China's economy has shifted from a stage of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. It is urgent to accelerate the conversion of new and old kinetic energy, deepen structural adjustments, and strengthen the role of technological innovation in economic development.
On June 13, 2019, the Science and Technology Innovation Board was officially launched, and it has reached its second anniversary.
In the past two years, the demonstration effect of the Sci-tech Innovation Board in supporting "hard technology" has initially appeared, and the role of the "test field" of reform has been better brought into play.
Efficiently serve "hard technology" enterprises
The demonstration effect of the sci-tech innovation board supporting "hard technology" has initially appeared.
As of the end of May 2021, there are 282 companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, with a total market value of nearly 4.1 trillion yuan.
The IPO financing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board was 361.5 billion yuan, more than 40% of the total A-share IPO financing in the same period.
In 2020, the median ratio of R&D investment to operating income of sci-tech innovation board companies is 9%. R&D personnel account for an average of 28.6% of the company’s total staff. They have an average of 104 invention patents, which are higher than other sectors.
The sci-tech innovation board has gathered a group of sci-tech innovation companies in the fields of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and high-end equipment manufacturing, and the quality of "hard technology" is gradually emerging.
In 2020, the net profit of listed companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board increased by 59% year-on-year, which was significantly higher than the overall market level.
The sci-tech innovation board companies have outstanding performance in terms of sci-tech innovation attributes and growth potential, and their development momentum is good.
From the perspective of industry division, the “hard technology” of sci-tech innovation board enterprises is of sufficient quality.
According to data from Wind Information, the companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board are mainly concentrated in the new generation of information technology, biomedicine, high-end equipment manufacturing and new materials, with 102, 66, 46 and 39 companies respectively.
And it has initially formed an industrial agglomeration effect in the fields of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and new energy. Among them, the integrated circuit industry covers the entire industrial chain of chip design, chip manufacturing, packaging and testing, materials and equipment, and brings together SMIC and China Micro , Shanghai Silicon Industry and nearly 30 companies.
Focusing on cultivating more innovative enterprises with “hard technology” strength and market competitiveness, the supervisory authorities continue to explore and improve the science and technology innovation board system rules.
On April 16 this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission revised the "Guidelines for the Evaluation of Science and Technology Innovation Attributes (Trial)", adding conventional indicators that R&D personnel accounted for more than 10%, to fully reflect the core role of scientific and technological talents in innovation, and to establish a negative list system .
From the perspective of research and development, in 2020, science and technology innovation board companies have invested nearly 40 billion yuan in research and development, a sharp increase of 22.6% year-on-year; research and development investment accounted for an average of 12% of operating income.
"The development of the Sci-tech Innovation Board is still very fast, and it only took 2 years to reach a market value of 4 trillion yuan." Zhu Zhenxin, Dean and Chief Economist of Jufeng Financial Research Institute, said that the Sci-tech Innovation Board has solved a large number of science and technology enterprises listing Difficult problems have supported the development of the real economy.
Up to now, the average R&D personnel of each company accounted for nearly 30%, and 60% of the company’s actual controllers were the company’s core technical personnel; an average of 18 new invention patents were added; all indicators were significantly higher than other market sectors.
78 companies have won national science and technology awards such as the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and more than 50% of the companies have participated in major national science and technology projects.
Tian Lihui, Dean of the Financial Development Research Institute of Nankai University, said that in the next stage, the Science and Technology Innovation Board will continue to work hard to improve the quality of listed companies and nurture science and innovation enterprises with real world influence through the capital market.
Building a "Experimental Field" for Capital Market Reform
In July 2020, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Administrative Measures for the Registration of Securities Issuance of Listed Companies on the Sci-tech Innovation Board (for Trial Implementation)". The Shanghai Stock Exchange also issued a series of relevant rules on refinancing on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, further streamlining and optimizing the issuance conditions, and differentiated settings The refinancing conditions for securities products will also further shorten the review cycle, set up simple procedures for "small and fast" financing, and support convenient financing for high-quality science and technology innovation board companies with development potential and high market recognition.
Liu Shaotong, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, said: "In terms of building an audit and registration mechanism, the SSE has established a SSE-reviewed and registered by the Securities Regulatory Commission. Standardization, enhancement of transparency, and predictability of issuance and listing. On average, the total time from acceptance to the listing committee’s review of the Sci-tech Innovation Board is 156 days, which is close to that of mature overseas markets."
