Zhongguancun sets entrepreneurship and innovation trends

Zhongguancun has been a leading center for entrepreneurship and innovation in China.

Under the guidance and support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Zhongguancun announced in Beijing both a progressive project on China's entrepreneurship and a demonstration project on the crossover and integration of the Internet on Wednesday, Feb 4.

The initiative aims to promote public entrepreneurship and crossover innovation.

Leader in entrepreneurship

"We often joke that if a signboard falls down and hits ten people, nine of them would be college students, but now I would say that nine of them would be entrepreneurs," claimed a veteran entreprenuer Yan Wenwen, founder of GolfSense and WifiPix.

Many entrepreneurs, like Yan, have emerged in Beijing's Zhongguancun in recent years.

With the improving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Zhongguancun, many talented and skilled young students from Tsinghua University, Peking University and other colleges and universities choose to start their businesses there.

Post-90s generation, veteran entrepreneurs, key employees of leading enterprises and overseas entrepreneurs have all become the main forces of Zhongguancun entrepreneurs.

Angel investors, innovation incubators and makers organizations have formed a new business environment in Zhongguancun.

Maker refers to people who turn innovative ideas into creative products due to their hobbies and interests.

The first project will optimize Zhongguancun's ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation, transform the function of the government and promote high-end industries by developing new technology, products, services and business model.

To be more specific, the project will help universities and institutes train young entrepreneurs, building a number of incubation platforms for emerging industries and cultivate a "maker culture" for makers organization.

It will attract world-class personnel, promote the development of angel investment and improve financial service system in Zhongguancun.

Meanwhile, it will develop a "mass maker space" that pioneer marketization, professionalism, integration and networking.

It will also shape a better environment for entrepreneurship and carry forward Zhongguancun's innovative entrepreneurial culture.

"The project is part of the innovation-driven development strategy. It will develop professional and innovative incubators, explore new incubation models for the Internet and makers, and provide an open service platform for small and micro enterprises," said Cao Jianlin, vice-director of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

By 2020, Zhongguancun is expected to attract 200,000 science and technology entrepreneurs.

It will set up 500 "mass maker space", including 80 innovative incubator, 50 business service institutions overseas and more than 10 entrepreneurial communities.