A State Council executive meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on March 30, rolled out new policies to boost innovation, and passed a development plan for Chengdu-Chongqing City Cluster.
The meeting noted that innovative development is the key to promote structural reform, especially supply-side reform, and develop a new economy and new driving forces. Therefore, it decided to set up three more national innovation demonstration zones in the provinces of Henan, Shandong, and Liaoning, bringing the number of such areas to 14.
Comprehensive innovation reforms will be implemented in China’s financial hub of Shanghai within three years, according to a statement issued after the meeting. The reforms include constructing a national scientific center, and exploring a series of pilot measures such as preferential tax system that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, financial service innovation, equity trusteeship market, and foreign investment management.
To achieve the goals, the meeting laid out four measures: first, to improve policies concerning equity incentives and income distribution, by which enterprises could decide on their own how to make use of research funds and achievements, so as to motivate scientific and technical personnel’s initiatives.
Second, to better facilitate allocation of resources, so as to encourage subordinate colleges and research institutes under ministries.
Third, to increase employment by encouraging entrepreneurship and mass innovation.
Fourth, to improve follow-up supervision and deepen commercial reform, with efforts to minimize government intervention and explore management systems which encourage innovation.
The State Council passed a development plan for Chengdu-Chongqing City Cluster, and pointed out that the city cluster sets a good example for the mutual promotion of a new type of urbanization and agricultural modernization. It also helps release the potential demand of the middle and western areas, enhance construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and cultivate new engines for growth.
Chongqing and Chengdu should play a bigger role in driving the development of surrounding cities, and coordinated development of cities and towns through innovation, ecological and environmental protection, and strong industrial bases, said the meeting.
The following are the five key tasks to complete the development plan:
First, strictly protecting ecological barriers in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and strengthening water resources protection in efforts to build green cities.
Second, expanding competitive industries, such as equipment manufacturing and biological medicine, and developing modern service industries, including tourism and cultural creativity, to achieve industrial transformation in an orderly way.
Third, further opening-up by building smooth internal and external channels and speeding up the infrastructure connectivity in the fields of transportation, energy, water conservancy and information.
Forth, facilitating the free flow of labor forces by promoting market integration of capital and technology, helping migrant workers adapt to big cities, and encouraging farmers to start their own businesses.
Fifth, coordinating the development of rural and urban areas to speed up poverty reduction and improve people’s livelihoods.
The meeting also adopted a draft version of a national defense and transportation act, which will be submitted to the National People’s Congress after amendments.
