The Establishment Meeting of Tianshan Torch Entrepreneurship and Innovation Alliance and a Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum are convened on June 4 in the Urumqi State High-tech Zone (New District). [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Establishment Meeting of Tianshan Torch Entrepreneurship and Innovation Alliance and a Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum were convened on June 4 in the Urumqi State High-tech Zone (New District), as an innovation accomplishment in response to the requirements of the National Conference on Science and Technological Innovation.

Initiated by 15 organizations including the zone’s S&T bureau, Garage Cafe Co, the CAS’s Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Xinjiang University, and Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, the alliance approved the first board members, drafted its rules and agreements, and set up committees of specialists for investment and tutoring management. It already has 92 member organizations.

The zone has long emphasized construction of maker spaces. Eight spaces, including one national and four regional, were inaugurated in the zone at the meeting to occupy over 10,000 square meters. The zone has 212,800 square meters of usable area in total, available for 248 teams of innovators and start-ups, and ten incubators and accelerators; favorable conditions for the development of maker spaces, innovators and start-ups, and small and medium-sized S&T companies.

Gao Feng, deputy mayor of Urumqi, said the alliance has a practice of encouraging mass entrepreneurship and innovation by the zone and enterprises, under the guidance of the region, the Urumqi Party Committee, and the government with the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)'s High-tech Development and Industrialization Department, the Torch Center, and related departments of the region and the city.

Encouraging mass entrepreneurship and innovation was also a strategy of the Party central committee and the State Council, developed to create new economic engines in the "new normal" economy, with maker spaces one of the measures, he added.

Zhang Xiaolei, chief of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region’s Science and Technology Department, and Xie Jihua, president of the National Eastern Tech-transfer Center (NETC), announce the opening of the NETC’s Xinjiang branch at the Establishment Meeting of Tianshan Torch Entrepreneurship and Innovation Alliance and a Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum on June 4. [Photo provided to China Daily]

He noted that the zone established the alliance in order to provide good, effective and convenient services for innovators and startups and in turn to support the economic restructuring with talented personnel, technology and finance.

The alliance will enhance financing services in maker spaces and the transformation of technological achievements; regulate the market for innovations and entrepreneurship to improve the development levels of maker spaces in the zone, in Urumqi, and in Xinjiang; and facilitate sharing of profit-increasing innovative elements and resources by the alliance members, such as hiring more specialists in investment, management and finance to help them find projects, resources and capital more easily.

Gao expressed his hope that the alliance will play a leading role in promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, win-win cooperation, and stimulate innovators and startups, especially youth and small and medium-sized companies, to explore their potential and dare to innovate, drawing on various incubators, maker spaces, key enterprises, and research institutions.

Liu Chengyuan, deputy mayor of Urumqi said the alliance is a big step in the city's strategy of developing mass entrepreneurship and an innovation demo city and an innovation-driven economy, and he hopes it will be a resource sharing platform to accelerate the integrated development of S&T research, professional services, and venture capital.

Gao Feng, deputy mayor of Urumqi, gives a speech at the Establishment Meeting of Tianshan Torch Entrepreneurship and Innovation Alliance and a Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum on June 4. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Yu Huan, deputy secretary-general of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's government, after extending congratulations on the two events on behalf of the government, said that the alliance is a transition of the maker spaces in Urumqi from disorganization to collaboration and is sure to stimulate mass entrepreneurship and innovation in the whole region. He called for strong support for the alliance from related departments of the region and the city to accelerate Xinjiang’s innovation-driven development.

The meeting also witnessed the settlement of the Garage Cafe Co in the zone, with Li Pin, the zone’s executive deputy chief, and Yan Zhonghua, in charge of the company, signing a contract. In addition, it inaugurated the National Eastern Tech-transfer Center (NETC)’s Xinjiang branch and the official website.

At the forum after the meeting, Sui Zhiqiang, division-level researcher of the MOST's Torch Center, explained national policies concerning mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Yan Zhonghua, also a senior expert of the cafe company, shared stories and situations typical of start-ups and the company’s successful experience; and Xie Jihua, president of the NETC, gave a speech on "let intellectual property and technologies give wings to mass entrepreneurship and innovation".

Hao Jianmin, head of the zone, chaired the meeting.

Attendees:

Yu Huan, deputy secretary-general of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region’s government

Zhang Xiaolei, chief of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region’s Science and Technology Department

Wang Zhongshan, (departmental level) deputy director of the region’s Economic and Information Technology Commission

Liu Chengyuan, deputy mayor of Urumqi

Gao Feng, deputy mayor of Urumqi

Ma Qingyun, head of the Intellectual Property Bureau, the region’s Science and Technology Department

Li Xiao, head of Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics& Chemistry, CAS

Yang Qian, deputy secretary of the region’s Youth League Committee

Yang Xiaowei, inspector of the region’s Science and Technology Department

Zhu Jian, deputy head of Employment Bureau, the region’s Human Resources and Social Security Department

Zhao Guanghui, deputy secretary of Xinjiang University’s Party committee

Alim Yakov, deputy secretary of Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics’s Party committee

Sui Zhiqiang, division-level researcher of the MOST’s Torch Center

Hao Jianmin, head of the Urumqi State High-tech Zone

Xie Jihua, president of the NETC

Yan Zhonghua, person in charge of Garage Cafe Co

The 14 newly-appointed board members of the alliance:

President: Garage Cafe Co

Vice-Presidents:

Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics& Chemistry, CAS

Xinjiang University

Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics

The zone’s Entrepreneurship Center

Urumqi High-tech Financing Guarantee Co

Xinjiang Torch Venture Capital Co

Xinjiang Chida Electrical Development Co

Xinjiang Shenxin Technology Cooperation Base

Xinjiang MakerSpace and Start-up Incubators Co

Xinjiang University Science Park Co

Xinjiang University IT Innovation Park Co

Dark Horse Club’s Xinjiang branch

COWORK Maker Space (Xinjiang Headquarters) Co

Secretary-generals:

Xinjiang MakerSpace and Start-up Incubators Co

Eight Maker Spaces:

Xinjiang University Science Park Co

Xinjiang Yun’an Space Digital Technology Co

Xinjiang Baihuacun Software Park Development Co

Xinjiang MakerSpace and Start-up Incubators Co

Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics

Xinjiang Fruit Group Co

Xinjiang University IT Innovation Park Co

Xinjiang Minghua Technolgy Co

Edited by Peter Nordlinger