On June 18, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Opinions on Setting Up a Science and Technology Innovation Growth Layer on the Science and Technology Innovation Board to Enhance the Inclusiveness and Adaptation of the Institutional Inclusiveness and Adaptation" (referred to as the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Opinions", namely the "1+6" policy measures for deepening reform of the Science and Technology Innovation Board), expanding the scope of application of the fifth set of listing standards and supporting the application of enterprises in more cutting-edge science and technology fields such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy.
Market insiders believe that this reform has added a growth layer of science and technology innovation, restarting the fifth set of listing standards for unprofitable enterprises, and opening up a smoother listing channel for cutting-edge enterprises such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy, significantly improving the capital market's ability to serve scientific and technological innovation, and injecting strong impetus into the integrated development of my country's scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.
Reform stimulates market enthusiasm
After the release of the "Opinions on Science and Technology Innovation Board", enterprises in the three cutting-edge industrial fields of artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy received enthusiastic responses.
"Loginning into the capital market is one of the company's long-term development goals. The company completed the share reform in September last year and is currently preparing in accordance with the listing requirements. The recent '1+6' policy measures for deepening reform of the Science and Technology Innovation Board have further injected impetus into the company's listing." Recently, Zhao Lei, founder and chairman of Beijing Aerospace Yuxing Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily.
Shanghai Yufeng Future Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. is a leading enterprise in the low-altitude economy field. The company’s founder and CEO Xie Ling told the Securities Daily reporter that the introduction of the “1+6” policy measures for deepening reform of the Science and Technology Innovation Board is very inspiring. The fifth set of standards has expanded its scope of application to cutting-edge technology fields such as artificial intelligence and low-altitude economy, injecting new vitality and confidence into the low-altitude travel track where the company is located.
In addition, securities companies have also taken action. A reporter from Securities Daily learned from an investment banker of a securities firm that since the implementation of the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Opinions", securities firms, especially leading securities firms, have been speeding up project sorting and connecting with high-quality technology companies. "We are also conducting pre-communication with the exchange to further clarify whether the company meets the corresponding conditions, when to apply, etc.," said an investment banker of the securities firm.
Liu Naisheng, member of the Executive Committee of CITIC Securities, said: "Next, we will further strengthen project reserves and application work, and actively develop and reserve a number of enterprises with strong scientific and technological innovation attributes to enter the capital market. At the same time, we will earnestly fulfill the responsibilities of the capital market as a "gatekeeper", continuously improve the quality of practice, and contribute to the healthy and stable development of the capital market."
Help build an industrial innovation ecosystem
When the Science and Technology Innovation Board was established, diversified and inclusive listing conditions were set. Among them, the fifth set of listing standards welcomed a total of 20 biopharmaceutical industry enterprises, with a total IPO fundraising of 42.871 billion yuan.
Dizhe (Jiangsu) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dizhe Pharmaceutical") is one of the fifth standard listed companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. "The investment period for R&D in the biopharmaceutical industry is relatively long. The company's development benefited from the launch of the Science and Technology Innovation Board and the subsequent deepening policy measures. At the beginning of the listing of the fifth set of standards on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, the company's core products were in a critical clinical stage. At present, two innovative drugs with global breakthroughs have been successfully listed, and recently completed refinancing of 1.796 billion yuan." Lu Hongbin, secretary of the board of directors of Dizhe Pharmaceutical, told the Securities Daily reporter that at the same time, the company has attracted the participation of senior professional institutional investors such as insurance institutions, public funds, and QFII (qualified overseas institutional investors), helping the company promote the construction of global R&D and production bases of core pipelines, greatly enhancing the company's confidence and strength to participate in global competition.
