Enterprise Incubator's Second Venture
Three Steps to Explore a New Path. "Incubators have this irreplaceable role in supporting the construction of an innovative and entrepreneurial environment. It is the vocation of Caohejing Technology & Entrepreneurship Center to promote the development of high-tech industry by incubating high-tech enterprises, and in turn enhance the innovation capability of the whole park." According to Han Baofu, General Manager of Caohejing Science and Technology Venture Center, the key factor of the Center's achievements lies in the entrepreneurial mode of operation. From registration, financial system to work launch, the center accounts and manages in an enterprise way. "We are probably the only one in Shanghai Hi-Tech Zone incubator that does this." Han Baofu newspaper told reporters, "Enterprise operation is actually our entrepreneurial center of the second venture."
As early as 1989, science and technology incubation was already underway in Caohejing. Ma Ronglin, executive vice chairman of the Venture Center, divided the development of the Venture Center into 3 stages. "In the beginning, the title was 'Science and Technology Pioneering Village', which means that the farmers' bungalows in the development zone were electrified and installed with telephones, and were offered to the science and technology personnel who went to the sea at extremely low rents, so that they could have a place to industrialize their achievements as soon as possible. The 'Technology Venture Village' was the prototype of the present Venture Center. By 1994, the Emerging Technology Venture Company replaced the Venture Village, and since then the incubator has existed in the form of a state-owned enterprise that not only has to do a good job of transforming scientific and technological achievements, but also has to take into account social benefits. This was a stage when the incubator explored how to operate as an enterprise. The current entrepreneurship center was formally established in 1997, with a total investment of 100 million yuan and three incubation bases with a total area of 29,000 square meters."
Two benefits, two harvests.
Nurturing startups risky small gains, so the incubator with a clear social welfare nature, why use the entrepreneurial model? Han Baofu has a clear explanation of this: if the business incubator is not able to operate itself well in the way of business, how can it incubate enterprises? How can it improve its effective service standard? How can it attract enterprises to move in and how can it survive for a long time? It should be fully recognized that a business incubator, like a start-up enterprise, has to go through difficulties and hardships. It has to have its own feasibility report, development plan, select suitable staff, obtain funding, and then improve its services to meet the needs of its clients. Even after a business incubator has grown, it still has to keep its development plan up to date, choose better staff, and develop new services to meet the changing needs of the incubatees. The only way to do this is to manage the business incubator like a business, regardless of whether the business incubator is a for-profit or non-profit entity, and to guide the incubatees to progress with the incubator*** by using the business incubator as a template.
And that's exactly what happened. From the second year of its establishment, the Center began to make a profit, and the cumulative profit amounted to millions of dollars; the state-owned assets have been preserved and increased in value, with a value-added rate of nearly 5%. At the same time, the Center has incubated more than 300 technology enterprises over the years, with a success rate of more than 90%, realizing a double harvest of social and economic benefits.
The fourth procurement, on track.
Since we have to take the road of entrepreneurship, we have to pay attention to corporate earnings. Where does the revenue of the incubator come from? Caohejing Technology and Entrepreneurship Center (CTEC), after several years of exploration, has summarized 4 main income points and thus reached profitability.
Basic procurement, this is a fixed income, including rent and other property costs, which is basically equivalent to the landlord's income; service procurement, the incubator provides basic services such as business registration, project declaration, qualification audit, etc., and the enterprise pays a certain amount of compensation; government procurement, including the issuance of a variety of incentive funds, etc., which is in fact a manifestation of the income of the incubator in lieu of the government's exercise of public welfare; enterprise value-added behavior; and the income obtained from the business value-added behavior. Value-added purchasing by enterprises includes a wide range of contents and forms, such as financial and management counseling run by the business center, technology, investment and financing information, as well as holding exhibitions and promoting products. Value-added purchasing not only increases the revenue of the business center, but also deepens its service function.
Regionalization and integration of resources from point to point
The services of Caohejing Technology Entrepreneurship Center are not only limited to the incubation of startups, but also transformed from seedling to forestation, from entrepreneurial service to innovation service, and from the service of startups to the service of innovation industry. The center is trying to practice the regionalization service and promote the industrial development of Caohejing Hi-Tech Park and even Xuhui region.
