Agenda

16:00-16:10 EU SME Centre introduction
- Alessio Petino, Knowledge Coordinator
 

16:10-16:40 Launch of the EU SME Centre report “Incentives, subsidies and funding for tech SMEs in China”.
– Alessio Petino, Knowledge Coordinator, EU SME Centre

Key content covered:

  • Market entry incentives: made available by local administrations to attract innovative international companies to settle in their jurisdiction. 
  • Status recognition: namely certain statuses that tech companies can be ‘recognised’ to hold for different purposes.
  • Subsidies and rewards: offered ex post at all levels of administration for basically any type of innovation activity.
  • Research grants: offered ex ante to support activities such as R&D, application, and demonstration in priority areas and topics specified in annual calls (年度申报指南) published on the websites of local departments of science and technology.
  • Innovation vouchers: consisting of small lines of credit granted to micro, small and medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs to purchase, at discounted rates, specific services provided by local providers. 
     

16:40-17:00 Case sharing of support policies from Zhejiang and Hangzhou.
– Athena Wang

 Key content covered:

  • Overview of Zhejiang's industrial focuses and relevant support policies during the 14th Five-year Plan
  • Brief intro of the different districts in Hangzhou
  • Landing support policy introduction, specific example of the “Canal Elite Programme” of Gongshu District
  • Support from Sino-European Technology Innovation Cooperation (SETIC), a cooperation platform based in Hangzhou. Including: landing support, business development, and financing support, with concrete examples of ongoing projects
     

17:10-17:30 Q&A

 

About the speakers

Alessio Petino

ALESSIO PETINO

KNOWLEDGE COORDINATOR, EU SME CENTRE

Alessio is the Knowledge Coordinator of the EU SME Centre. Before that, he worked for around 5 years on various EU-funded projects in China, including as key expert and non key expert, mainly conducting policy and market analysis for European companies looking to enter or already in the Chinese market. His key areas of expertise are China's sci-tech, research and innovation policy, high-tech zones, EU-China co-funding mechanisms, as well as government incentives, grants and subsidies for innovation. 

 

Athena Wang

ATHENA WANG

VP OPERATIONS, SINO-EU TECH & INNOVATION COOPERATION (SETIC)

Athena Wang has an MBA from Hult Boston, and with 15 years of work experience. She is the former International Project Director of Shunfeng Innovation Center; She was responsible for the establishment and operation in Shanghai of the MIT incubated artificial intelligence company, and was the Communications Director of an incubator in Boston with a branch in Lisbon. 

Athena Wang is currently the VP of Operations of Sino-European Technology & Innovation Cooperation (SETIC). Based in Hangzhou, SETIC is committed to successful China market entry and scaling of European technology and innovation. Its mission is to support the development of the ecosystems of European innovation partners, and integrating them with their Chinese counterparts across the corporate, institutional, financial and professional services community. SETIC aims to become the leading hub for best-in-class European technology in China.