Editorial: High-quality economic development requires a virtuous circle of technology, industry, and finance
It is not enough for the three to support each other, they need to "see" and "understand" each other.
China's economy has entered a stage of high-quality development and is increasingly dependent on core technologies.
The Politburo meeting held recently emphasized that next year’s economic work will require scientific and technological policies to speed up implementation, continue to focus on key core technologies, strengthen national strategic scientific and technological strength, strengthen the position of enterprises in innovation, and realize a virtuous circle of technology, industry, and finance.
The importance of breaking through key core technologies does not need to be repeated. How to make breakthroughs better and faster? The Politburo meeting proposed to achieve a virtuous circle of technology, industry, and finance.
In layman's terms, it is to enable the timely industrialization of technology and finance to support technological innovation and industrial development.
Generally speaking, the three ways of looking at the world and the goals they pursue are not all the same.
In the science and technology world, exploring the unknown world based on curiosity is the main driving force for curiosity and self-worth realization, especially in the basic research field that is crucial to core technology.
As for the industry, it is more focused on how to maximize its own profits. The focus is on discovering unsatisfied needs in the market, satisfying market demand through effective supply, providing products or services, and chasing profits.
Finance focuses on realizing the reallocation of resources.
Therefore, to achieve a virtuous circle of technology, industry, and finance, it is necessary to change the fragmentation of the three in the past and form a linkage.
From the perspective of the linkage between technology and industry, one of the main reasons why we are repeatedly stuck in core technology is the lack of basic research capabilities.
In the past few decades, the use of industry as a guide for applied science and technology has shined in China. This way of guiding the development of science and technology according to the direction of the industry can make the exploration and development of science and technology conform to the direction of the industry, but the problem is too much. Emphasis on short-term benefits, but long-term value has not been well tapped, and it is inconsistent with the inherent exploration methods of technology.
In the future, basic research and applied technology will need to be equally emphasized. Universities and research institutions that are good at basic research will collaborate with companies and guide companies to invest in basic research, striving to start innovation and breakthroughs from the underlying technology, not rushing for quick success, and better promoting industrial development.
Moreover, under the market economy, enterprises play a decisive role as the main body of innovation.
The role of finance is to mobilize resources to help the development of technology and industry.
In reality, for some "small and beautiful", "specialized and new" small, medium and micro enterprises, many failed to expand or even died due to funding problems.
Fortunately, in the past few years, driven by decision-makers, the financing environment for companies with core technologies has improved significantly.
From the perspective of the capital market, the establishment of the Science and Technology Innovation Board in July 2019 and the registration reform of the ChiNext Board in August 2020 have greatly enriched the direct financing channels of technological innovation enterprises; the Beijing Stock Exchange, which opened in November this year, is positioned as Specially provide direct financing services for small and medium-sized enterprises represented by "specialization, special innovation".
In the future, financial institutions, including banks, will also need to increase credit support for technological innovation companies to help companies with real technology and hard technology grow bigger and stronger.
Of course, it is not enough for the three to support each other. They need to "see" and "understand" each other.
For example, if finance wants to support technological innovation, it needs to “see” technological achievements, “understand” and be able to assess the potential market value of technological achievements in the future, distinguish between true and false, and then provide more precise support.
It is more common that when policies frequently support an industry, there will often be a mixture of fish and dragons and fish in troubled waters. In the past few years, this scene has been staged in the fields of new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and chips.
The purpose of personnel or enterprises with ulterior motives is only to obtain policy dividends such as bank low-interest loans or financial subsidies. If financial institutions do not distinguish or lack the ability to distinguish, it will undoubtedly cause waste of credit funds, and the effect of financial optimization of social resource allocation will be greatly reduced. , Don’t be careless.
It can be said that breakthroughs in key core technologies are related to the effectiveness of China's economic transformation and upgrading, and are very important tasks in the high-quality development stage.
An important prerequisite for achieving this goal is to allow technology, industry, and finance to form a linkage, a virtuous circle.
Author: Yi Cai commentator