General Secretary Xi Jinping has prioritized the need to speed up the efforts to nurture a number of world-class enterprises with excellent products and brand imaging, leadership in innovation and modern governance; China’s SMEs are full of inspiration and vitality, and can do great things. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen support for SMEs in innovation and promote the development of “professional, specialized and innovative” SMEs. The MIIT works unswervingly to both consolidate and develop the public sector, and encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector. We have both pushed ahead with comprehensive reform and improved policies and environment to protect and stimulate the vitality of enterprises and significantly improve their comprehensive strength and competitiveness. From 2012 to 2021, the total assets and operating revenue of China’s top 500 manufacturing enterprises had increased from RMB19.7 trillion and RMB21.7 trillion to RMB44.33 trillion and RMB40.24 trillion respectively. The SMEs have continuously enhanced their comprehensive strength, core competitiveness and capabilities in fulfilling social responsibilities. By the end of 2021, the number of market entities nationwide reached 150 million, or 2.8 times more as compared with 2012. Among them, 48.423 million were enterprises, an increase by 1.7 times, with more than 99% being SMEs; the number of industrial SMEs above designated size reached 401,000, with a total operating revenue of RMB75.5 trillion, total profit of RMB4.7 trillion and total assets of RMB77.3 trillion, an increase of 23.5%, 38.7%, 37.1% and 101.5% respectively over 2012. In 2021, the total number of privately employed individuals in China was 400 million, 200 million more than that of 2012. According to the data of the fourth national economic census, the SMEs employed 80% of the total workforce in enterprises. Private enterprises, mainly MSMEs, became China’s largest market entity in foreign trade in 2019. In 2021, their import and export value accounted for 48.6% of the total, with a contribution to foreign trade growth exceeding 58.2%. In 2020, the R&D expenditure of industrial enterprises above designated size reached RMB1.53 trillion, or 2.55 times of 2012, with investment intensity up from 0.71% to 1.41%. The number of industrial enterprises with R&D activities increased from 47,000 in 2012 to 147,000 in 2020, or from a proportion of 13.7% to 36.7%. Up to now, the MIIT has nurtured 4,762 national-level “little giant” enterprises and 848 national-level manufacturing champions in specific market segments, mobilizing local governments to nurture over 40,000 provincial-level “professional, specialized and innovative” SMEs and register more than 110,000 potential enterprises for future nurturing programs. The average R&D intensity of champion enterprises in specific market segments and the “little giants” was 5% and 7% respectively, which was 5 times and 7 times higher than the average of industrial enterprises above designated size, acting as important guarantee to raise economic vitality in innovation and solidify the resilience and competitiveness of China’s industrial chain and supply chain.