Lingang woos firms with friendly policies

New FTZ area in Shanghai announces measures to attract emerging industries

Two months after the Lingang Special Area was included into the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Lingang administrative committee announced 56 favorable measures on Friday to bolster the full life cycle development of emerging industries and build an open industrial system that will be competitive worldwide.

The Lingang administrative committee announced 10 supportive policies for four industries including integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, aerospace and biomedicine. Another 16 specific guidelines were introduced to incubate breakthroughs in core technologies and products, improve industrial capabilities, boost innovation ability and nurture an innovative industrial environment.

Chen Jie, deputy director of Lingang's administrative committee, said that the newly released policies will focus on the development of the entire industrial chain. Meanwhile, support will be provided for the micro, small-and medium-sized enterprises which are at the industrial front line and promise much room for growth given their innovation capability.

Fifteen biomedicine companies signed agreements with the Lin－gang life science and technology park on Friday. Under the agreements, the companies will set up projects in the park with a total investment of more than 7 billion yuan ($1 billion).

The first phase of the Lingang life science and technology park, covering 280,000 square meters, started construction at the end of 2017 and is scheduled to be put into use by the end of this year.

Dragon Sail Pharma, the biomedicine subsidiary of Guilin Sanjin Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, was one of the first 15 companies to settle down in the park. Dragon Sail's chief executive officer Zou Xun said that up to 10 new drugs are in the company's research and development pipeline. The talent policy in Lingang was the biggest draw for the company as biomedicine is basically a talent-intensive industry.

Zhenge Biotech also signed the agreement on Friday. The company's CEO Chen Jianxin said that the development of biomedicine industry is highly reliant on the free flow of talents and technology, which will be facilitated by the systematic innovation and free trade in Lingang.

A total of 10 supporting policies were announced on Friday in the hope of building a complete biomedicine industrial chain. To improve the research and development capabilities of the local biomedicine companies, the Lingang administrative committee will grant a 3 million yuan reward for each new drug approval, medicine production and marketing authorization. A single company can receive up to 10 million yuan of rewards every year.

Biomedicine companies registered in Lingang are also encouraged to explore international businesses. For companies achieving an export value of $1 million for the first time, the administrative committee will grant a subsidy of up to 100,000 yuan.

Lingang Special Area was launched on Aug 20, with an initial area of 119.5 square kilometers. The municipal government of Shanghai announced 50 measures for Lingang on Aug 30, covering eight major areas of relaxed regional administrative authority, talents, fiscal and finance, land use, industrial development, housing, transportation and infrastructure. A development fund valued at more than 100 billion yuan will be launched within the year to support the strategic industries in the area.