’s strong fund raising role in supporting technical innovations of the small and medium businesses; 3) with S&T industrial incubators as the ‘knot”, establishing a greatly enhanced supporting and incubation network for small and medium S&T businesses; 4) promoting the establishment of the policy oriented shareholding and fund raising mechanism, especially for the small and medium businesses in seeding and early development phases; 5) the State Development Bank shall play a demonstration role for commercial banks in providing loans for S&T businesses; 6) Creating more loan guarantee agencies for S&T businesses and enhance their strength, raising the overall structural capacity of these agencies; and 7) establishing an interfacing platform with the small and medium businesses section of the Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.
To promote the implementation of the roadmap, the sponsors have promised to create an information resources sharing system for small and medium S&T businesses, establishing an indicator system to evaluate the growth of small and medium S&T businesses, and making the roadmap a well tailored and systematic policy guiding tool for facilitating the fast growth of small and medium S&T businesses.
China’s Small and Medium S&T Businesses Booms
According to a briefing issued on October 8, 2004, by the Administration Center of Innovation Fund for Small and Medium S&T Businesses, a part of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, China’s Small and Medium S&T Businesses Fund has, in the past 5 years since its establishment in 1999, helped to create 4,946 projects with RMB 3.3 billion worth state treasury support.
According to the briefing, the projects financed by the innovation fund have produced 2,489 patents, of which 35% are invention patents, 69 class one new drugs, 105 class two new drugs, and 887 software projects that have rolled off proprietary products. In addition, 40% of the projects financed are the spin-offs from the S&T projects at the national or provincial levels; 13% have reached an international leading level, or an internationally advanced level, and 85.17% secured their domestic leading position. 53% of the projects have become the replacements for their imported counterparts. The innovation fund has forcefully spurred the spin-off of high tech findings, and stimulated technical innovations and fast growth of small and medium S&T businesses in China.
|
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
China-EU Cooperation in Galileo Project
A cooperation agreement on the Galileo project was singed by both China and the EU on October 9, 2004 in Beijing. The agreement defines China’s rights and obligations as a part of the project, especially in the project management and starting phases. As a civic satellite navigation initiative jointly sponsored and implemented by the EU commission and ESA, the project expects to establish Europe’s own independent and proprietary satellite navigation system. The project will eventually deploy 30 navigation satellites and associated ground facilities. With a huge investment of 3.5 billion euros, the project will be completed in 2008. The Chinese Government and industries will contribute some 200 million euros to be part of the project.
When completed, the Galileo project will turn itself into the most advanced civic global satellite positioning system in the world, with only one-meter error for positioning ground targets. The EU has shown great enthusiasm in letting China become its partner, as China not only has advanced technology in the field, but also a large potential market. China is the first non-EU country in the world to become a partner of the Galileo project.
China-Russia S&T Park Projects Signed
LU Yongxiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said on September 30, 2004 that the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences would jointly establish an S&T park in northeast China and new Siberia. The heads of the Changchun Branch, CAS and the Siberian Branch, RAS inked a memorandum of understanding containing 7 cooperative projects on the day.
LU told reporters that the S&T cooperation between China and Russia is an important component in the two nations’ strategic partnership. The construction of China-Russia S&T Park creates a new mode for international cooperation. Both parties will, in the principle of equality and mutual benefiting, select joint research topics of common interests, and define the projects of technology transfer perspectives. Both parties will work on regional cooperation by taking advantage of their respective geographic strength. CAS shows great interest in the cooperation between the Changchun Branch, CAS and the Siberian Branch, RAS, that are physically located in the northeast section of China and new Siberian area of Russia respectively.
The fourth bilateral S&T cooperation between the Changchun Branch, CAS and the Siberian Branch, RAS was held on September 25, 2004 in Changchun. Both parties had an in-depth discussion of the basic guidelines for creating a framework that will tighten the cooperation between two sides, and exchanged views in details on the construction of the new S&T park.
Mini Supercomputer
A mobile supercomputer prototype, named Superstar α in Superstar 10000 series, passed the technical verification check on September 14, 2004 in Mianyang, Sichuan Province. The mobile system, with a high scalable capacity, offers a 6th generation version of China’s supercomputer technology development.
Developed by the Juxing Supercomputer Technology Co. Ltd., Superstar α, using high density blade servers as calculating knots, is able to gear up a peak speed of 255.3 billion times a second within a space of a half square meter. With high speed InfiniBand networking as its intranet, the mini supercomputer offers a peak bandwidth of 480Gbps. The data stream flow between calculating knots reaches 748MB/s and a defer makes 5.6 microseconds.
In addition to the proprietary parallel storage system, the mini supercomputer is equipped with an extremely large volume network storage system called Blue Whale 1000A, developed by the Institute of Computation Technology, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Designed with a high scalable CHiSSA structure, the supercomputer offers an extremely capable scalability for up to a thousand knots, possible for an unprecedented combined calculation speed while maintaining a relatively high performance density. The system can, using 5 mainframe racks, reach the calculation speed that a traditional supercomputer of 40 racks can, and offers an internal band width at least three times that of the latter.
Juxing company classifies its Superstar 10000 series according to knots scale. For example, 576 knots falls under a class named Tai Mount, 1152 knots comes to E’mei Mount class, 2304 knots sits at Kunlun Mount class, and 4608 knots at Ximalaya Mount class. The super computer at the Ximalaya Mount class offers a peak speed of 56 trillion times per second, or the level that the fastest supercomputer in the world can reach at current stage.
China Chip Harvested
China Chip, a project initiated and implemented by the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry for mastering the core IC technologies, has turned out a number of chip makers not only having their own proprietary core technologies but also an impressive market share.
