On November nineteenth, the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), collectively initiated by Zhejiang Province, the National Council for Social Security Fund, and the Agricultural Bank of China, efficiently handed the submitting with the Asset Management Association of China. This marks the official launch of the primary science and expertise innovation pilot fairness funding fund ensuing from the cooperation between the National Council for Social Security Fund and an area authorities in Zhejiang.
What’s much more exceptional is its start velocity. From the economic and business registration of the fund, to the total contribution of all companions, after which to the completion of the submitting with the Asset Management Association of China, all the course of took solely about two weeks. From the announcement of its institution to the completion of the submitting, it was additionally lower than 25 days. The outdoors world described it because the “sprint launch” of a “50-billion-yuan aircraft carrier.”
If scientific and technological innovation is likened to a long-term mission that requires a decade or two of cultivation, then Zhejiang is embracing this affected person capital in its constant “long-term” method.
The Landing of Patient Capital in Zhejiang
As the nationwide fairness funding market steadily emerges from adjustment and seeks new certainties, the National Council for Social Security Fund has made a transparent directional alternative: shifting from a larger give attention to allocating to mature property to extra actively taking part in scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading, and supporting new productive forces with long-term capital.
Over the previous years, the nationwide social safety fund has been considered the “ballast stone” of the pension system. Stability, security, and predictable returns are its key traits. Now, with the development of a collection of nationwide methods similar to “building a country strong in science and technology,” “innovation-driven development,” and “high-quality development of the capital market,” this “ballast stone” has begun to imagine new missions.
On the one hand, it’s essential to penetrate the more and more lengthy innovation cycle by extra environment friendly capital allocation and supply funds that may actually “keep up with the cycle” for arduous applied sciences and frontier applied sciences.
On the opposite hand, whereas supporting the actual economic system and scientific and technological innovation, it’s also mandatory to attain the long-term preservation and appreciation of the fund itself by market-oriented operations.
Thus, the mix of “social security fund + financial institution + local funds” has begun to emerge as a brand new exploration route for funding fashions. This method neither abandons the requirement for security nor shortens the funding horizon, and as an alternative extends the time-frame and broadens the angle beneath controllable dangers. The two 50-billion-yuan social safety science and expertise innovation mom funds established in Zhejiang and Jiangsu in fast succession are the “samples” that emerged beneath such a historic background.
The first cease chosen by the social safety funds is Zhejiang, which has been within the discipline of presidency funding funds for 16 years.
As early as 2009, when many areas had been nonetheless exploring the mechanism of government-guided funds, Zhejiang established a provincial enterprise capital steerage fund, beginning to “divert water” for early-stage progressive enterprises by leveraging giant quantities of capital with a small quantity of fiscal funds. Since then, from the “Angel Dream Fund” focusing on extraordinarily early-stage initiatives, to the “Innovation Leading Fund” specializing in innovation sources, after which to the “4+1” industrial cluster fund and the provincial science and expertise innovation mom fund launched in 2023 with a goal complete scale of over 72 billion yuan, Zhejiang’s provincial authorities funding fund system has been supporting scientific and technological innovation and serving to to domesticate distinctive progressive industrial clusters.
As of the top of June 2025, there have been 147 authorities funding funds within the province, with a complete scale of over 320 billion yuan, which additionally leveraged social capital to determine 1,259 sub-funds with a complete scale of over 1.2 trillion yuan. Among them, the provincial authorities funding funds supported over 1,600 initiatives and over 100 listed firms, forming a mature capital community overlaying the early stage, development stage, and merger and acquisition levels.
For a “national team” just like the nationwide social safety fund, cooperating with a province that already has a mature fund ecosystem and clear institutional pathways is way more steady and environment friendly than constructing a brand new system from scratch. This is a vital consideration for the social safety funds to decide on Zhejiang.
