To thoroughly implement the guiding principles of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee and the National People's Congress sessions, and to execute the strategic deployment outlined in the 15th Five-Year Plan for accelerating high-level sci-tech self-reliance and fostering new quality productive forces, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) held a symposium in Shanghai on April 2. The event, titled "Equity Investment Supporting the Construction of the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Sci-Tech Innovation Hub," brought together representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, relevant Shanghai municipal departments, investment institutions, sci-tech innovation enterprises, universities, and research institutes. Participants exchanged views on how equity investment can empower technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and the cultivation of new quality productive forces, jointly exploring ways to deepen the integration of technological and industrial innovation through financial strength.
ICBC Party Committee Deputy Secretary and President Liu Jun, ICBC Party Committee Member and Vice President Zhang Shouchuan, and Shanghai Guotou Group Party Committee Secretary and Chairman Yuan Guohua, among others, attended the related activities. Experts, scholars, entrepreneurs, and investor representatives, including Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician Peng Shou, Chunhua Capital Chairman Hu Zuliu, and SDIC Chuanghe General Manager Liu Wei, engaged in extensive discussions.
During the symposium, Liu Jun presented an overview of ICBC's efforts in the equity investment sector to support sci-tech innovation and industrial upgrading. He stated that ICBC will use equity financing as a link, leveraging the Group's comprehensive business advantages to align technological innovation with industrial development needs. By guiding sci-tech resources to the industrial frontline through equity investment, the bank will continuously promote the deep integration of full-lifecycle and full-industry-chain services. Attendees discussed topics such as industrial capital coordination, breakthroughs in key core technologies, and the full-cycle cultivation of sci-tech innovation enterprises, building a broad consensus on multi-party collaborative support for sci-tech innovation.
ICBC will use this symposium as an opportunity to continuously optimize its comprehensive financial service system, effectively supporting the quality upgrade of Shanghai's sci-tech industry and the accelerated cultivation of new quality productive forces. Specific measures include: deepening the equity financing layout by supporting the expansion of AIC fund scale, focusing on hard-tech fields like integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine, increasing efforts in "early-stage, small-scale, and long-term" investments, and establishing a benchmark for patient capital; improving the comprehensive service ecosystem by enhancing the synergy of "equity, lending, bonds, leasing, and advisory" services to provide sci-tech enterprises with full-lifecycle, one-stop solutions; strengthening regional collaborative empowerment by deeply integrating with the construction of the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Sci-Tech Innovation Hub, cooperating with local governments, industrial parks, and investment institutions to build resource对接 platforms and accelerate the industrialization of sci-tech achievements; and refining risk control and incentive mechanisms to stimulate the endogenous motivation for serving sci-tech innovation.
Following the symposium, ICBC signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Guotou Group. ICBC will provide comprehensive financial solutions and strengthen cooperation with Shanghai Guotou in areas including sci-tech innovation, industrial upgrading, equity investment, and think tank research, deepening mutual benefits and jointly pioneering a new phase of high-quality development.
ICBC consistently prioritizes serving sci-tech innovation, focusing deeply on the "Five Key Areas" of finance, which include technology finance. The bank has systematically built a "Five Specialties" service system and innovated a model integrating "financing, intellectual support, technical assistance, and connectivity" to safeguard the development of sci-tech enterprises with comprehensive financial solutions. By the end of 2025, the bank's outstanding technology loans reached 6 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of nearly 20%, and its service coverage of specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and innovative "little giant" enterprises exceeded 50%. Leveraging its Group advantages, ICBC achieved full regional coverage for its AIC equity investment pilot through comprehensive subsidiaries. It has launched specialized products such as R&D loans and innovation credit score loans, established a technology finance ecosystem alliance, and created the "ICBC Sci-Tech Finance – Equity Financial Services" brand, fully promoting the transformation of sci-tech achievements.
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