Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street: From "Coffee Shop" to "Industry Faction"

Beijing's "Zhongguancun Startup Street" recently celebrated its second anniversary. In the past two years, the "cafés" on this 200-meter-long street have held an average of 2.2 entrepreneurial activities per day, incubated 1.4 technology companies, and one team received financing every 1.5 days, with an average financing of 7 million yuan.

Behind the numbers, it is shown that a new "fission" is quietly happening in Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street: a group of domestic and foreign professional R&D, industrial chain resources, original scientific and technological innovation forces and other industry giants have settled in one after another, accelerating the ability of entrepreneurship and innovation to lead the real economy. As a national double innovation weathervane, the transformation of Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street from a "cafe" to an "industry faction" indicates that my country's "double innovation" will enter a new stage.

Li Qiaowei of Noitom Technologies returned to Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street early in the morning on the 12th to attend the 2nd anniversary celebration of the street. The past two years have been the key two years for the Noitom team to accelerate its growth.

In 2012, Noitom Technology was established in Beijing, with the team specializing in core technologies such as "motion capture and recognition". "At that time, we had the technology, but we were still exploring how to grow quickly and improve management. In 2014, after many twists and turns, we found Lenovo Star on the entrepreneurial street and entered the entrepreneurial acceleration period," said Li Qiaowei.

"In the next two years, the Noitom team entered acceleration mode, and technology, market and talent grew rapidly." Li Jiaowei said that on this street with dozens of venture capital institutions and incubators, the company obtained a large amount of innovative resources, its products were recognized overseas, R&D institutions were established around the world, and cooperation was reached with overseas industry giants.

"More importantly, the neighborhood has given us a lot of intangible strength and support. For example, we have the brand endorsement of Lenovo Star and the experience support of professional investors, which are the keys to our rapid growth." Xie Yinan of Megvii Technology said that this facial recognition technology company, with "post-85s" as its main force, has won orders from state-owned and large commercial banks in two years to create a "face-swiping" payment service.

"Zhongguancun Entrepreneurship Street", the first block in China with a high concentration of entrepreneurial service elements, has also welcomed new "neighbors" - the biopharmaceutical company "WuXi AppTec", the chip giant " Intel ", and so on.

"We think Zhongguancun Startup Street is the place that can best unleash innovative results." In the past year, Yang Qing, executive vice president and chief operating officer of WuXi AppTec, has been looking for "makers." He said that large companies in the field of cutting-edge technology also need to find continuous innovation momentum, such as innovative small companies around biomedicine.

In Zhongguancun Startup Street, WuXi AppTec decided to provide full-chain, highly professional services in the field of biopharmaceuticals to solve the dilemma of "wanting to invest but not understanding" that has always existed in the pharmaceutical startup field and to increase the success rate of entrepreneurship.

Similar to WuXi AppTec, Zhongguancun Startup Street is becoming a new soil for traditional large enterprises and industrial capital to seek innovation. Different from the service type of "cafe", the new industrialized and professional services allow entrepreneurship and innovation to not only stay in the Internet field, but also cover more areas of real economy transformation.

From the "coffee shop" phenomenon in the "enlightenment period" of mobilizing the enthusiasm for mass entrepreneurship and innovation, to the current "industry faction" stage that continues to focus on original innovation, the power of entrepreneurial and innovative teams will be better released: on the one hand, a large number of core technologies will continue to break through; on the other hand, key technological achievements will support industrial transformation.

"Large enterprises and industrial capital supporting entrepreneurship will be an important trend globally. The changes in Zhongguancun have also set an example for the in-depth development of mass entrepreneurship and innovation across the country," said Yang Qing.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.