Wu Zhenglong, secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Xu Kunlin, governor of Jiangsu, visited an exhibition of SME achievements on Sep. 8. (Photo/Wu Sheng)

National conference on SMEs development and innovation opened in Nanjing on September 8.

As a large manufacturing province, Jiangsu has taken the national lead in nurturing SMEs, becoming home to 138 enterprises who ranked first in China in their specialized fields and 1,998 firms recognized at the provincial-level.

Jiangsu is committed to enhancing the competitive advantages through innovation-driven growth. Data showed such SMEs boasted an average R&D intensity of over 8.5%, and 343 SMEs have their main products leading the market.

Amid the province’s efforts to strengthen supply chain and industry chain, 80% of specialized SMEs are from the strategic and emerging industries and advanced manufacturing clusters. Among provincial-level regions in China, Jiangsu also had the largest number of SMEs that made breakthroughs in filling the gaps.

The province has taken measures to advance the SMEs development, including the funding of 1.24 billion yuan for 3,630 business incubation programs. In last year, Jiangsu offered credit support of 668.5 billion yuan to specialized SMEs.

By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Jiangsu aims to have 20,000 innovative SMEs, 5,000 specialized SMEs at the provincial-level, 1,500 such firms at the national level, and 200 market-leading enterprises nationwide.

Participants in the meeting also noted that efforts are needed to improve the all-round service system guided by the government and driven by the market in order to create a good development environment for SMEs.