SHANGHAI — China’s new science and technology innovation board will start trading on July 22, with the first batch of 25 companies debuting on the board, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) announced on July 5.

By July 4, the SSE has handled applications for an initial public offering (IPO) on the sci-tech board from 141 companies, most of which are in the fields of next-generation IT, biomedicine, advanced equipment and new materials.

The new board, proposed in November 2018 and launched at the SSE last month, is the first submarket of China’s capital market to adopt the registration-based IPO system.

It is aimed to provide direct financing support for tech companies and help the world’s second-largest capital market spearhead a new round of reforms.