SHANGHAI, June 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 2018 Shanghai Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Midsummer Festival was grandly opened at Shanghai Huaxin Huixiang Center. The activities of the event were jointly organized by Xuhui District Government of Shanghai, Instruments & Electronics (Shanghai) Associates (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred as "INESA") and Microsoft China, and hosted by ILAB, the operator of "Xuhui-Instruments & Electronics Entrepreneurship and Innovation Platform".
The Midsummer Festival activities lasted for 10 days, including 5 parts, namely, the Opening Ceremony, the ILAB DemoDay, the Leading-edge Technology Introduction - Hands-on Experimental Camp, the Saimarathon Industry Matching Conference, and the Microsoft Accelerator DemoDay, as well as one-week Black Technology Fair. The festival was a grand event not only for entrepreneurs, but also for all black technology and innovative enthusiasts.
With the theme of "Witness, Innovation, and Creation", the event hoped to build a two-way flow of science and technology resources, connecting China and the world to achieve industrial integration and win-win symbiosis for both companies and industries, thereby realizing the reconstruction of technological products, consumption upgrading, technological innovation and cultural pursuits to help a group of medium, small, and micro-innovation companies realize their dream of redefining advanced science and technology.
Cai Xiaoqing, President of INESA, Chen Shiyan, Deputy District Head of Xuhui District People's Government of Shanghai, and Alain Crozier, senior Global Vice President of Microsoft and Chairman/CEO of Microsoft Greater China, attended and addressed the attendees at the beginning of the event.
INESA President Cai Xiaoqing said, "In recent years, INESA has teamed up with Xuhui District, Microsoft and other strategic partners to jointly build Xuhui- Instruments & Electronics Entrepreneurship and Innovation Community, actively participating in the construction of Shanghai Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Center adhering to the concept of pioneering and innovation. We also responded to the ecological layout of Xuhui District's scientific and technological innovation, took root in the industrial clusters of smart instruments and electronics city, and fostered the emergence of a number of high-level, high-potential representatives of innovative companies.
"INESA has become an industry group with four new areas of new technologies, new industries, new formats, and new models after the last ten years' transformation. In the face of new situations, new tasks and new requirements, and as a state-owned municipal group, INESA will always adhere to the concepts of reform and opening up and innovation, and will continue to take on the role of a pioneer, a practitioner, and a precursor in the process of corporate transformation and development. We also sincerely welcome more innovative institutions and science and technology entrepreneurial enterprises to join the large family of the smart industrial ecosystem of instruments and electronics to make unremitting efforts in building smart cities in China and the world, accelerating Shanghai's march towards an excellent global city and a socialist modernized cosmopolis."
Chen Shiyan, Deputy Head of the Xuhui District People's Government, said in his speech: "Xuhui is the birthplace of Shanghai's modern science and Shanghai culture. And it owns rich resources for technological innovation. At the coordinate of the new era, Xuhui will shoulder the responsibility for gathering more powerful and enduring science and technology entrepreneurial forces, and strive to take the lead to become the benchmark in promoting technological innovation and implementing innovation-driven development strategies.
"First, we build new advantages in innovative industries, and create a globally influential artificial intelligence industry cluster, striving to become a new landmark for building national artificial intelligence industry in Shanghai. Second, we actively cultivate bellwether enterprises to lead innovation. Third, we create the best new business ecosystem to attract more high-end talents and innovative entrepreneurs to take root in Xuhui, to lead Xuhui to develop and to realize their value. We hope that more dreams for innovation and entrepreneurship will be realized on this hot spot in Xuhui."
Alain Crozier, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China, also emphasized that Microsoft had created extraordinary achievements with its mission of empowering everyone and every organization in the world. Microsoft and its partners have conducted fruitful cooperation with a wide ecosystem including government departments, educational institutions, large companies, and start-up companies in Shanghai and other regions in China, achieving common growth and remarkable achievements in the process of supporting innovation and entrepreneurship and digital transformation in all industries with technology, platforms and services. Since Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai was launched a year ago, three batches of 43 student companies have graduated, achieving a rapid growth of over 400% successfully; "ILAB" incubator of Microsoft and INESA has successfully hatched three batches of 65start-up companies with a total valuation of over RMB 600 million; at the same time, the globally-covered and technologically advanced Microsoft Smart Cloud Platform has enabled many star companies in Shanghai to open their expedition to the global market successfully.
