China is rapidly expanding the role of insurance in supporting innovation, with technology insurance providing 8.7 trillion yuan ($1.29 trillion) in risk coverage for scientific and technological activities in the first eight months of 2026, up nearly 70 percent from a year earlier.

As the government moves to build a more comprehensive risk-sharing system for innovation, insurers are being encouraged to cover not just assets and end products, but the research, testing and commercialization processes behind them.

Recently, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and other relevant government departments jointly convened a meeting on the development and advancement of technology insurance. The meeting reviewed practical experience from local governments and insurers and set out priorities for the next stage of work.

Official data show that the number of participating insurance providers has grown from the initial four pilot institutions to more than 60. Local initiatives in areas such as commercial spaceflight, integrated circuits and quantum technology have achieved positive results.

It was emphasized at the meeting that technology insurance is an effective means of improving risk-sharing mechanisms for major technological breakthroughs and supporting high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology.

Relevant policies and measures should focus on three fundamental questions: Who should be covered, what should be covered, and how should it be covered? Local governments should adapt their approaches to local circumstances, develop innovative and distinctive insurance products and services, and place greater emphasis on building diversified insurance protection systems, the meeting said.

It urged expanding technology insurance from protecting assets to protecting the innovation process, from covering outcomes to covering exploration, and from providing economic compensation to reducing risks and enhancing confidence and capacity. In addition, a coordination mechanism for advancing technology insurance should be established to ensure the effective implementation of relevant policies.

The meeting called for a focus on major national science and technology initiatives and technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, with the aim of expanding insurance coverage and bringing technology insurance into industrial parks, business incubators and high-tech development zones.

Insurance products should be optimized across the entire innovation chain — from research and development, pilot testing and commercialization of research results to first trials, first applications and industrialization. Risk assessment, monitoring and early warning, and the identification of potential hazards should be integrated into companies’ innovation processes, the meeting said.

It also underlined the need to support China’s three international technological innovation centers in Beijing (the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region), Shanghai (the Yangtze River Delta region) and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to become leading locations for the launch and development of innovative technology insurance products, allowing them to serve as pioneers and models for broader adoption.