Editor's note: John Gong is a research fellow at Charhar Institute and professor at the University of International Business and Economics. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Shanghai sci-tech innovation board, also called the STAR market, is slated to officially open on Monday. The first wave of 25 companies that will be traded all belong to technology sectors. Amid the fanfare of celebrating the birth of some more billionaires in China, let's go back to the time when Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed this idea in the first place during the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last year.

We already have several equity trading boards in operation for small and medium-sized companies, in addition to the gigantic A-share market on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Why do we need one more?

The idea is pretty simple – to ease the capital-raising difficulties for small-cap technology companies and beef up the market environment for incentivizing corporate innovation. Think of it as China's Nasdaq that is particularly catering to the business of risky technology investments. Read the story>>