Published by ChinaMNC · Ganxian

China Signals Deeper Tech–Industry Integration: What Foreign Founders Should Know

A ChinaMNC briefing on the Central Committee and State Council opinion on integrating technological and industrial innovation, translated into practical considerations for foreign founders setting up or running a company in China.

Why This Policy Matters for Foreign Founders

A joint opinion from the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council sets out how China intends to link scientific and technological innovation more tightly with industrial innovation. For foreign founders registering or operating a company in China, the document is a signal about where research funding, market access, talent policy and financing are heading. It is not a rulebook for foreign-invested enterprises specifically, but its measures shape the wider business environment in which they operate.

The opinion is framed around building a modern industrial system and developing what the document calls new quality productive forces. Its stated goal is a system in which enterprises lead and other actors collaborate across industry, academia and research, with support across the whole chain. Below is a practical reading for founders.

Enterprises Are Positioned at the Centre

Company-led research and conversion

The document repeatedly places companies at the head of innovation. Under the measures, national science and technology programmes with clear industrial application goals should, in principle, be led by enterprises, which also take the lead in converting results. Project management rules for enterprise-led projects are to be improved, and enterprise demand is to be collected on a regular basis. Expert panels for drafting guidelines, project review and acceptance are to include more specialists from companies and venture capital institutions.

For founders, this suggests that partnering with Chinese research institutions or joining publicly funded projects may become more feasible, because the rules are meant to make industry participation routine rather than exceptional.

New funding and review methods

The opinion calls for better use of challenge-based mechanisms, owner-based models, milestone management and phased funding. Acceptance is to assess technology through application and products through the market, with research and industrialisation goals evaluated together. Major national projects and industrial development programmes are to deploy research tasks at the same time.

Channels for Turning Research into Products

Universities and research institutes are encouraged to set up technology transfer offices or posts, strengthen services in intellectual property, incubation and technology finance, and speed up application through assignment, licensing or investment of results. Reforms on ownership of job-related results and separate asset accounting are to be deepened, and inventors are encouraged to take part throughout the conversion process. Institutions may license results to small and medium-sized enterprises on a pay-after-use basis.

A nationally integrated technology market, professional transfer agencies and a technology manager workforce are also foreseen. Foreign founders sourcing technology or licensing from Chinese institutions should watch how these mechanisms develop.

Priority Fields Named in the Document

• Core technology bottlenecks: integrated circuits, industrial machine tools, high-end instruments, advanced materials and biomanufacturing are named for decisive breakthroughs, alongside industrial base rebuilding, major equipment, basic components, basic software and basic materials.
• Emerging and future industries: new energy, new materials and aerospace are named as strategic emerging industries, with low-altitude economy development mentioned. Quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence and sixth-generation mobile communications are listed for exploration of multiple technical routes, application scenarios and business models.
• Traditional industry upgrading: major manufacturing upgrades, large-scale equipment renewal, industrial internet, smarter and greener manufacturing, seed and farm machinery research, and an "AI+" initiative to apply artificial intelligence across sectors.

Support for Companies of Different Sizes

The opinion envisages companies participating regularly in national science and technology and industrial strategy, planning and policy making. A national natural science fund pilot is to open to private enterprises, and joint innovation funds are to be expanded. State-owned enterprises are encouraged to build research reserve funds with separate accounting, exemptions from value-preservation assessments and error tolerance. Small and medium-sized tech firms are encouraged to raise research spending, with a higher super-deduction ratio for research expenses mentioned.

Companies are to be supported in building science and technology platforms. National major science infrastructure, large research instruments and national science data centres are to be opened to enterprises. Talent programmes are to increase support for companies, and enterprise postdoctoral stations are to be strengthened.

On company cultivation, the document mentions optimising support for leading tech enterprises, high-tech enterprises, specialised and innovative small giants and manufacturing champions, plus incubation and financing services for tech start-ups. Larger firms are encouraged to open research platforms, application scenarios and supply chains to smaller ones and to try their innovative products first.

Collaboration, Finance and Talent

Leading tech companies are encouraged to act as chain leaders and form innovation consortia. National laboratories, research institutes and research universities are to cooperate with them and draw scientific questions from industrial needs. Enterprises may join research activities and talent training, and co-build research bodies and projects with other innovation actors.

On finance, the opinion calls for a tech finance system matched to companies' lifecycle needs, a role for the national venture investment guidance fund, and government and state-owned venture funds that invest early, small, long-term and in hard technology, with longer assessment cycles and differentiated regulation. An innovation points system, a bond market science and technology board and a tech insurance policy system are also mentioned.

On talent, the document foresees joint education, industry participation in adjusting disciplines, school-enterprise dual tutoring, secondments and leave for entrepreneurship, and company innovators serving as industry tutors or professors.

Platforms, Market Access and Intellectual Property

Innovation platforms are to be coordinated, including national emerging industry innovation centres, industrial technology engineering centres, technology innovation centres and manufacturing innovation centres, plus proof-of-concept and pilot testing platforms. Local new-type research institutions are to be standardised.

On market access, unreasonable barriers to innovative products are to be removed, pilot programmes are to relax access in new business forms, and a commitment-based entry system is to be explored. Regulation of new technology applications is to be strengthened, with sandbox regulation explored. Laws and ethics rules for frontier fields such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology are to be improved.

Intellectual property protection is to be strengthened for trade secrets and new business forms, with benefit-sharing and risk-sharing mechanisms in industry-academia-research cooperation. An open patent licensing system is to be fully implemented, and patent and standard planning for major national projects strengthened, including national and international standards in frontier fields.

Incentives, Evaluation and Local Pilots

The document calls for a full-chain incentive policy system, implementation of science and technology tax preferences, and due-diligence exemption mechanisms for technology transfer and venture investment, with a negative list to be explored. State-owned enterprise assessment is to be categorised, and the proportion of joint research spending with universities and institutes treated as profit added back is to rise. Cooperation and conversion results are to count in evaluations of research universities, institutes and researchers.

Localities are to be guided to build on their own strengths, with central-local coordination on science spending and major tasks, cross-regional collaboration, and policy pilots in high-tech zones and independent innovation demonstration zones. International and regional science and technology innovation centres and qualified localities are to run reform pilots, and innovative cities are to be built.

Practical Takeaways

Foreign founders should note that the document is a policy direction, not a set of entitlements. Specific eligibility for programmes, tax preferences or pilot schemes will depend on implementing rules and local practice. Founders in the named sectors may find more opportunities for research partnerships, licensing and pilot testing, while those in other sectors should watch how local governments translate the opinion into measures.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Foreign founders who want help registering and operating a company in China can contact ChinaMNC on WhatsApp or WeChat at +86 153 1898 8535.