The trading of technology  property plays a significant role in financing China's high-tech  enterprises and has become an indispensable part of the country's  capital market, according to financial experts attending the 4th  APEC Technology Exhibition and Trade Fair being held here in  Suzhou.

   The trading of technology property in China is an emerging  business derived from the combination of new and high technologies and venturing capital over the past few years. Since Shanghai  Technology Property Exchange was founded in 1999, more than 10  such exchanges have been set up in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing, Xi' an and some other cities.

   These exchanges have provided high-tech businesses and  enterprises of different ownership with highly efficient and low- cost trading platforms for their property and equity financing,  which effectively promoted the application of scientific and  technological research results and the industrialization of new  technologies.

   Zhao Hui, president of the China High-Tech Property Exchange in Shenzhen, said that the technology property trade holds an  indispensable position in China's economic development. It  provides a financing market for technology-oriented enterprises  and projects applying new technologies, which help promote the  highly efficient use of both technologies and capital; it offers  accessing and withdrawal channels for venturing capital,  increasing the fluidity of venturing capital; it provides property or equity trading services for businesses that are not listed to  facilitate the rational flow of property and equity; and it  prepares high-quality businesses for trading on the second board  market.

   Statistics show that every year China gets some 25,000 ministry- level scientific research results and 20,000 to 50,000 patent  projects, however, only 10-15 percent of them are commercially  developed, far lower than the level of 60-80 percent in developed  countries. Meanwhile, the output value of China's high-tech  industry accounts for only eight percent of the total industrial  output value, far lower than the average level of 30-40 percent in developed countries, which resulted in severe waste of scientific  and technological resources.

   Zhao said that a major reason behind the low rate of  application of research results is the lack of sufficient capital  support, and this is exactly what the technology property  exchanges are trying to make up via effective combination of  capital with technology.

   Presently China has over 10 million small and medium-sized  enterprises, however, these enterprises have been for many years  suffering from limited financing sources. Technology property  trade has to some extent eased their financing demand.

   President of the Shanghai Technology Property Exchange Cai  Minyong said that over less than two years' time since its  establishment, the Shanghai Technology Property Exchange has  listed 2,251 projects, of which 1,923 have been traded, with a  trading volume of over 61 billion yuan (about 7.5 billion U.S.  dollars), or a daily volume of over 100 million yuan. Information  technologies, biological medicine and new materials constitute  more than a third of the traded projects.