Eight firms from southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu are planning to land on the Science and Technology Innovation Board this year and 30 more firms are preparing to do so next year, according to Chengdu's municipal financial regulators.

Widely known as the Chinese Nasdaq, the new board from Shanghai Stock Exchange is an official attempt to roll out registration-based IPOs and provide support to smaller high-tech firms.

Different to China's existing boards, the Science and Technology Innovation Board does not only accept profitable companies. One clinical breakthrough plus a market cap of at least four billion U.S. dollars are enough for a pharma company to apply.

"Many good young technology firms can hardly accumulate profits but they have great growth potential. Technology innovation needs research and development, which requires lots of money. The new board can for sure help these high-tech firms," said Yue Zhezhou, CEO of Century Forever – a pharmaceutical company based in southwest China.

Century Forever aims to land its technology commercialization arm on the new Science and Technology Innovation Board next year after meeting IPO prerequisites, with products entering the second phase of clinical trials. In the past one and a half years, Yue has been helping over 90 new biomedical products developed by Sichuan University's West China Hospital reach the market. The hospital is often ranked top in terms of research and development.

Companies like Century Forever spend tens of millions of U.S. dollars every quarter for just one new drug. Once the drug successfully hits the market it can easily bring profits of billion dollars. But due to the nature of biomedicine, it could over ten years for clinical trials before any of them can be put up for sale.

"Biomedicine has a relatively longer investment cycle- high risks and high yields. Private capital primarily focuses on quick returns, which can hardly support the full cycle for biomedicine's development," said Liang Peng, founder of Clover Biopharmaceuticals.

While Clover Biopharmaceuticals is taking a wait-and-see approach as the exact date for the new board launch has not yet been confirmed, a steady stream of financial support is essential for biomedical firms.

"Investments need to follow necessary capital market regulations before they can be injected into pharma firms. That's where the Science and Technology Innovation Board can play an important role, especially for biomedicine start-ups," said Huang Huajun, the general manager for Skyriver Biological and Pharmaceutical Industry Incubation Park in Chengdu.

Security experts believe the new board can also offer more assistance to tech firms from China's inland cities like Chengdu.

"Chengdu has been rolling out preferential policies to attract talented people and tech firms in recent years. There is a lot of room for future development but in the short term, these firms are still relatively weak in marketing their products compared to companies from the coastal area. With help from the capital market, an IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board could accelerate growth," said Tian Yuqi, the head of investment banking at Guotai Junan Securities Sichuan Branch.

Other inland Chinese cities are trying different means to encourage local firms to apply for the new board. Xi'an, the capital of northwestern Shaanxi Province, can offer millions in policy support to companies that successfully register IPOs on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.