New Sci-Tech board step in right direction

In a large step forward for China's capital market reforms and as part of the national strategy to boost the growth of its technology sector, the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday launched a new science and technology innovation board that is tasked with helping the country's small and medium-sized innovation enterprises get much needed funding.

The historic moment came only seven months after President Xi Jinping announced the plan for the initiative in November 2018, in sharp contrast with the many years that it usually requires for the creation of a new board in China.

China is committed to technology advancement as a key driver of growth and the new board is necessary as it opens up a major source of funding for the often unprofitable, yet capital-thirsty start-ups in the high-tech and emerging industries, ranging from artificial intelligence and cloud computing to biomedicine and new energy vehicles.