Recently, 8 Ministries including Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Finance etc. put forward the “Opinions on Encouraging Technology Import and Innovation and Promoting Transformation of Foreign Trade Growth Mode” (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), aiming at carrying out the spirit of National Science and Technology Conference, further implementing the strategy of revitalizing trade through science and technology and giving effect to Supporting Policies on Carrying out National Guideline on Medium- and Long-Term Program for Scientific and Technological Development.

In recent years, China’s technology import developed with a high speed. During the Tenth Five-year plan, China totally signed 35 thousand contracts of technology import with a value of about US$73 billion, accounting for 36% of total technology imports since the reform and opening up. In the first half of 2006, 5000 contracts of technology import were signed and value reached US$13.2 billion, up by about 70% on a year-on-year basis. Technology import is important to absorption and innovation of imported technologies, to enhancement of capacity of enterprises’ innovation, and to promoting social and economic development.

As the detailed rules of implementing Supporting Policies on Carrying out National Guideline on Medium- and Long-Term Program for Scientific and Technological Development, the Opinions required that we should endeavor to optimize the structure of technology import, improve the quality and efficiency of technology import to raise the share of contracts of patent technology and patent technology licensing to total contracts of technology import to about 50% by 2010, should further increase the investment in assimilation and absorption of imported technologies to gradually establish a market-oriented system of technology import and innovation promotion with the guidance of government and support of various technologies all over the nation.

The Opinions put forward policies and measures on how to reach the above-said targets from 3 aspects:
1, to expedite the establishment of the system of technology import and innovation promotion of enterprises, including enhancing multilateral and bilateral technical cooperation, setting up and improving the public information service system for international technological trade, actively pushing forward the work of IPR management and protection of enterprises, encouraging enterprises, scientific research institutions and academies to launch joint research and development on absorption and innovation to foster and support a batch of high-quality agency service organizations.
2, to apply comprehensively economic means to encourage technology import and innovation, covering utilizing foreign trade development foundation to support enterprises to enlarge export through technology import and innovation, providing financial support to advanced technology import and re-innovation when necessary, and offering financial and foreign exchange policy support to enterprises to set up R & D centers overseas.
3, to improve technology import and innovation system, including enacting laws and regulations of technology import, exchange and training system ,and comprehensive statistics system of technology import.

The Ministry of Commerce will joint force with relative ministries to actively push forward the implementation of the Opinions, will create favorable environment for enterprises to improve the quality of hi-tech import and to strengthen capacity of absorption and innovation through perfecting financial and fiscal policies, improving taxation policies, setting up mechanism of venture capital investment, pushing forward IPR management and protection and groping for new mode of technology import.

(Source: Network Center of MOFCOM)

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