Crozier also quoted from a poem by Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese luminary, "I wish to be your faithful friend forever." Microsoft sincerely appreciated the trust and support of Xuhui District and Shanghai for a long time. It was grateful for the full support of its partners including INESA, and thanked all corporate customers and start-up companies for their continued cooperation to grow together.
Facing the future, Microsoft will exert its efforts in the co-construction, win-win, and co-distribution strategies of the Shanghai ecosphere continuously, increase its investment in ecosystem construction, technical platform support, personnel training and deepening mutual trust constantly, and contribute to the continuous development of Shanghai in the new era with its technical innovation represented by artificial intelligence earnestly.
Zhang Suyang, the founding partner of Volcanic Stone Capital and an old revolutionist in the venture capital field, and Zhou Jian, CEO of Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai, were invited to share the topics of science and technology, development and future with all entrepreneurs, creating climaxes on the site with their sharp points of view, vivid language and outstanding personal charm as seniors in the industry.
At the beginning of the theme sharing, Zhang Suyang, founding partner of Volcanic Stone Capital, struck up the conversation in the meeting room with an interesting question. He started with the Big Bang and brought entrepreneurs an interesting proposition - the world is structured. He analyzed the digital model on site with several interesting examples, talking from the 286 computer in 1992 to future AI development. He also showed the width and depth of knowledge as an investor for all participants in the scene.
The second distinguished guest on the stage, Zhou Jian, CEO of Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai, gave an interesting overview of the development status of Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai. As an important project of Microsoft Accelerator landing in China, Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai has helped enterprises in the accelerator achieve an evaluation of RMB28.8 billion in the past two phases. At the end of the sharing, he expected more entrepreneurs to join Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai.
As one of the three major brand events of Yansai Space, DemoDay provided the 12 outstanding incubated companies in each period with a platform for full display and exchange, building a warm and barrier-free funding channel between the innovative companies and investors.
During the presentation, representatives from innovative companies not only took on-site questions from representatives of many outstanding investment institutions but also got their projects magnified under the lens of innovative peers and the media. The 12-minute focused display time of each project searched for the most suitable wings for innovative companies to take off in the future.
Unlike the previous DemoDay, a number of innovative companies brought their own experience projects on the third Demo day. After half a year's arrival and incubation of ILAB, some of the concept products have entered production and landing. The 1000-km2 Black Science and Technology Fair outside the main venue was a concentrated demonstration of the high-quality technological success of the 12 incubated teams. They not only were the participants of the opening ceremony but also enabled the technology enthusiasts including Huaxin Science and Technology Park to experience and share.
At the end of the event, the leaders and guests presented awards to the outstanding alumni and entrepreneurial mentors in the third period. Alumni and entrepreneurial mentors were the core resources for the operation of the ILAB and the most important support for the development and growth of the platform.
The grand opening of 2018 Shanghai Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Midsummer Festival built a bridge between entrepreneurs and investors, and also set sail for the exciting event that followed. The brilliant sparks generated from the contact between entrepreneurs and investors on the stage of the festival will surely form a new wave of vitality on the road of "Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation".
The event would not have been successful without Shanghai's strong support for mass entrepreneurship and innovation. ILAB is also dedicated to truly opening the market for entrepreneurs and to find suitable partners for them. Mr. Xia Jun, Head of ILAB, said, "There are about 400 to 500 mass entrepreneur incubators in Shanghai. They provide infrastructure services mostly, while entrepreneurs are more in need of close and accurate resource matching services. ILAB is not short of office leasing and activity space, or general-purpose courses related to entrepreneurial coaching and training. The real constraint on the ability of incubators to push innovation to a deeper level is to accurately grasp the needs of entrepreneurs. The operator must connect with huge resources on the platform with full enthusiasm to customize effective service according to characteristics of the teams for them to benefit from the incubation process. ILAB has always been practicing the entrepreneur-based idea to help start-up enterprises grow in the fertile soil of the platform."