According to a briefing, Fangzhou I and II chips developed by the Beijing Fangzhou S&T Corp., and Longxin chips developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have found successful applications in network computers and taxation payment systems, with some export to other countries. The WCDMA ASIC chip set, integrating more than 30 patented modules and ASIC design patent, developed by Huawei, and the Huaxia network chip, developed by the Sichuan Nanshan Bridge Microelectronics, for gigabit Ethernet router switching, have broken up foreign manufacturers’ monopoly of the Chinese market. The mobile phone chips, developed by the Datang Microelectronics, have been used by China Mobile and China Unicom with a cumulative sale over 100 million pieces.
In addition, China has made an important breakthrough in developing the non-contact IC chip and modules for the second generation of ID cards to be used by Chinese citizens. The digital multimedia chips under Xingguang series have moved on to the 5th generation, enjoying an impressive export volume. The TD-SCDMA mobile chip, developed by the Shanghai Zhanxun Telecom for the third generation mobile telecommunication, has become an international standard taking a leading position in the world.
Spacecraft Simulation Capsule Soon be Completed
A simulation capsule that is able to train astronauts on the ground will be completed of its construction at the end of the year. 14 Chinese astronauts will be trained in pairs in the simulation capsule. With an internal structure and a size made exactly like the real capsule of the spacecraft Shenzhou VI, the simulation device is able to give astronauts a real feeling of operating the spacecraft.
The spacecraft Shenzhou VI has entered the capsule manufacturing phase. Its internal structures are partially modified, as its mission objectives have been changed. In the previous flight, the spacecraft Shenzhou V didn’t allow the astronaut to walk into the orbiting cabinet. The Shenzhou VI, however, will allow astronauts to make experiments in the orbiting cabin, preparing for establishing China’s own space station.
The spacecraft Shenzhou VI has changed its mission objectives and internal structures to enhance the division of work and coordination between two onboard astronauts. As a result, astronauts have to be trained for the modified missions. When completed for the training in the simulation device, astronauts will be re-oriented in the real capsule of the spacecraft, adapting themselves to the changed operating procedures and practicing coordination.
Key Technology for High Pressure Frequency Conversion
IGBT, a direct series high pressure frequency conversion gear unit, developed by the Chengdu Jialing Electric Manufacturer, has recently passed the technical verification check. The development marks China’s major breakthrough in mastering high pressure frequency conversion technology.
The verification panel made up of experts from the Tsinghua University, Southwest Jiaotong University and others produced a conclusion that the innovative proprietary system is an energy efficient innovative product with a unique technical design. The key technologies used, including direct IGBT components in series, common electric pressure suppressing, and output pressure sine wave control, have reached an internationally advanced level, in terms of their performance. The extensive application of the new technical system will promote the extensive application of electronic components in the high pressure electricity field. When that occurs, it will become much easier to make conversions between high pressure alternative and direct currents, and between high and low pressures. As a result, power transmission and conversion technology will see an eye-catching improvement. The preliminary industrial trials have shown that the new technical system can reduce the power loss in transmission by 30%-80%.
China’s Industrial Technical System for GM Cotton
A project to develop the technical system for the industrialized production of genetically modified cotton, contracted to the Cotton Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has recently passed the verification check. The new technical system has spun off 8 GM cotton species, and grown pest resistant GM species in 32 million mu(1mu=0.0667ha.) of cotton fields on a combined basis.
With the strong support of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Henan Provincial Government, the development of the technical system for the industrialized production of genetically modified cotton has led to the establishment of an efficient technical system for industrialized GM cotton production. The project works out 6000 or more GM cotton seedlings a year, which effectively reduced the costs of diffusion. The new technical system also added pest and diseases resistant, and fiber improving genes into some 20 prevailing cotton species. In addition, grafting techniques are used to produce better GM cotton varieties with a survival rate as high as 90% or above, effectively reversed the low survival rate of GM cotton transplanting.
The new technical system has spurred the fast expansion of GM cotton growing area in the country. In 1998, China’s GM cotton growing area reached more than 3.8 million mu, of which 95% were grown with imported species, with only 5% for domestic breeds. In 2004, the GM cotton growing area reached some 46 million mu, with domestic species accounting for 70%. Four provinces, including Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Anhui, have grown all Chinese made GM cotton. The domestic produced GM cotton has currently secured a growing area of 70 million mu on a cumulative basis, offering cotton farmers an increase of revenue by RMB 140-160 per mu.
China’s First Nanomaterial Production Line
A system able to produce nanometal powder, developed by Prof. YAN Pengxun, Director of the Institute of Plasma and Metal Materials, a part of Lanzhou University, has realized the stable high power plasma discharging, using the combination of high frequency and direct current. The new system, by containing high temperature plasmas in mixed gases, and working with low temperature collectors, produces the thermal plasmas featuring high temperature, high ionization and high energy.
So far the system has produced more than 10 types of nanometal powder, including nickel, aluminum, zinc, copper, and iron among others. The new system, featuring a high production volume, produces high purity and well-shaped nanopowder that can be easily dispersed, with smooth surface and even grains. Desirable for consecutive and large scale production, the technical system named “Wan’neng” (aml-purpose) has been industrialized in the Jinchang City, Gansu Province. 16 Chinese investors have jointly financed the establishment of the Jinchang Nanomaterial Co. Ltd. with an amount of RMB 6 million. The first production line has reached an hourly capacity of 500 grams.
Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:Mr. Mao Zhongying, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China Tel: (8610)58881360 Fax: (8610) 58881364
http://www.most.gov.cn