If we take an extended view, we’ll discover that this isn’t a coincidence, however is according to the pragmatic and pioneering cultural heritage of the individuals in Zhejiang.
For hundreds of years, Zhejiang has nearly at all times been on the forefront of China’s business civilization and progressive forces.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin’an (now Hangzhou), because the capital, the place the Qiantang River and the Grand Canal meet, created a novel city temperament of “coexistence of lakes, mountains, and urban life.”
Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, teams of Zhejiang retailers such because the Ningbo Gang, Shaoxing Shiyes, and Wenzhou retailers, carrying ledgers and items, traveled between the rivers and the Maritime Silk Road, imprinting the spirit of “being the first to take action” into the regional character.
After the reform and opening up, the Yiwu Small Commodity Market, non-public manufacturing in Taizhou, and the monetary reform in Wenzhou… waves of “grassroots innovation” have pushed Zhejiang to the forefront of essentially the most lively areas for personal economic system.
In the digital age, Zhejiang took the lead in proposing and repeatedly selling the “No. 1 Project” of the digital economic system, constructing a nationwide experimental zone for the progressive growth of the digital economic system. The added worth of the digital economic system accounts for almost 60% of the GDP, and “cloud business” has turn out to be the brand new frequent language on this area.
From the grain ships, silk, and ledgers by the canal to the high-speed flowing knowledge, algorithms, and capital within the cloud right now, what stays constant in Zhejiang is the spirit of “being the first to act” and “being willing to take the long view.”
Now, when a social safety fund with the distinct label of “patient capital” begins to search for a brand new foothold, historical past and actuality have naturally converged in Zhejiang. With a strong institutional basis, wealthy cultural traditions, various capital instruments, and actual industries, this has supplied a spot the place “patient capital” can take root with confidence.
How the 50-billion-yuan Mother Fund was “Assembled”
If “landing in Zhejiang” solutions the query of “why here,” then the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund, which accomplished the submitting in two weeks, solutions one other query: How did Zhejiang assemble this multi-structured mannequin of “national team + local + large bank” in a really quick time period and rapidly put it into precise operation?
Behind this, on the one hand, there may be the sturdy steerage of the provincial division of finance and the speedy coordination of a number of departments such because the provincial growth and reform fee, the provincial division of science and expertise, the provincial state-owned property supervision and administration fee, the provincial administration for market regulation, the provincial native monetary supervision and administration bureau, and the Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau. On the opposite hand, it’s the joint efforts of the fund contributors and the organizational capability of the Zhejiang Innovation Investment Group (hereinafter known as “Zhechuang Group”), because the main social gathering, to prepare multi-party sources. It understands each the coverage processes and the fund operations, and can be accustomed to the decision-making rhythms of restricted companions (LPs).
From the angle of the composition of the contributors, it is a multi-level “network” overlaying the central authorities, native governments, and monetary establishments. The National Council for Social Security Fund brings in national-level long-term funds and the requirement for “safety.” The Agricultural Bank of China and its subsidiaries, ABC Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. and ABC Capital, have each monetary energy and various monetary sources overlaying the entire nation. Zhechuang Group and its subsidiary, Zhechuang Industrial Co., Ltd., are provincial-level monetary funding platforms and hubs for presidency funding funds. The provincial state-owned property contributors in Zhejiang have fashioned an in depth collaboration between state-owned property and finance to collectively assist scientific and technological innovation. Local platforms similar to Hangzhou Capital and Ningbo Jin Investment hyperlink their respective industrial bases and regional mission sources.
This structural design not solely ensures the necessary place of social safety funds within the fund governance but in addition totally mobilizes the passion of provincial-level, municipal-level, and monetary establishments.
The Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund itself is a mom fund with a scale of fifty billion yuan. Using the mom fund because the “central hub,” it formulates general methods round nationwide methods and the primary instructions of latest productive forces. It adopts a “1+6” operation and administration mechanism, with six particular funds established to hold out investments based on completely different methods, focusing on main scientific and technological innovation, future industries, strategic rising industries, mergers and acquisitions, and different fields, thus establishing a fund matrix overlaying completely different levels and methods.