The Center undertakes the preliminary examination of all high-tech enterprises in Caohejing. In 2005, the center reviewed 157 high-tech enterprises in the area, and accepted 13 high-tech enterprises and 8 new ones. In addition, the center has expanded its training services; in 2004, nearly 550 people from 85 enterprises in the area participated in 10 training courses organized by the center, which included not only the regular trainings such as the integrated thinking of modern human resource management, the seminar on internationalization strategy and offshore operation of enterprises, the art of mobilizing the enthusiasm of employees for leadership building of middle-level cadres of enterprises, but also the training of In addition to the regular training such as modern human resources management integration thinking, operation of offshore operation seminars, leadership construction of middle-level cadres of enterprises, the art of mobilizing staff motivation, and so on, there are also targeted training programs such as "Cambridge Business English Foreign Teaching Classes", which greatly expands the space of training and provides high-quality and practical training services for the incubation base as well as for enterprises and employees in the entire development zone.
The construction of the software park is a major manifestation of the regionalization of the Center's work; in April 2003 and December 2004, the Center received two funding support of 4 million RMB from the Municipal Information Commission for the construction of the basic environment and the training center of the Caohejing Software Park. At present, there are 83 enterprises in the software park, with a total operating income of RMB 2.5 billion, of which the total income from software products is RMB 1 billion and the total expenditure on research and experimental development is RMB 200 million. The center has declared various software projects for 10 software enterprises, of which 2 have obtained 250,000 yuan of government funding and 3 have been recognized as achievement transformation projects. At the same time, the center organized software enterprises to participate in the 2005 Shanghai Information Expo and representatives from the Software Outsourcing Summit to visit the software park, which increased the visibility of Caohejing Software Park.
In 2005, the Center also undertook the promotion and implementation of enterprise informatization of the "Demonstration Informatization Park" project, compiled the methods and implementation details for enterprises to enjoy the subsidy according to the requirements, and held the corresponding project promotion meeting to implement the specific methods of the project operation, and carried out the key publicity for the enterprises. In September, the center made adjustments for the promotion effect of the project and reformulated the corresponding process, and actively coordinated and communicated with the relevant businessmen. in November, the center successfully completed the issuance of 850,000 yuan of subsidies for 41 enterprises, and the actual amount of the contract reached 1,490,000 yuan.
Systematization Process service Effective
Efficient operation comes from a good system. For the resident enterprises, the incubator should be a well-oiled machine with a set of carefully choreographed systematic services in technology, market, finance, management, etc. There are corresponding service modes and contents, which can help the enterprises smoothly embark on the road of entrepreneurship and graduate healthily.
Caohejing Technology Pioneering Center integrates its services into a systematic process, providing all-round and in-depth incubation services for the enterprises from the aspects of market, technology, training, financing, management, etc. In 2004, Caohejing Technology Pioneering Center adjusted the list of key tracking incubatees and chose 8 enterprises as the key ones, and implemented the relevant personnel to track the enterprises and know the dynamics of the enterprises timely. In 2004, the Center adjusted the list of key incubatees, selected 8 enterprises as key enterprises, and implemented relevant personnel to follow up the enterprises, to understand the dynamics of the enterprises in time. At the same time, also for the special needs of enterprises, the center staff sent to the start-up enterprises directly involved in business management, to solve the difficulties faced by the development of enterprises, so as to put them on the right track.
In 2005, the center organized and held 12 enterprise training, including human resources, enterprise information, capital, financial training, etc., and obtained 89% customer satisfaction rate. In addition, the center has established a mechanism of talent exchange with the Municipal Achievement Transformation Center and Shanghai Universities, and become one of the first batch of "Shanghai Universities Students' Employment Internship and Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Guidance Service Bases", which provides a channel for the introduction of talents to the enterprises in the base. After joining the base, the incubatees can find talents smoothly, which effectively solves the bottleneck problem of talents in the process of enterprise development.
