According to a report by ZH based on a March 2nd news report from China Daily.
China is stepping up efforts to funnel long-term capital into its high-tech sector, introducing new measures to support homegrown innovation and ease financing for technology enterprises.
On Monday, Chinese authorities released guidelines aimed at accelerating the development of technology-focused insurance. The initiative is designed to create a financial safety net for the entire innovation chain — from early-stage research to commercialization — helping tech companies access more stable, long-term funding.
The guidelines call for a comprehensive suite of insurance products covering the full life cycle of technological innovation. They also prioritize backing major national science and technology projects, small and medium-sized technology enterprises, and critical areas of innovation.
Experts say the move underscores the growing role of financial capital in strengthening China’s technological self-reliance. “Insurance funds have significant untapped potential to support innovation,” said Long Ge, an expert on innovation and risk management at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
By the end of 2025, China’s insurance industry had a total fund utilization balance of 38.48 trillion yuan ($5.57 trillion). Of this, property and life insurers had invested 8.54 trillion yuan in equities, funds, and long-term equity investments — roughly 22 percent of the total.
The new guidelines are expected to improve the efficiency of these investments, reduce insurers’ concerns about backing tech firms, and provide a more predictable financial foundation for long-term research and development.
In addition, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors encouraged financial institutions to direct more capital toward “early-stage, small-scale, long-term, and hard-tech” projects. The guidance also proposed linking research intensity and overall R&D spending to the flexibility of funding deployment, ensuring capital flows more directly into core innovation activities.
The measures further suggest issuing medium- and long-term technology innovation bonds. Tech companies are encouraged to set bond maturities of at least 270 days, while equity investment institutions are expected to offer bonds of three years or longer — aligning financing with the long-term nature of research and innovation.
These steps are part of Beijing’s broader strategy to build a financial ecosystem that better supports high-tech development, reinforcing the country’s push toward self-reliant innovation amid global competition.