China Promotes Innovation Centers for Manufacturing Industries

To further implement the Made in China 2025 strategy, four Chinese government agencies, i.e., the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), and the Ministry of Finance (MOF), jointly issued the Implementation Guidelines for Manufacturing Industry Innovation Center Construction Projects (2016-2020) on August 19. The Guidelines aim to form about 15 national-level innovation centers for manufacturing industries by 2020, and form about 40 national-level innovation centers by 2025. The Guidelines also call on provincial governments to build a batch of provincial/regional innovation centers for manufacturing industries. The innovation centers will generally focus on common needs in the innovation development of areas such as new-generation information technology, smart manufacturing, additive manufacturing, new materials, and biopharmaceutical, and accelerate the commercialization and industrialization of scientific and technological accomplishments. To ensure the effectuation of the goals, the Guidelines call on the government to increase government grants and implement preferential tax policies, encourage local governments to formulate suitable preferential policies , and encourage banks to offer more supporting financial products.