Science-tech firms lapping up innovation coupons

The trial of science and technology innovation coupons for the Yangtze River Delta region has started, and 33 companies based in Qingpu District have already redeemed the coupons worth 12.5 million yuan (US$1.78 million).

The trial is being conducted by the region's science and technology authorities and the Yangtze River Delta Ecology and Greenery Integration Demonstration Zone in Shanghai's Qingpu District, Wujiang District of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, Jiashan County in Zhejiang Province, and Ma'anshan City in Anhui Province.

As the first district in Shanghai to be involved in the trial, Qingpu is actively promoting its implementation.

Among the 33 companies who have redeemed the coupons, 15 have made 3.04 million yuan in payments with coupons to purchase services from 12 agencies.

Rigger Micro Technologies is a service provider for high-end chip packaging and testing. With the innovation coupon service platform, the company found Shanghai BeiXin Semiconductor Technology Co Ltd, which provides an integrated circuit analysis service.

Zhuo Jianfang, a project manager of Rigger, said the service fee totaled 186,000 yuan with 46,000 yuan covered by the coupons, which significantly cut the time on project research and development as well as labor costs.

The business of Shanghai Jiyan Biomedical Development Co Ltd, a high-tech company established in 2019, involves the research and production of pharmaceutical intermediates.

It commissions Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology Co Ltd to conduct the research and preparation of various traditional Chinese medicine and plant extracts to be used in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics areas.

As a small company, it has to deal with difficulties regarding funding and laboratory equipment. The innovation coupon platform offers it good opportunities to find partners for joint development.

So far, it has consumed 1 million yuan in coupons, significantly relieving its funding pressure.

Research and development of medicine and relevant products require a big investment in staff, pharmaceutical equipment, and testing instruments, which hinders project development and manufacturing, particularly for newly established companies, leading to their development bottleneck.

Qu Liping, a project leader at Shanghai Jiyan Biomedical Development Co Ltd, said service agencies listed on the platform not only provide innovative technology services but also satisfy the demands of users and tackle their real problems during product research and development, enabling them to put their limited funds into the manufacturing and marketing of products.

The science and technology commission of Qingpu District particularly supports companies registered in the district to apply for six types of services such as technology research and development, testing, technology transfer and resource sharing.

It has selected 521 agencies based in the Yangtze River Delta region, more than 9,000 service items and 24,000 big instruments for Qingpu companies to make cross-area purchases within the platform.