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Government First Purchase: Local Protection or Encouragement of Innovation?

For the first set of products that meet the requirements of national economic development, represent the development direction of advanced technology, enter the market for the first time, and do not have market competitiveness for the time being, but have greater market potential and industrial driving role, and need key support, the first purchase system shall be implemented.

Recently, Pan Huasu, chairperson of the joint stock company of Mingfeng Medical System, finally fell off the big stone in his heart. The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University purchased one of its CT machines. Unlike other corporate CT equipment sales that require a configuration certificate issued by the government, Mingfeng's CT equipment does not require a configuration certificate.

The reason why Mingfeng Medical was able to get the green light, Pan Huasu explained the reason: the product was included in the first set of products in Zhejiang Province and obtained the "entry certificate" to open the market.

Not long ago, Zhejiang Province issued the "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Promotion and Application of the First Set of Products" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which clearly stated that key construction and government investment projects should give priority to the use of the first set (set) of products, and government procurement should trial the first set (set) of products first purchase system.

Chen Ge, deputy director of the Technological Progress and Equipment Department of the Economic and Information Commission of Zhejiang Province, said that Zhejiang Province will gradually increase the proportion of the first set of product purchases, reduce the threshold for government procurement and state-owned enterprise procurement of the first set of products, and especially increase the procurement of the first set of products by medical institutions. The proportion of domestic large-scale medical equipment.

Eliminate corporate concerns and promote innovation through applications

Since 2007, Zhejiang Province has taken the lead in establishing the insurance compensation mechanism for the first set of major technical equipment in China, promoting the application of "Zhejiang-made high-quality products" in government procurement and engineering construction. Up to now, the province has identified the first set of products with 644 items, and has issued a cumulative financial incentive fund of about 350 million yuan.

In 2013, Zhejiang Province took the lead in carrying out the pilot work of insurance compensation for the first set of major technical equipment in the country. Nearly 40 enterprises have enjoyed compensation from provincial and national finance for the first set of insurance, and the cumulative insurance amount exceeds 2 billion yuan. Among them, the "100,000-level large-scale internal compression process air separation complete set of equipment" insured by Hangyang Joint stock company received a national insurance premium subsidy of more than 10 million yuan, becoming the first enterprise in the province with insurance premium compensation of tens of millions of yuan.

Although Zhejiang continues to increase the promotion and application of the first set of products, it is unavoidable that innovation is still "difficult and dangerous" for enterprises. Eliminating the concerns of enterprises' scientific research and innovation and promoting innovation and development through application has become the main purpose of this new policy.

The relevant person in charge of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology said that the new policy is of great significance to further promote the independent innovation and transformation of scientific and technological achievements of the equipment manufacturing industry in Zhejiang Province, accelerate the application of marketing activities, and promote the construction of a strong manufacturing province in Zhejiang Province.

Let national products enter the fast lane of policy dividends

Taking large-scale medical equipment as an example, for a long time, more than 80% of the medical equipment share in the Chinese market has been occupied by foreign companies. After six or seven years of polishing, the private enterprise Mingfeng Medical has spent 1 billion yuan. It has repeatedly broken through the core technology of imaging medical systems in scientific research and research, and has successively developed 16-row CT and 16-row PET-CT with independent intellectual property rights. The product performance has reached the international first-class level, filling a number of domestic technology gaps.

The technology is awesome and the products are great. However, what bothers Pan Huasu is that because they have not been tested by the market, many public hospitals cannot and dare not easily buy their products, and still prefer imported medical equipment with more expensive prices and average performance.

The introduction of the new policy has brought opportunities for companies like Mingfeng Medical.

The "Opinions" clearly stated that "for the first set of products that meet the requirements of national economic development, represent the development direction of advanced technology, enter the market for the first time, and do not have market competitiveness for the time being, but have great market potential and industrial driving role, and need key support, implement the first purchase system."

"Now our products are included in the government's single-source procurement, and they can be sold without a license." Pan Huasu told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that these support policies will allow the company to develop rapidly. "If it can be implemented as soon as possible, the company will be expected to go public in the next few years."

There is a two-year contract for "swaddling" cultivation

Will the government's first purchase policy for the first set affect fair competition in the market?

Chen Ge introduced that this is a policy innovation in Zhejiang, and it is also a common international practice. "Many countries support innovative products with market potential and industrial action." Chen Ge took the US Tesla new energy company as an example. "When Tesla Motors first came out, the US government gave a certain policy inclination, which allowed the company to develop rapidly, and Tesla was able to quickly become an international leader in new energy vehicles."

The United States, Japan and other countries attach great importance to supporting and cultivating new products. "The specific practices of each country may be different, but support is necessary, and a lot of results have been achieved." Chen Ge believes that new products are most difficult in the "swaddling" period, and government support will solve many problems in the development of enterprises.

Pan Huasu said that Mingfeng Medical has invested billions in R & D, and it is still investing, and the annual salary of R & D personnel alone is as high as tens of millions. These costs are undoubtedly a huge burden for private enterprises. "If new products cannot quickly open up the market, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for enterprises."

Chen Ge especially emphasized that the purpose of the Zhejiang government's first purchase system for the first set of products is to encourage technological innovation of enterprises, especially to support major technical equipment products that have major breakthroughs and have intellectual property rights but have not yet achieved market performance, but it is not an unlimited time. Support, let alone intervening in the market through administrative means.

"The general support period is two years. After two years, it will be required according to normal conditions, and those who do not meet will be withdrawn from the procurement sequence." Chen Ge said.

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Wang Hua, deputy general manager of Shanghai Tianyong Intelligent Equipment Company, has been very busy recently - major car companies have come to the company to observe its engine automation flexible final assembly line based on intelligent machine applications, and many companies even signed contracts on the spot, involving a contract amount of more than 300 million yuan.

This major first set of high-end equipment can complete research and development and smooth marketization, inseparable from the "Shanghai high-end intelligent equipment first breakthrough and demonstration application special project support implementation rules" issued in July 2015.

According to the news from the Shanghai Economic Information Commission, since the implementation of the "Detailed Rules" for more than two years, two batches of 72 first breakthrough projects have been established, with a total support amount of 349 million yuan and a contract amount of 5.978 billion yuan.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Equipment Industry Division of the Shanghai Economic and Information Commission, in order to actively connect "Made in China 2025" with the construction of a global science and technology innovation center, the "Implementation Rules" are based on the original "Shanghai Major Technical Equipment Development Subsidy Policy" and "First Performance Breakthrough Risk Subsidy Policy". Innovation on the basis of.

In the direction of support, the first set of policies places more emphasis on independent innovation and independent control. The first set of policies requires that the equipment developed by research and development enterprises must meet the requirements of the first set, have greater influence internationally or domestically, be able to make major breakthroughs in key core technologies, and form independent intellectual property rights and independent brands.

In the support link, the first set of policies runs through the innovation chain and industrial chain. The first set of policies bundles research and development enterprises and users, requiring all equipment research and development projects to be developed around user requests, and to obtain sales contracts after the results are industrialized, rather than just staying on technology development and prototype development, so as to ensure that the equipment developed by the research and development unit can be sold, which is in line with the current "post-subsidy" financial funding policy orientation, which effectively reduces the risk of financial funds.

At the same time, the first set of policies has opened up the local market and foreign markets. "The original first set of risk subsidy policy funds supported local users, but in actual operation, most of the equipment users are foreign enterprises, which is difficult to include in the scope of policy support. Therefore, the first set of policies improves the market competitiveness of the first equipment by focusing on supporting local research and development enterprises, and accelerates the expansion of the equipment's international and domestic markets." The person in charge said.