I. OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES

The National New Products Programme is a state-supported programme put forward by the Ministry of Science and Technology with the purposes of guiding and encouraging enterprises and research institutes to accelerate technical progress and promote the capacity of technical innovation, carry out optimization of industrial structure and adjustment of product structure, facilitate the development and industrialization of new/high-tech products that have a high economic competitiveness and big market shares.

II. THE MAIN MISSIONS

Developing new products is an important approach to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into commercial goods, an important component of contribution of science and technology to economic development, and also an important measure to increase the vigor of research institutes and enterprises. The main missions are to establish and perfect the mechanism of technical innovation of enterprises, promote the reform of research institutes, promote enterprises to really become the main body of technical development, accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and promote the combination of science and technology with economy.

III. FIELDS TO BE SUPPORTED

The new products are referred to the products as outcome of scientific research (all-new type), i.e., developed and produced based on new technical principles and new ideas of design, or the improved versions of products that are significantly upgraded from the old versions in at least one aspect of structure, material quality or technology, thus significantly enhancing product performance or increasing product functions.

The priority fields to be supported by the programme are:

1. New/high-tech products, including those of micro-electronics and electronic information, space science and aviation and space flight technologies; photoelectric science and opto-mechano-electronics integration technologies; biological science and bio-engineering technologies; material science and bio-engineering technologies; material science and material technologies; energy science and new energy and high efficiency energy saving technologies; ecological science and environmental protection technologies; geoscience and ocean engineering technologies; geoscience and ocean engineering technologies; elementary substance science and radiation technologies; medical science and bio-medical engineering; and other new/high-tech products;

2. New products produced by use of the achievements of the state and provincial/ministry scientific and technological programmes, in particular those with a major promoting function for the basic and mainstay industries of the national economy;

3. New products with self-owned intellectual property rights;

4. New products that are aimed at export or can replace import products, or produced with imported technologies with over 80% of the parts domestically made.

5. New products that adopt international standards.

IV. CONDITIONS FOR THE PRODUCTS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAMME

1. Developed in China for the first time (or in the first batch) and already sold to market;

2. Conform to the state industrial policies, technical policies and related sectoral policies;

3. Have high technical level and high quality, and advanced domestic level;

4. Have significant economic and social benefits and bright prospects of marketing;

5. Not involved in any disputes of intellectual property right.

V.ORGANIZATON AND MANATEMENT

The programme is yearly based. Every year the Ministry of Science and Technology organizes local science and technology commissions and departments of science and technology of sectors to carry out recommendation and evaluation for new product projects. Based on the results of that, the Ministry of Science and Technology organizes experts of sectors and fields to carry out confirmation of recommended projects.

The standards of the evaluation include:

1. Conforming to the state industrial policies;

2. Technical level;

3. Social and economic benefits;

4. Market prospects.

On the basis of the expert evaluation and confirmation, the Ministry of Science and Technology formulates the National New Products Programme and issues this programme to local science and technology commissions and departments of science and technology of sectors.

VI. SUPPORT POLICIES

1. The Ministry of Science and Technology and related state government ministries jointly issue the Certificate of National New Product for the product included in the programme;

2. The state selects key ones from the products in the programme and provide a proper amount of subsidy from financial appropriation according to the policies of the state. The principles for the determination of the key projects are as follows.

(1) Important new products belonging to the key industries the state emphatically supports or high technology industries:

(2) New proofs with high technical content, high added-value and self-owned intellectual property right;

(3) New products that have high competitiveness and can bring about more than 100 million yuan of sales in market in a few years;

(4) New products developed by enterprises and institutions that have great strength of development and can continuously blaze new trails;

(5) New products that are already produced on an appropriate scale, have significant economic and social benefits and great contribution to the state;

(6) New products to which local governments provide emphatic support.

3. The government provides preferential policies of tax reduction or exemption in a certain period to the products of the State New Products programme according to the related state industrial policies.