General

Recently, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the Several Measures on Further Encouraging Foreign Investment to Set up Research and Development Centers issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

On January 18, the Ministry of Commerce held a policy briefing on several measures to encourage foreign investment in the establishment of research and development centers. At the meeting, Assistant Minister of Commerce Chen Chunjiang said that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to introducing foreign capital to carry out scientific and technological innovation.   The report of the 20th CPC National Congress pointed out that "we should promote high-level opening up", "expand international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation" and "form an open and innovative ecosystem with global competitiveness". In 2022, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed that greater efforts should be made to attract and utilize foreign capital.

"In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology, on the basis of preliminary research, together with 21 departments including the Central Propaganda Department, the Central Cyberspace Office and the National Development and Reform Commission, have studied and put forward 16 policy measures in four aspects, to further strengthen support for foreign R&D centers, promote foreign investment to better participate in China's innovation-driven development strategy, and share the opportunities brought by high-quality development," Chen Chunjiang said, "In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology will work with relevant departments to fully implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, strengthen horizontal cooperation and vertical linkage, accelerate the implementation of various measures to implement the Several Measures, effectively promote foreign investment in China to establish more research and development centers, support the better development of foreign research and development centers, and further play the positive role of foreign research and development centers in promoting scientific and technological innovation and achieving high-quality development."

16 measures in four aspects

Help foreign R&D centers develop better in China

Chen Chunjiang said that foreign R&D centers are an important part of China's scientific and technological innovation system, and have made positive contributions to the introduction of international cutting-edge technology and high-end talents, the improvement of industrial technology level and scientific and technological innovation capability, and also effectively promoted the rapid development of the global industrial chain innovation chain. "In order to support the better development of foreign-funded R&D centers, it is necessary to introduce more targeted and more powerful policies and measures. The Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Science and Technology and relevant departments have worked together to adhere to the combination of goal-oriented and problem-oriented, carried out extensive and in-depth research, and conducted sufficient evidence, and put forward 16 measures in four aspects. These measures are practical and hard measures to help foreign-funded R&D centers better develop in China."

Specifically, first, it is conducive to creating a better development environment for foreign R&D centers. In the process of policy formulation and research, foreign R&D centers put forward some common development demands, such as improving the working convenience of foreigners, obtaining financial support, having more opportunities to participate in government projects, and strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights. Focusing on these common appeals, the Several Measures proposed to allow teams to apply for work permits and work-related residence permits, and provide convenience such as notification and acceptance of vacancies; Promote the convenience of cross-border fund collection and payment for overseas talents; Encourage financial institutions to provide financial support for technological innovation, basic and frontier research of foreign R&D centers; Support foreign R&D centers to participate in achievements transformation and docking, innovation and entrepreneurship platforms, and set up post-doctoral research workstations; The pilot multilingual release project plan will give full play to the role of the administrative adjudication system for patent infringement disputes, increase the enforcement of administrative adjudication, and continue to carry out measures such as special rectification of intellectual property infringement violations to help continuously optimize the R&D and innovation environment. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Second, it is beneficial for foreign R&D centers to better play the role of global innovation resource allocation. Foreign-funded R&D centers connect domestic and overseas innovation systems, and international talent exchanges and scientific and technological cooperation are frequent. Some multinational companies need to deploy scientific research forces globally, and need to efficiently allocate innovation resources and R&D achievements. To this end, the Several Measures proposed to actively attract foreign R&D center science and technology experts into the national science and technology expert database and relevant local science and technology expert database to participate in the consultation, review and management of science and technology plan projects; Effectively carry out exit security assessment of important data and personal information; Improve the relevant work system of intellectual property transfer; Optimize the technology import and export management process; For imported animals and plants genetically modified organisms and biological materials introduced by foreign R&D centers for national and provincial scientific research projects, quarantine approval facilitation arrangements shall be given; We will encourage overseas talents to apply for professional titles, strengthen incentives and subsidies for overseas talents and other measures to help foreign R&D centers gather global high-quality innovation resources. Third, it is beneficial for foreign R&D centers to release the driving force of industrial upgrading. Foreign-funded R&D centers are institutions engaged in scientific research, development and experimental development. They are better integrated into the local scientific research and innovation system, which is conducive to enhancing R&D capabilities and enhancing core competitiveness. To this end, the Several Measures proposed to support foreign R&D centers to use large-scale scientific research instruments, scientific research reports and relevant data of major national scientific and technological projects in accordance with the law; Encourage common colleges and universities, scientific research institutes and foreign R&D centers to cooperate in technical research; Support foreign R&D centers to carry out technical cooperation with vocational schools, set up training bases, and jointly build technical and technical innovation platforms such as joint laboratories; Support the establishment of open innovation platform-type R&D centers, and integrate technology, talent, capital, industrial chain and other resources with enterprises, universities and scientific research institutes to achieve collaborative innovation, and help improve the scientific research innovation and achievement transformation capabilities of foreign R&D centers. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

The first division shall be implemented in nine points

Pay attention to all measures to achieve results

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, Chen Chunjiang said that the Several Measures were jointly developed by 23 departments, and the local government also put forward many good suggestions in the process. This is enough to prove that encouraging foreign investors to set up research and development centers has won wide recognition and support. One point for deployment and nine points for implementation. After the introduction of the policy, the most important thing is to implement it. The "Several Measures" has a clear division of tasks, and all localities and departments will work together to form a joint force to make all measures detailed, practical and effective. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology will play the role of the leading department, strengthen the coordination and promote the implementation of all regions and departments. There are four main aspects:

First, strengthen policy promotion. "Welcome friends from the media to Carry out all-round and multi-angle publicity and reporting. Subsequently, we will continue to organize relevant departments, local and industrial associations to further promote policies, expand publicity channels, innovate publicity methods, and improve the pertinence of publicity. We will also push promotional materials to relevant foreign-funded enterprises and foreign business associations' one-to-one 'through the special work class of key foreign-funded projects of the coordination mechanism of foreign trade and foreign investment, so that relevant enterprises can understand the policies and make good use of them. " Chen Chunjiang said.

Second, strengthen departmental coordination. In response, Chen Chunjiang said: "We will promote the departments involved in the Several Measures to formulate detailed implementation measures as soon as possible according to the division of labor, so that the 16 policies can be implemented as soon as possible and take effect as soon as possible. We will also summarize and evaluate the implementation of the policies in a timely manner, check and fill in gaps in a timely manner, coordinate and solve the difficulties and problems in the implementation of the policies, so that the various measures can play a better role."

Third, improve supporting measures. Chen Chunjiang said: "The main body of the implementation of some measures is the local people's government. We will strengthen the guidance to the local commercial authorities, work with the science and technology departments to promote the improvement of supporting measures, launch targeted special supporting policies, and ensure effective transmission to the market entities. At the same time, we will timely summarize the good experiences and innovative practices of all regions, and strengthen policy reserves."

Fourth, strengthen service guarantee. "We will adhere to the problem-oriented principle, give full play to the role of the special class for key foreign-funded projects and the competent commercial departments at all levels, coordinate and solve the difficulties and problems reflected by the foreign-funded research and development center in a timely manner, and respond to the demands and concerns of enterprises in a timely manner. If the majority of foreign-funded enterprises have questions, they can report to the special class for key foreign-funded projects and the commercial departments at all levels, and the special foreign capital class will sort out the problems one by one, coordinate and promote the research and solution of relevant parties." Chen Chunjiang said that Huacheng's import and export data were observed and reported.