BEIJING, March 2 -- China's top securities regulator on Friday night released regulations on the science and technology innovation board, which pilots registration-based initial public offerings (IPO) system, a major reform step for China's capital market.

The regulations, to be implemented on a trial basis, took effect on March 1, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

The new sci-tech board in the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) focuses on companies in high-tech and strategically emerging sectors such as new generation information technology, advanced equipment, new materials and energy, and biomedicine, according to the CSRC.

Under the pilot registration system, eligible companies can become listed by filing required documents. Currently, new shares of the A-share market are subject to approval from the securities watchdog.

The new board is crucial to optimizing the multi-tiered capital market system and enhancing the capital market's capability to serve the real economy and facilitate the cause of building Shanghai into an international financial center and science and technology innovation hub, the SSE said on its website.