Shanghai's tech sector shrugs off coronavirus

As local businesses recover from the novel coronavirus outbreak, 11,628 of the city’s 12,861 high-tech companies have resumed work, said technology official Lu Min in the city government’s daily press conference on Friday.

Among them, nearly 100 percent of technology companies in the city’s three key industries — biomedicine, integrated circuits and artificial intelligence — have resumed work. And about 70 percent of the incubators, accelerators and innovation industrial parks have resumed work, Lu said.

In Zhangjiang High Technology Park, about 42,337 companies have resumed work. By March 2, companies with output value no less than 100 million yuan (US$14.4 million) in the Lingang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone had all resumed operation, said Peng Song, deputy executive director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Promotion Office.

Many of the city’s technology companies have also offered strong support to the anti-virus campaign, Lu said.

Three bioscience companies, including Shanghai ZJ Bio-Tech Co, were among the first batch to obtain licenses to produce novel coronavirus nucleic acid detection kits. So far, they have supplied enough kits to be used by more than 3.6 million people across the country.

Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group, Stemirna Therapeutics and other companies have made progress in the research and development of vaccines and anti-novel coronavirus medications.

Made-in-Shanghai products embedded with advanced technologies have been sent to the frontline in Hubei, including CT machines, infrared thermometers, ward disinfection robots and 5G services.

To help technology companies through hard times, authorities have streamlined administrative processes and released favorable measures, including rental deductions and easy credit, Lu said.

The Wesocool incubator in Baoshan District is offering two months of free rent. Also, 79 small and medium-sized technology companies have been granted loans equaling 353 million yuan.

According to Peng, the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Promotion Office has worked with the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank to prepare a special loan fund worth 10 billion yuan. The bank will open a green channel for qualified companies to obtain loans in as little as one working day.