A worker works in a factory of a special motor manufacturing enterprise in Kuancheng county, Hebei province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By ZHONG Jianli

A special action plan has been released to promote the application of sci-tech achievements to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so as to cultivate more specialized and innovative enterprises.

The plan, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology and eight other governmental departments, proposes to promote the commercialization and application of sci-tech achievements in SMEs, thus empowering them to improve core competitiveness.

By 2025, a number of advanced and applicable sci-tech achievements should be used by SMEs, and deeper cooperation between enterprises, universities, and research institutes should be realized, said the plan.

It supports such entities as manufacturing innovation centers, various laboratories, backbone high-tech enterprises, and R&D institutions to increase research and supply of key generic technologies and transfer them to SMEs, so as to help them accelerate industrial transformation and upgrading. At the same time, large enterprises are also encouraged to test and use innovative products from SMEs.

More digital technologies, represented by cloud computing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics and industrial Internet, should be supplied to SMEs, in order to enable them to become more digitalized, networked and intelligent.

The plan also encourages universities and research institutes to open and share with SMEs basic innovation resources, such as research instruments, digital infrastructure, and databases.

In addition, financial institutions will be guided to optimize products and services to support the financing needs of SMEs in obtaining, transforming and applying sci-tech achievements, said the plan.