Similar to the biopharmaceutical industry, cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy also have the characteristics of large early investment, long cycles, and great future development potential. Relevant companies have a high demand for listing and financing based on the fifth set of standards on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
Taking commercial aerospace as an example, Zhao Lei introduced that commercial aerospace companies have large investment in early R&D, long profit cycles, and rely on primary market venture capital. The reform of the Science and Technology Innovation Board will further accelerate the pace of commercial aerospace companies entering the capital market, helping commercial aerospace companies to obtain more long-term funding support, while reducing capital costs, meeting the industry's development needs, and thus promoting the rapid development of the industry.
At the same time, my country has made great progress in areas such as artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy, and the certainty of industry growth potential is becoming stronger and stronger.
In terms of commercial aerospace, Zhao Lei said that at present, China's commercial aerospace industry is entering an explosive period from the technical accumulation period. Commercial aerospace has formed a closed-loop business loop of "rocket-satellite-application", and the commercialization process is fast, and the manufacturing costs of rockets, satellites and various ground equipment are constantly decreasing. The next few years will enter a golden period of development for commercial space.
In terms of artificial intelligence, in recent years, my country's artificial intelligence technology has made rapid breakthroughs and is empowering thousands of industries. A report released by the CIDI Consulting Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Research Center shows that from 2025 to 2035, the scale of China's artificial intelligence industry is expected to grow from 398.5 billion yuan to 172.95 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 15.6%.
In terms of low-altitude economy, the Civil Aviation Administration of China predicts that my country's low-altitude economy market size will reach 1.5 trillion yuan in 2025 and is expected to reach 3.5 trillion yuan in 2035. "The promotion of the capital market to the development of the industry is not only reflected in the financing level, but more importantly, the construction of the industrial innovation ecosystem and the improvement of resource allocation efficiency." Xie Ling believes that industry enterprises often face challenges such as large R&D investment, long cycles, and high verification costs in the early stage. If the capital market can help eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) companies that truly have the ability to accumulate core technology and implement the industry into the "fast lane", it will greatly accelerate the commercialization process of the entire industry.
The market is looking forward to introducing guidance as soon as possible
The reform of the Science and Technology Innovation Board has expanded the scope of application of the fifth set of listing standards, and has also piloted the introduction of a senior professional institutional investor system for enterprises that apply the fifth set of listing standards, piloted the IPO pre-review mechanism for high-quality technology-based enterprises, etc., further enhanced the inclusiveness and adaptability of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and more accurately supported high-quality technology-based enterprises to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
Regarding the IPO of the three major industrial enterprises, according to the reporter, in the next step, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Shanghai Stock Exchange will learn from the current practice of applying the fifth set of standards in the biopharmaceutical industry, combine the characteristics of industries in the fields of artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, low-altitude economy, and launch each one in maturity.
Speaking of how the capital market can better support the development of technology-based enterprises such as commercial aerospace, Zhao Lei said that the capital market needs to introduce policies that adapt to the characteristics of commercial aerospace development. First, from the perspective of the primary market investment, hard technology is different from the mobile Internet industry. It requires more patient capital and market-oriented capital to minimize capital intervention in corporate business decisions, avoid deformation of development rhythm and business actions, and at the same time, support leading enterprises to become bigger and stronger, avoid inefficient internal reversal, and hope to establish more special funds focused on the field of commercial aerospace; secondly, from the perspective of listing review, we hope to implement relevant details or guidelines as soon as possible to support the listing of enterprises that have been fully verified in terms of technology and business models; finally, from the perspective of valuation, commercial aerospace companies have high R&D investment, and at this stage are mostly unprofitable enterprises. Investment institutions should provide reasonable valuations based on the characteristics of commercial aerospace.
Industry insiders said that while improving inclusiveness, the CSRC will still strictly control the issuance and listing entrance, improve the coordinated development and countercyclical adjustment mechanism of the primary and secondary markets, and make every effort to maintain the stable operation of the market.
The above-mentioned securities investment banker said that the regulatory authorities strictly control the entry barriers, which will help introduce high-quality listed companies to the capital market, and will also urge intermediary institutions to do a good job in related work. Companies and intermediary institutions that intend to IPO need to make preparations more seriously.
