Conference reflects strength of China's technology market

The Global Conference on Technology Transfer, as well as its sub-event the Inno-Match Expo, kicked off at the Shanghai Exhibition Center on Wednesday as a highlight of the ongoing Pujiang Innovation Forum with more than 20 summits and forums being held in three days.

In an offline exhibition at the center, 32 facilitating agencies, 40 small and medium-sized enterprises and seven city or nation-level pavilions from home and abroad showcased their needs, results, innovative products, solutions and services.

Duan Junhu, deputy director of the Torch High-tech Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said at the opening ceremony that last year the transaction volume of technical contracts in China exceeded 2 trillion yuan (US$300 billion) for the first time, setting a record high.

This reflects the market's huge demand for technologies and shows the great potential of the nation's technical market.

He hopes the Global Conference on Technology Transfer can create opportunities for transfers oriented by the needs of companies as well as expanding the "Circle of Friends" on inter-regional cooperation in science and technology.

Serbia, the Guest of Honor at the Pujiang Innovation Forum, has a national pavilion. Dusan Dragicevic, representative of the Serbian booth at Inno-Match Expo, told Shanghai Daily that although Serbian companies' arrival was obstructed by the coronavirus pandemic, they also have strong will to cooperate with China and this event will serve as a bridge for cooperation.

"Regarding the coronavirus situation, we're very limited this year. If there's no coronavirus situation, there will be many startups and many other companies presented here," said Dragicevic. "However, because of the coronavirus, we're here just to let China know that we are still willing to cooperate with China; to accept projects and connect Chinese companies with Serbian companies so that we can do some innovation together."

"All Chinese companies are very welcome to Serbia and Serbian companies are also willing to come to China and cooperate together to make new projects for win-win situation and benefits for everyone."

He said in the three days, they are open to any suggestions and opportunities from companies and individuals. "After the forum, we really hope to find new partners and new projects that we can do in the future together."

Dragicevic thinks this event is a great opportunity for people from different countries and backgrounds to connect and share ideas as well as producing something new, such as new products, new services and new ideas.

During the ceremony, the Shanghai Technical Exchange, China's first national-level permanent technology market, opened after a transformation lasting for several years.

Established in 1993 by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Shanghai government, the technical exchange launched its conversion into enterprise in 2015 in order to improve its capacity on market service and stored resources for years.

On December 31 last year, preparations began for its opening.

According to Yan Mingfeng, president of the technical exchange, in the past, the exchange mainly focused on its service function. But now, it laid more emphasis on building a whole platform which offers a series of services.

"We have a license authorized by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which means our platform is recognized by the nation. And now we've already had lots of products, demands from enterprises, facilitating agencies and capital, which are all our resources," Yan told Shanghai Daily. He added that during the transaction, the platform will provide services for all sides to support them to carry out relevant business.

"Though based in Shanghai, we serve the whole world. Technologies from anywhere can be traded on our platform. In this afternoon, there are some overseas technologies listed on our exchange and we will help them to make a match."