Incubators nurture innovative start-ups
- Source: Global Times
- [13:36 August 30 2010]
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File photo of Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Pudong New Area. Photo: IC
By Li Xiang
The rise of initiatives to support innovative start-ups has made Shanghai a hotbed for entrepreneurship, according to speakers at the 2nd Annual China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum 2010 held on Saturday at China Europe International Business School in Pudong New Area.
"Shanghai has 42 incubators for young, innovative businesses," said Wang Zhen, deputy director of Shanghai Technology Innovation Center. "Those incubators have fed 2,242 enterprises and created 35,131 job positions. A total of 976 incubated companies have since moved on to occupy hi-tech business parks."
The criteria for which companies are accepted vary from incubator to incubator, although the purpose of all is to provide an environment to give innovative start-ups time to find their feet.
"Even if the founders only have a nascent idea of how to do their business, the start-up can settle down in an incubator," Wang added.
Set up in August 2008, the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park's incubator is home to 12 start-ups in pharmaceuticals and IT. Each agrees to spend three years in the incubator, which can be extended to five years.
Since last year, two new policies and a revised edition of the city's science and technology progress regulations have also made conditions easier for innovation-based small firms.
"The number of these new privately-owned enterprises may not be increasing that fast, but their registered capital is surging," Liu Xiaolong, deputy director of the management committee of Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, said.
