(Yicai Global) March 25 -- The Shanghai Stock Exchange has accepted nine of 13 applications to list on its new science and technology innovation board since it began taking submissions on March 18.

The nine will find out whether or not they are eligible to list within six months, the bourse said in a statement on March 22. The remaining four are still under review as they filed their applications later.

Three of the accepted applications were information tech firms, two made high-end equipment, two were biomedical companies, one was a new materials maker and one was a new-energy enterprise. The majority were based along the east coast, while two were in Wuhan in central China.

Eight of the nine are already profitable.

"The companies differ by industry, size, operation condition and development stage," the SSE said, adding that they all "have certain science and technology innovation attributes, reflecting the sci-tech board listing requirements."

Long Road Ahead

The nine successful applicants still have a long way to go before their shares trade publicly. Under the SSE's review process, firms need to complete five steps before they can list on the new board: application acceptance, review and inquiry, listing review, registration with the China Securities Regulatory Commission and then the initial public offering. All but the CSRC registration are done via the SSE.

Progress of each of the applications will be publicly available online via the SSE website.

"The Issuance Examination Committee of the CSRC reviews listing applications via a vote," an SSE official told Yicai Global. "Each member's vote is confidential, and those of the sci-tech board are kept closed through group discussions. Results will be disclosed the same day as the votes to keep the whole process open and transparent."

Editor: James Boynton