Internationalization Grasp the opportunity to win the market
Caohejing Science and Technology Venture Center was one of the first international business incubators in China when it was officially established in 1997, and was awarded the "Best International Business Incubator" in the annual meeting of the Asia Business Incubator Association (ABIA) in October 2004 by the selection committee of the ABIA which consists of international senior business incubator experts, such as LAKAKA. In October 2004, Shanghai International Business Incubator (SIBI) was awarded the title of "Honorary Asian Business Incubator" by the selection committee of Asian Business Incubator Association (ABIA) composed of LAKAKA and other international senior business incubator experts.
In October 1998, the Center successfully held China's "First International Training Course for Business Incubator Managers", which was attended by incubator managers from 10 countries. The Seventh International Business Incubator Training Seminar, also organized by the Center, was held in October 2004, with 28 trainees from 13 countries participating in nearly a week of exchange and seminar activities. The holding of these international training courses has undoubtedly greatly enhanced the influence of Chinese incubators in the world.
For startups, going to the international market is a luxury, and the Center has provided them with some heavenly opportunities. in 2005, the Center set up project cooperation channels with Japanese companies for software companies such as IceTech, Contec Electronics, and Haikao Telecom; organized TuoNeng Medical, Fubo Software, XinLi Technology, and Huabei Technology to participate in China's 2005 exhibition in India; assisted Tarisha, Xinsheng, and Huanbei Technology to participate in China's 2005 exhibition in India; and assisted Tarisha, Xinsheng, and Xinsheng to participate in the 2005 China's exhibition in India. ; assist Tarisha, new source of life to declare the United Kingdom, France's scholarship program; for Galileo and France POLESTAR company matchmaking, looking for business opportunities; the center staff to take advantage of the opportunity to obtain the French National Scholarships for free one-month study tour training in France, but also the base of a good project to France, to find partners for the enterprise.
Standardization Building a platform for continuous efficiency
At the end of 2000, Caohejing Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center became the first incubator in China to pass the IS09000 certification. Through 4 years of quality system operation, the daily work and incubation services of the center have been integrated into the norms and systems, and the standardized services have greatly enhanced the quality level of the center's innovation services. After successfully passing the audit of the 2000 version of Shanghai Quality Audit Center's quality system in June 2003, and obtaining the first certificate covering the process of "scientific and technological innovation and business incubation services", the center has made continuous improvement according to the requirements of "continuous improvement" in the IS09000 quality system. According to the requirements of "Continuous Improvement" in IS09000 quality system, the center has added the clause 7.3 "Design and Development" for its own main business and quality policy and objectives, which fully reflects the center's ability of continuous improvement in terms of quality management and provides a more standardized development space for the expansion of the center's business field. The center from the leadership to the staff continue to strengthen the quality system of learning, in-depth study of the system documents, familiar with the use of the system form. the end of July, the center's quality system has successfully passed the annual audit and 7.3 of the expansion of the version of the certification.
It is always the goal of Caohejing Science & Technology Center to put the center's work into regular management and provide standardized services for enterprises. 2004, the center organized and compiled a handbook of science and technology innovation and entrepreneurship services for Shanghai Caohejing Emerging Technology Development Zone (SCTDZ), which includes application procedures for enterprises residing in the center, procedures and conditions for project recognition, service functions of the center, preferential policies, etc., which provides enterprises with information on various aspects of entry, policies and so on. It provides enterprises with oriented guidelines on entry, policies and other aspects, and further integrates standardization into the daily work of the center, so that the work of the center can be followed and based on evidence.
In order to further standardize the systematic service system, Caohejing Hi-Tech Entrepreneurship Center has also carried out the construction of several service platforms, including "Intermediary Service Platform", "Venture Capital Platform", "Expert Consultation Platform" and "Venture Capital Platform" in 2005, In 2005, "Intermediary Service Platform", "Venture Capital Platform", "Expert Consultation Platform", "Policy Service Platform", "Technology Service Platform" and "Information Service Platform" have started to provide services to the base. "It has already started to provide services to enterprises in the base and the development zone. At present, the online registered users of the service platform reached 308, and through the information platform, 55 policy service information, 25 training activity information and 12 market activity information have been released to enterprises.