At the primary work promotion assembly of the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Zhechuang Group clearly proposed to finish the institution of the six particular funds with completely different methods as quickly as potential and obtain the profitable supply of the primary batch of initiatives to attain a superb begin.
This implies that within the top-level design, this mom fund in Zhejiang has an apparent “systematic” intention from the very starting. Instead of creating single-point investments, it goals to kind a three-dimensional community of “fund group + industrial group” with complementary methods along with the provincial “4+1” particular funds, varied enterprise capital funds, and industrial funding funds.
If the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund is likened to a 50-billion-yuan plane provider, then Zhechuang Group is the primary drive on the bridge.
Public info exhibits that along with the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Zhechuang Group at the moment manages provincial authorities funding funds, the provincial science and expertise innovation mom fund, and varied particular funds, with a cumulative administration scale of almost 170 billion yuan. It has each the power to make direct investments in initiatives and wealthy expertise in working mom funds. In addition to fund investments, its enterprise portfolio additionally contains monetary fairness administration, digital expertise, and ecological empowerment, forming a complete “five-in-one” functionality of “industrial investment + venture capital + finance + digital + ecology.”
In the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund, it undertakes at the least three roles:
(1) Fund supervisor: formulating the general funding technique of the fund, coordinating and selling high-quality investments by the managers of every particular fund, and integrating sources to provide full play to the benefits of related events similar to LPs;
(2) Hub of the fund group: connecting the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund with the prevailing provincial “4+1” particular funds and provincial authorities funding funds to kind an funding synergy;
(3) Ecological service supplier: based mostly on the expertise of investing in additional than 1,600 enterprises and cooperating with greater than 200 market-oriented funding establishments in fields similar to superior manufacturing and three main scientific and technological innovation highlands, offering complete companies similar to funding and financing, industrial chain connection, and assist for scientists’ entrepreneurship to the invested enterprises.
What this displays can be a Zhejiang-style coverage surroundings. By utilizing the mannequin of “one hub platform + multiple market-oriented funds,” it tries to combine fiscal and state-owned property sources, monetary instruments, and industrial insurance policies right into a community quite than managing them in a fragmented means.
If we return greater than 100 years, when the Ningbo Gang was doing enterprise in different areas, essentially the most generally used device was “joint stock.” Several family-owned companies collectively contributed capital, divided dividends based on shares, and shared dangers.
To some extent, the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund right now is a contemporary model of this “joint stock spirit.”
The National Council for Social Security Fund, Zhejiang Province, policy-based monetary establishments, and native state-owned property contribute capital collectively within the type of LPs. Managed by skilled establishments and working in accordance with market-oriented, authorized, {and professional} ideas, whereas fulfilling the funding returns of LPs, it strongly helps the event of the scientific and technological innovation business, forming a optimistic cycle of “science and technology – finance – industry.”
From the “joint stock business” of historic enterprise gangs to the coordinated operation of a mom fund with a number of contributors and clear guidelines right now, Zhejiang has at all times had its personal means of “organizing scattered funds to do long-term business.”
Implementation and Demonstration in “Innovative Zhejiang”
The significance of a mom fund lies in the place it in the end allocates the funds. For the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund, the reply isn’t just on the checklist of some fashionable sectors, however extra importantly, whether or not it may be in sync with all the set of innovation and industrial insurance policies being promoted in Zhejiang and supply a really affected person capital device for this area.
According to the official statements, the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund focuses on investing in fields similar to synthetic intelligence, new-generation info expertise, high-end tools, new supplies, and biomedicine, that are the core instructions of the nation’s strategic rising industries and new productive forces.
However, within the context of Zhejiang, this “sector list” is definitely additionally a “capability list.”
