A roundtable dialogue is held at the launch ceremony on Jan 10. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The 2022 OVC gazelle company summit and the corporate innovation integrating platform launch ceremony was held in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC) on Jan 10.

The platform was designed for local companies looking to receive loans from banks based on the credits they have accumulated on the platform.

In 2021, OVC was selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology as part of the second group of pilot zones for the corporate innovation integrating system, which was intended to be a new policy tool for quantifying the innovation capabilities of corporations and addressing the financing problems faced by sci-tech enterprises.

A corporate evaluation system that includes 28 indicators in three categories has been established on the platform. Data on companies' R&D investment, technological achievements, operations and financial credits will be generated through big data and artificial intelligence technologies to select outstanding small and medium-sized sci-tech enterprises. So far, a total of 9,792 companies have been registered on the platform.

At the launch ceremony, four banks signed credit loan contracts with representatives of companies. Since the trial operation of the platform began in September last year, OVC has cooperated with more than 10 banks, leading to about 102 million yuan ($14.94 million) in guaranteed loans.

The 2022 OVC gazelle company development report was also released on the same day, revealing the valley's top 10 gazelle companies in terms of sci-tech performance, growth speed, and values. Last year, OVC recognized 559 gazelle companies, bringing the total number to 1,500.

Statistics show that it takes a gazelle company on average 13.1 years from its founding to go public.