Recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has issued the Decision on Amending the Guidelines for Evaluation of Sci-Tech Innovation Attributes (for Trial Implementation) (the "Decision"), effective from the date of issuance.
The main amendments in the Decision include: Firstly, the threshold for "R&D investment of no less than CNY60 million in the recent three years" in Item (1) of Article 1 is raised to "R&D investment of no less than CNY80 million in the recent three years"; Item (3), which previously required "at least five invention patents applied to the company's main business", now requires "at least seven invention patents applied to the company's main business and demonstrably industrializable"; and the criterion of "compound annual growth rate of operating income reaching 20% in the recent three years" in Item (4) is adjusted to "25%". Secondly, Item (5) of Article 2 now mandates "accumulated core technologies and invention patents applied to the main business and demonstrably industrializable (including national defense patents) totaling 50 or more," replacing the previous expression "accumulated core technologies and invention patents (including national defense patents) applied to the main business totaling 50 or more."