By Yin Nan
In the first half of this year, the Ministry of Science & Technology and China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) jointly held a workshop of science & technology insurance. It was disclosed on the workshop that the total premium income of science and technology insurance realized all over China amounted to RMB1.587 billion yuan and the total sum insured at risk amounted to over RMB68.5 billion yuan; the insured enterprises exceeded 1,100 in number and all insurance compensations had added up to RMB1.175 billion yuan. Science and technology insurance, as a new and strategic customized insurance for high-tech enterprises, is gradually becoming recognized by more and more hi-tech enterprises.
Scientific and technological enterprises or research institutions will be often faced with various risks, such as property loss, personal injury, R&D interruption and civil compensation, when conducting their research and development, production, sales, or other management activities; and science and technology insurance is the very insurance series in allusion to such risks.
"Last year, the Ministry of Science & Technology and China Insurance Regulatory Commission officially initiated science and technology insurance, and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) was fortunately designated as a entity in which such a kind of insurance would be implemented for trial. During last year, SINOSURE worked hard and achieved a lot, not only contributing significantly to the promotion of science and technology insurance all over China but also creating a foundation for the company to develop new markets for its businesses and make adjustments to its customer structure," said Mr. Liang Zhidong, Vice General Manager of SINOSURE.
"In 2002, the scale of high-tech product exports with supports from SINOSURE only amounted to US$730 million; last year, such a figure went up to US$9.3 billion. And the average annual growth rate is over 66%." said proudly Xu Fuxing, another Vice General Manager of SINOSURE when talking about the supports of science and technology insurance to hi-tech products.
He told us that SINOSURE provided credit insurance and assurance amounting to over RMB68 billion yuan with a year-on-year growth margin of 30 percent for the trade of hi-tech products and "Step towards Outside World" projects last year and more than 1,100 enterprises are involved. Insured and guaranteed sums for export-relating high-tech products or projects amounted to nearly RMB61 billion yuan for export-related hi-tech products or programs, insured and guaranteed sums for the exports of high-tech products with independent intellectual properties and a self-owned brand account for over 17 percent, far more than 4.35 percent -- the proportion of such products among the total exports of hi-tech products. Also, SINOSURE's credit and insurance supports for domestic trade of hi-tech products amounted to RMB7.183 billion yuan.
It is understood that SINOSURE paid around RMB1.175 billion yuan as compensations of different kinds for hi-tech enterprises. The sum of compensations that SINOSURE once made to a certain most influential domestic hi-tech enterprise amounted as much as US$24.35 million, which is the largest since the establishment of SINOSURE, and in such a way, SINOSURE is providing solid guarantee for high-tech enterprises stepping out.
"SINOSURE also facilitated various banks' financing supports of over RMB28 billion yuan for hi-tech enterprises under the precondition of credit insurance by enhancing cooperation with banks. Driven by science and technology insurance, SINOSURE the risk-preventing ability of hi-tech enterprise has been compressively improved and hi-tech enterprises' expansion in overseas market has been accelerated," said Mr. Xu Fuxing. The implementation of science and technology insurance can play a role in dispersing risks in innovations and development and providing supports and guarantee for hi-tech enterprises and encourage high-tech enterprises to conduct technological innovations and R&D activities. The promotion of science and technology insurance may exert far-reaching influences on the development of China's hi-tech industry and the construction of China as an innovative country.
After almost one year of practice, SINOSURE, by right of robust policy guidance and supports, has fully boosted science and technology credit insurance by making innovations continuously, establishing platforms and mechanisms, conducting extensive advocacy, and putting into effect such policies.
As introduced by Mr. Xu, SINOSURE set up a "Science and Technology Insurance Promotion Work Group" led by corporate leaders, which consists of main leaders from all business departments, so as to actually fulfill the duty to boost science and technology credit insurance and ensure the smooth deployment of such a kind of insurance with an organizational mechanism; secondly, a whole set of concise and specific preferential policies on SINOSURE's supports for high-tech products and high-tech enterprises in terms of various kinds of business such as trade insurance, project insurance and guarantee business and multiple business procedures including insurance acceptance, insurance settlements, and credit services were put forward, thus having provided all business institutions with clear and effective policy tools to promote science and technology insurance and accelerate the development of hi-tech enterprises.
So far as innovations in terms of the working mechanism, SINOSURE established a contact mechanism and a work information communication platform thus came into being. Respective SINOSURE business institutions set up the contact mechanism with local competent science and technology departments and national hi-tech industrial development zones while putting forth policies to promote the development of hi-tech enterprises by means of credit insurance according to local characteristics. In the company, there shaped up an internal science and technology insurance contact mechanism, making it possible to conduct communications and exchanges on the latest progress concerning science and technology insurance and share work experiences and to ensure that the deployment of science and technology credit insurance can be conducted orderly and efficiently.
As such a kind of insurance was simply brought into effect just for a year, many hi-tech enterprises knew little about such a kind of insurance; so they tend to show a wait-and-see attitude. Therefore, SINOSURE has been trying to enlarge the awareness of such a kind of insurance in the society by conducting extensive dissemination in various forms. As introduced by Xu Fuxing, 14 SINOSURE business institutions in Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, Yunnan, and Chongqing actively participated in trainings and advocacy activities organized by local governmental departments in charge of science and technology while offering trainings on science and technology credit insurance for more than 1,400 hi-tech enterprises last year. Xiamen Branch of SINOSURE launched a one-quarter "Centralized Business Promotion for Scientific and Technological Enterprises" for 216 local hi-tech enterprises and signed new insurance policies with 6 high-tech enterprises. The Headquarter Sales Department in collaboration with Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau compiled the Handbook of Science and Technology Insurance Promotion, thus facilitating hi-tech enterprises to know about science and technology insurance.
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