China’s greater emphasis on cultivating competitive small and medium-sized enterprises will help further stabilize the industrial chain and trigger the vitality of its industrial economy, officials and experts said.

The comments came after the 2022 Government Work Report said China will work to nurture specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products.

Such enterprises, also nicknamed “little giant” companies, focus on a market niche and master key technologies with strong innovation capacity.

Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said on Tuesday that although “little giant” companies only account for a small proportion of SMEs in China, the average growth rate of their revenues, profit margins and invention patents held are far higher than those of overall SMEs.