Financial services need to be more down-to-earth

In recent years, our country has vigorously promoted the development of technology finance, innovating technology financial services, and the support from finance for technology enterprises has continuously increased. However, many technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises still lament the “difficulty in financing and high financing costs.”

The reasons for this are twofold: first, the evaluation system is “not suitable.” Traditional financial institutions often rely on fixed assets, historical revenue, and collateral as the basis for credit, while technology enterprises often have “light assets, high risks, and long cycles,” making core technology difficult to quantify. Second, product design is “uniform.” Many financial institutions have launched “innovation loans” and “technology financial product packages” that lack differentiated design, resulting in a mismatch between products and demands, making it hard for “financial resources” to be precisely allocated. Third, the service chain has “frequent disconnects.” The funding needs at each stage of technological innovation vary, but current financial support is mostly concentrated in the maturity phase. In addition, there is a lack of effective coordination between financial institutions, research institutions, industrial parks, and incubators, resulting in “good projects not finding funding, and funding not finding good projects.”

To make technology innovation finance more “down-to-earth,” it is necessary to make efforts from multiple dimensions including mechanisms, ecology, products, and services, constructing a financial service ecosystem that covers the entire cycle, is multi-layered, and has broad coverage.

First, financial institutions need to establish a credit evaluation system that aligns with the characteristics of technology enterprises, introducing new assessment dimensions such as “technology flow,” “talent flow,” and “innovation flow,” and comprehensively considering factors like patent quality and market potential. Explore models such as “patent pledge + risk sharing” and “loans linked to R&D progress” to promote the transformation of “intangible assets” into “financing capital.”

Second, a “risk sharing, benefit sharing” cooperative ecosystem should be built. The government can guide the establishment of national and regional technology finance risk compensation funds to reduce the lending risks for financial institutions. Promote the deepening and landing of “investment-loan linkage,” encouraging banks and venture capital institutions to jointly establish “technology finance consortiums,” achieving coordinated support for equity and debt. Support insurance institutions in developing technology insurance products to enhance the confidence of financial institutions to “dare to lend and are willing to lend.”

Third, optimize products to create “tailored” financial service packages. Design differentiated financial products, extend loan terms, and allow for “low upfront, high later” repayment arrangements to match the cash flow characteristics of technology enterprises that have “high initial investments and high later returns.”

Finally, services must be delivered to the grassroots level, breaking through the “last mile.” Financial institutions should establish a “technology account manager” system, equipping professionals who understand technology, industry, and finance, to provide “accompaniment-style” financial services. Promote the establishment of “technology finance service centers” to integrate policy, capital, technology, and market resources, creating a “one-stop” service platform, and utilizing technologies such as artificial intelligence to enhance risk control efficiency and service accuracy.

Ultimately, technology innovation finance must enable capital and innovation to “advance in both directions.” Making technology innovation finance more accessible is not only a necessary requirement to enhance financial services’ capability to support the real economy but also a key support for achieving technological self-reliance and building an innovative country. (Source: Economic Daily, Author: Liang Rui)