Li Xingxiang, chief market analyst of the Yuekai Securities Research Institute, said that the "experimental field" of the Science and Technology Innovation Board has harvested multi-dimensional innovation results, the market inclusiveness has been significantly enhanced, the efficiency of resource allocation has been significantly improved, and the shortcomings of capital market service technology innovation have gradually been filled.
After the sci-tech innovation board registration system has been operating smoothly for a period of time, the reform of the GEM registration system has also been implemented smoothly, and the registration system reform of the capital market is progressing steadily.
“The Science and Technology Innovation Board has determined the path of incremental reform at the beginning of its establishment.” Dong Zhongyun, chief economist of AVIC Securities, analyzed that this aims to complement the shortcomings of capital market services in technological innovation, in terms of profitability and equity structure. Through differentiated arrangements, to enhance the tolerance of technological innovation enterprises.
In addition, the Science and Technology Innovation Board introduced the "market value" indicator, combined with financial indicators such as revenue, net profit, cash flow, and R&D investment, and set 5 sets of differentiated listing standards. It no longer has rigid requirements for continuous profitability, and is unprofitable. Enterprises and special-structured enterprises have opened channels for listing to meet the financing needs of technology companies of different types and stages of development.
Liu Shao collectively stated that the reform of the registration system has facilitated the benign interaction between technology and capital. At present, more than 90% of the sci-tech innovation board companies have received venture capital support before listing, with a cumulative investment scale of nearly 180 billion yuan.
By opening up the entire link of fundraising, investment, management and retreat in the science and innovation industry, we can better promote the formation of science and technology capital, promote the accumulation of factor resources in the field of technological innovation, and smooth the high-level circulation of technology, capital and the real economy. The science and technology innovation board has promoted the transformation of a large number of technological achievements. With the combination of production, education and research, more than 30% of the science and technology innovation board companies have established production, education and research projects with universities and research institutes to effectively realize the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements.
Enhance the efficiency of service technology innovation
In the past two years, the operating mechanism of the Sci-tech Innovation Board has become more market-oriented, which has greatly improved the effectiveness of the capital market in servicing technological innovation.
The diversified and inclusive listing conditions of the Science and Technology Innovation Board are adapted to the differentiated financing needs of different types and development stages of science and technology enterprises.
At present, 21 special types of companies have been successfully listed, including 19 unprofitable companies.
Liu Shaotong introduced that in terms of improving the market structure and pricing mechanism, with the deepening of reforms, the sci-tech innovation board's investor composition and market-based pricing have shown positive trends.
From the perspective of investor composition, the proportion of institutional investors' transactions is gradually increasing. In the first quarter of this year, they accounted for 25% of the total transactions on the Sci-tech Innovation Board market.
Professional institutional investors such as public funds hold nearly 40% of the market value of sci-tech innovation board companies.
From the perspective of market-based pricing, the registration system gives the right to issue pricing to the market, establishes a market-based inquiry, pricing, and allotment mechanism with professional institutional investors as the main body, and supports issuers in adopting strategic allotment, over-allotment options, etc. Differentiate business arrangements to form pricing constraints.
At the same time, in terms of the secondary market transaction mechanism, on the basis of the investor suitability system, the ups and downs have been relaxed, the long-short balance mechanism has been improved, and the market's reasonable pricing has been promoted.
There are three features in the design of the Sci-tech Innovation Board trading system: First, it relaxes the trading limit. There will be no limit on the increase or decrease within 5 trading days after the listing of new stocks on the Sci-tech Innovation Board. After that, the increase and decrease will be relaxed to 20%, which is conducive to earlier realization. Price discovery and formation of market equilibrium prices.
Second, the efficiency of margin trading and securities lending has improved. For example, the sources of securities lending have expanded, and the rates, deadlines, and margin ratios will follow the market, and the processing procedures will be streamlined and more efficient.
The third is to implement differentiated institutional arrangements for investor suitability, requiring "two years of investment experience + 500,000 yuan in funds", which optimizes the investor structure of the Science and Technology Innovation Board and makes investment decisions more professional and rational.
Liu Shaotong said: “Serving technological innovation is an important responsibility and mission assigned to the Science and Technology Innovation Board by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has revised and issued the “Science Innovation Attribute Evaluation Guidelines”, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange has also revised the corporate reporting and recommendation rules. The listing of science and technology companies has always been the top priority for the construction of the science and technology innovation board. From the three dimensions of'technologically feasible, commercially feasible, and marketable', it focuses on supporting the'hard technology with advanced technology and prospects for industrialization and commercialization. "Enterprises, better serve the implementation of the national innovation-driven development strategy."
Our reporter Peng Jiang