China Supports Innovation-driven Development at County-level

On May 24, 2017, the State Council of China issued Several Opinions on Innovation-driven Development in Counties ( Opinions), to promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation and foster new economic drivers for county-level economy. The Opinions aim to noticeably improve the environment for innovation-driven development at county-level and lay the foundation for building China into an innovative country by 2020, and to further optimize the environment for innovation-driven development at county-level and provide strong support for building China into a top innovative country. The Opinions encourage transforming and upgrading traditional industries including manufacturing and processing industries, promoting key industrial technologies such as new-generation information network and smart green manufacturing, fostering core competitive industrial clusters, and cultivating high-tech enterprises with strong independent innovation capability and international competitiveness. As support measures, the Opinions call on all government agencies to strengthen policy supports for innovation-driven development at county-level, and support innovation-driven ventures at county-level through special government funds.