Experts and scholars across the country have a firsthand experience of sci-tech innovation in the Anhui Innovation Pavilion, June 20, 2024. (PHOTO: VCG)

By HONG Jingpu, WU Changfeng & LIANG Yilian

He Guangwei, chairman of Hefei Industrial Pharmaceutical Institute Co., has good reason to be excited. A research project of his company has received 18 million RMB from a special fund of the local government. Previously, the maximum funding a single project could get was only one or two million RMB.

This significant change began in 2022 when Anhui abandoned the conventional practice of allocating funding based on past budget items, revenue and expenditure. Instead, the authorities prepared the 2023 science and technology fund budget from scratch, approving expenditures based on task priorities.

Integration of funds

Before the reform, science and technology research funds in Anhui were managed separately by multiple departments, resulting in dispersion, duplication, and low efficiency. To address this, the science and technology research funds were separated from different departments and became an integrated provincial science and technology innovation special fund, concentrating support for the province's research initiatives.

The provincial government established a special working group with a "1+1+N" work coordination mechanism in which the two "1s" are the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Finance, and the "N" refers to other provincial departments, explained Tan Haibin, director of the science and technology resources coordinating office of the Anhui Science and Technology Department.

Tan's department, in collaboration with other departments, focused on the most urgent and significant problems impacting Anhui's high-quality development and accordingly, formulated project guidelines. Last year, 287 projects were selected from over 1,700 applications, including the one from Hefei Industrial Pharmaceutical Institute Co.

"We were developing an innovative traditional Chinese medicine and had invested tens of millions of yuan. Funds were very tight, and we needed special support," He said. Besides 18 million RMB from the provincial special fund, the project received another 18 million RMB in municipal financial support.

Greater support for projects

Prior to the reform, the Anhui Development and Reform Commission had some project support plans but "despite the multitude of initiatives, support for individual projects was relatively weak," Tan said.

"In the past, our company received small amounts of financial support, but for the research and development of high-end industrial design software, these funds were like a drop in the bucket," said Zheng Yufeng, general manager of Hefei Jiushao Intelligent Technology Co.

In 2023, Anhui increased funds for scientific research from 400 million RMB to 1 billion RMB through fund integration. The project criteria were also revamped from 40 in 2022 to 22 in 2023. Consequently, support for a single project rose from an average of 817,000 RMB to 4.69 million RMB, a nearly fivefold hike.

Stronger innovation momentum

Hefei Visionox Technology Co. submitted its proposal for a project to address the key problems in flexible display technology. The Science and Technology Department approved it, allocating 57 million RMB in special funds. The technology has since developed significantly, with plans for large-scale mass production.

"Zero-based budgeting gives us continuous innovation momentum, helping companies achieve more results and long-term development," said Tang Wei, deputy general manager of Hefei Visionox Technology Co.