In the sector of digital economic system and the Internet, by years of selling the “No. 1 Project” of the digital economic system, Zhejiang has fashioned a cluster of cloud computing, huge knowledge, and platform economic system centered round Hangzhou.
In phrases of high-end tools and superior manufacturing, the “415X” mission for cultivating superior manufacturing clusters is constructing a number of trillion-yuan world-class industrial clusters, with steady breakthroughs in areas similar to robotics, new power tools, and key fundamental parts.
In fields similar to life sciences and new supplies, the “315” mission for constructing a scientific and technological innovation system clearly lists “life sciences and new materials” as one of many three scientific and technological innovation highlands and systematically arranges sources round 15 strategic areas.
In different phrases, the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund doesn’t “find sectors after having the funds,” however as an alternative allocates funds to the potential nodes which might be already taking form however nonetheless want long-term capital assist, following Zhejiang’s current comparative benefits and coverage layouts.
From the angle of the coverage surroundings, this mom fund won’t function alone however will probably be built-in into a number of main initiatives being promoted in Zhejiang.
It will probably be related with the “315” mission for constructing a scientific and technological innovation system, specializing in supporting high-level innovation platforms, analysis on key core applied sciences, and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements across the three scientific and technological innovation highlands of “artificial intelligence, life sciences, and new materials and new energy” and 15 strategic areas.
It will probably be related with the “415X” mission for cultivating superior manufacturing clusters, utilizing instruments similar to merger and acquisition funds and industrial funds to help within the reorganization and integration of the upstream and downstream of the economic chain and clever transformation round a number of trillion-yuan superior manufacturing clusters.
It will probably be related with the “No. 1 Project” of the digital economic system and its upgraded model, specializing in supporting the digitalization of industries, the industrialization of digital applied sciences, and the marketization of knowledge components, in order that the digital economic system can actually turn out to be a tangible asset that the fund can consider.
Under such a design, the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund is extra like a capital hub that “connects” a number of coverage traces. Although it appears to be only a 50-billion-yuan mom fund, in reality, it may well amplify the great results of the “315 + 415X + No. 1 Project” by the linkage of sub-funds with native industrial funds.
As one of many provinces with essentially the most lively non-public economic system in China, lately, insurance policies such because the “Several Measures of Zhejiang Province to Promote the High – quality Development of the Private Economy” have been intensively launched, emphasizing the usage of varied instruments similar to fiscal, monetary, and industrial insurance policies to assist non-public enterprises cut back prices, stabilize expectations, and promote transformation. It additionally mentions that the main and driving function of commercial funds such because the “4+1” particular funds needs to be introduced into play, and the proportion of the “4+1” particular funds invested in non-public funding initiatives shouldn’t be lower than 70%.
Under such a coverage framework, the Zhejiang Social Security Science and Technology Innovation Fund is anticipated to play two roles:
Upward, it is going to turn out to be a bridge connecting nationwide lengthy – time period funds and native authorities industrial insurance policies. Downward, by particular funds and cooperating common companions (GPs), it is going to direct the funds to scientific and technological innovation enterprises which might be keen to conduct lengthy – time period R & D, take the technological route, and have the spirit of frontier exploration.
In the long term, this isn’t solely an “asset allocation project” for social safety funds but in addition a “capital structure optimization project” for the non-public economic system in Zhejiang.
The successive launches of the social safety science and expertise innovation mom funds in Zhejiang and Jiangsu imply that the mannequin of “social security funds + financial institutions + local funds” is evolving from exploration to a scientific method. In the long run, this mannequin is more likely to be replicated and tailored in areas such because the Chengdu – Chongqing space, the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Beijing – Tianjin – Hebei area.
On this path, what Zhejiang provides is probably not the one reply, however it’s positively a extremely invaluable “sample.”
Here, there’s a authorities fund community accrued by lengthy – time period apply, a coverage surroundings that encourages first – mover benefits and digital governance capabilities