A Meeting Is Held in the High-Tech Zone to Facilitate

According to our correspondent Gao Jie, on December 18, 2015, a meeting was held in Xi'an High-Tech Industries Development Zone (or the High-Tech Zone for short) to facilitate fundraising efforts wherein intellectual property (or IP for short) was used as a pledge. At the meeting, the Bureau of Science and Technology (the Bureau of Intellectual Property) of Xi'an City (or the Bureau for short) brought some businesses trying to raise funds for their scientific and technological research and development projects and some financial institutions together so that a business might sign with a financial institution an agreement in which IP might be used as a pledge.

According to sources, the Bureau sponsored the meeting. At present, there are 25 financial institutions in Xi'an City that have collaborated with technology businesses, among which there are 16 banks, including China Construction Bank, SPD Bank, and Bank of Chongqing, and 9 guarantee companies, including Xi'an Chuangxin Fundraising Guarantee Co., Ltd. and Xi'an Taixin Fundraising Guarantee Co., Ltd. Since the effort was made to bring loan-craving businesses and banks together, the financial institutions have directly served 1,020 technology businesses and raised a total of RMB 8.312 billion in loans, of which RMB 6.396 billion was raised by treating the loan as debt and RMB 1.916 billion by treating the loan as some kind of equity.

By the end of November 2015, a total of RMB 1.637 billion in loans had been raised for 359 technology businesses, of which 268 got RMB 1.001 billion in loans by using intellectual property (or IP for short) as a pledge and 156 registered themselves with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China so they might use their IP as a pledge when trying to get a loan. More than 70% of the businesses got loans by using their IP as a pledge. Using the Method for Compensating for Risks in Matching Technology Businesses with Banks in Xi'an City as a guide, the Bureau aims to put technology businesses' IP to good use and so change the traditional way of doing things wherein businesses use physical things as a pledge. In fact, the Bureau's effort will enable technology businesses to raise funds by using their IP as a pledge so that they may obtain funds more easily.