The "15th Five-Year Plan for Promoting the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" has been jointly released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, along with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and seven other government departments. The plan outlines seven major priorities, covering areas such as stabilizing enterprises and employment, strengthening enterprise cultivation, accelerating digital, intelligent, and green development, promoting integrated and collaborative development, enhancing the supply of production factors, refining the service system, and reinforcing legal and policy safeguards. Additionally, seven special projects and initiatives have been established in parallel.
According to the plan, by 2030, China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are expected to achieve both qualitative and quantitative improvements, with per-capita operating revenue of SMEs above a designated scale increasing by approximately 15%. The number of specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative (SRDI) "little giant" enterprises is projected to reach 22,000, while the number of national-level SME characteristic industry clusters is targeted to reach 600. This top-level design document, which guides the development of SMEs during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, provides a clear "navigation map" for tens of millions of market entities. Over the next five years, China's SMEs will see holistic growth in both quality and quantity, with steady increases in operating revenue and total assets. Labor compensation and productivity will improve steadily, and innovative development capabilities will be noticeably enhanced.
Pioneering Force of New Quality Productive Forces
SMEs are connected to countless households and serve as a vital force for driving innovation, promoting employment, and improving people's livelihoods. Their vitality directly determines the health of the economic fabric. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the overall strength of China's SMEs improved significantly, with operating revenue and total assets of SMEs above a designated scale growing at average annual rates of 5.7% and 6.6%, respectively. Innovation capabilities advanced rapidly, as the "golden brand" of specialization and innovation continued to shine. SRDI "little giant" enterprises spent an average of 7% of their revenue on research and development, with average R&D investment exceeding 30 million yuan. More encouragingly, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China surpassed its target of cultivating 100,000 SRDI SMEs, incubating a cohort of frontier technology enterprises specializing in fields such as artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, and semiconductor chips. It is clear that pursuing a path of specialization and innovation has become a crucial route for SMEs to overcome development bottlenecks.
Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan, this new plan demonstrates a more long-term strategic vision: embracing innovation and excellence, achieving qualitative and quantitative improvements. Behind a series of quantitative targets lies a reaffirmation of SMEs' status as primary innovators. SMEs are no longer merely viewed as a "reservoir" for employment, but are positioned as a "driving force" for developing new quality productive forces. China's economic transformation and upgrading cannot rely solely on the individual advances of a few industry giants; it requires the collective upward movement of a vast number of SMEs. The plan encourages SMEs to explore business models in emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, and robotics, as well as in future industries like quantum technology, brain-computer interfaces, and embodied intelligence. This is intended to unleash the innovative vitality of SMEs and micro-entities, enabling them to form a powerful "army of ants" in critical segments of the industrial chain.
Breaking Down the Growth Obstacles of SMEs
The difficulties facing SMEs are seldom purely about capital or markets; they stem from intertwined challenges involving talent, technology, financing, and rights protection. The highlight of this plan lies in its provision of a more targeted and comprehensive set of solutions. On the financing front, the plan proposes guiding banking and financial institutions to expand credit support and develop financing models such as intellectual property pledge financing and accounts receivable financing. This approach aims to bridge the "last mile" for financial capital to reach the real economy and alleviate the chronic problem of information asymmetry between banks and enterprises. In the realm of talent, the plan encourages researchers from universities and research institutes to establish technology-based enterprises and supports SMEs in collaborating with vocational schools to cultivate talent, endeavoring to resolve the structural contradiction of "difficulty in recruiting and retaining talent" faced by SMEs.
Of particular significance, the plan elevates the "prevention and resolution of overdue payments owed to SMEs" to the level of a long-term mechanism. Overdue payments are a heavy burden on SMEs, severely eroding cash flow and survival capabilities. Since June 1 of last year, the Regulations on Safeguarding Payments to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises have been implemented. The current plan proposes intensifying efforts to clear overdue debts owed to SMEs by government agencies, public institutions, and large enterprises, as well as strengthening source governance. The plan also advocates for a shift from "enterprises seeking policies" to "policies seeking enterprises" through the construction of a nationwide "one-stop network" of services for SMEs, establishing multi-dimensional policy labels to precisely match enterprise needs. This change in service philosophy signifies a deep transformation of government functions from managing to serving, aiming to reduce institutional transaction costs and translate good policies into tangible benefits for enterprises.
Actively Integrating Into the Industrial and Supply Chains
Against a backdrop of rising anti-globalization currents and the restructuring of industrial and supply chains, the pathway for SMEs lies in pursuing specialization and innovation, and more importantly, in forging ahead with industrial collaboration. The plan's proposal of "promoting integrated development between large and small enterprises" charts a clear direction for SMEs. The plan supports large enterprises in opening up innovation resources, application scenarios, and supply chain systems to SMEs, while encouraging SMEs to provide supporting services around key segments of the industrial chains that large enterprises dominate. This "large hand holding small hand" model can help SMEs quickly connect to high-end industrial chains, enhance their specialized supporting capabilities, and thereby find their own ecological niche in fierce market competition.
The plan also calls for cultivating characteristic industry clusters of SMEs, with a goal of reaching 600 national-level SME characteristic industry clusters by 2030. The development of industry clusters can generate powerful agglomeration and synergy effects, reducing logistics, information, and transaction costs for enterprises while creating regional competitive advantages. Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, and major-power competition has become more complex and intense. SMEs face both strategic opportunities and risks and challenges. It is essential to further strengthen policy support, intensify reform and innovation measures, fully tap development potential, enhance the endogenous driving force of enterprises, and consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy.
Looking toward the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the prospects for SMEs are broad and their potential immense. It is exactly the right time for SMEs to demonstrate their capabilities. With policy safeguards, institutional protection, and ecosystem empowerment, SMEs are set to enter a golden era of qualitative and quantitative growth.