By Sun Zhiyan, Research Department of Development Strategies and Regional Economy, DRC; Zheng Jianghuai, Nanjing University

Research Report, No.253, 2021 (Total 6318) 2021-9-8

Abstract: In a bid to have a thorough grasp of weak links and difficulties in China’s enterprises’ innovation drive as well as prominent issues relating to innovation policies, DRC research team conducted a questionnaire survey on innovation activities in about 600 enterprises in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces. Survey findings show the innovation on technology supply-side of China’s enterprises still remain weak, and the IT support is one of the key factors influencing the success of enterprises’ innovation in the new era. The most obvious hurdle checking enterprises’ innovation is the shortage of high-caliber talents and excessive innovation costs, and the lack of technological information is the major impediment to innovation advancement of high-tech enterprises. This paper notes that we need to put into effect more targeted policies and guide enterprises to enhance the innovation on the technology supply side. It is necessary to speed up the system building of innovation policies with different links in the innovation chain at the core so as to ensure that the innovation activities of more enterprises including small and medium-sized enterprises and those in the non-high-tech field can enjoy more policy support. Besides, relevant government departments need to strengthen the coordination between policies on environmental protection, industrial investment, personnel and innovation and create a more flexible and inclusive ecology for enterprises’ innovation.

Keywords: innovation policy, enterprises’ innovation, innovation ecology