SMEs contribute half of the Tianjin's economic output

In recent years, Tianjin made even better policies to help SMEs. Tens of thousands of SMEs have become pillars for Tianjin’s economic development; thousands of “little giants” have become “engines” for Tianjin’s innovation.

To speed up the transformation of development and to enhance innovation capability, in September 2010, Tianjin had a proposal: help thousands of SMEs to grow; select and support a large number of highly potential, highly technological, prospective SMEs to make them outstanding “little giant enterprises” (annual sales of more than 100 million CNY). By the end of 2015, the number of SMEs was 73,200 compared to 12,500 in 2010; the number of “little giants” was 3,453 compared to 720 in 2010. “Little giants” industrial enterprises account for more than 50% of the total number of large scale industrial enterprises, compared to 10% in 2010. Output of the “little giants” accounted for 48.4% of large scale industrial output, the number of which was only 16% in the previous period.

On December 9, 2015, the Tianjin Municipal Government and CPC Tianjin Central Committee jointly issued the “Opinions on building an upgraded version of the technology Little Giants”, which focused on the implementation of six projects: First, a leader has to be reared and policies tailor-made to specific companies are to be made. Second is the implementation of “small rise” project. Each year, 800 enterprises will be approved as city-level high tech companies and 600 companies will be nominated as state-level high tech companies. Third, the introduction of high-end talents. By 2020, 10,000 innovation orientated talents would be employed in different enterprises. Fourth, the implementation of “little growth” project. Each year we’ll pick up Little Giant enterprises that have a growth rate no less than 20%. Then tailored policies will be put in place for their individual growth. This will help these“little giants” immensely as some of them will see their output doubled. Fifth, the implementation of M&A “double hundred” project. Enterprises are encouraged to quickly acquire advanced technology, talents, brands and even market shares through acquisitions, mergers, or cooperation. By 2020, we plan to acquire 100 or more domestic and foreign enterprises. Sixth, encourage enterprises to issue public shares, or IPOs so that they will take advantage of the capital market.

On December 11, 2015, Tianjin held a motivational conference for creating an upgraded version of “little giants”. The conference made it clear that by 2020 the city’s goal is to have a total of 100,000 high-tech SMEs, 5,000 “little giant” enterprises, 5,000 national high-tech enterprises, and a percentage of 55% for the weight of industrial“little giant” output on the total industrial output.

In the “Opinions”, also mentioned were the financial supports that were going to be approved for high tech“little giants”. In the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, the municipitality will invest 1.5 billion CNY per year. Each functional area of Binhai New Area will invest 1.5 billion CNY per year. Other districts and townships will invest 2 billion CNY per year. Tianjin’s total investment will reach 5 billion CNY per year, or 25 billion CNY in this period.

2016 is the first year of implementation of the “13th Five-Year Plan” and upgrading the“little giants”. 10,000 SMEs are expected to be created; 300 of which are expected to have an annual revenue of over 100 million CNY, and the number of nationally recognized high-tech enterprises will reach 2,800.