i3 - May/June 2017 - 42

Policy

By Jeremy Snow

T EC H H U B

Zhangjiang
Hi-Tech Park

 S  

hanghai is helping
give the innovators
of "China's Silicon
Valley" everything they need
to succeed. Halfway around
the world from Silicon Valley
in California, another city is
embracing the power of startups. Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park
(ZJ Park) lies in the center of
China's Pudong district, where
it is thriving as a community
of upcoming businesses
and established tech giants.
ZJ Park hosts 13,000 smallto medium-sized companies,
49 regional headquarters and
138 R&D centers, says Vice
GM of Shanghai Zhangjiang
Incubator Management,
Wenjun Wang. "In recent years,
China has faced the largest ever
boom in mass entrepreneurship and innovation," she says.

From Exoskeletons to Software
There's a lot to find in ZJ Park, but you
won't see factories, Wang adds. The area
only houses R&D centers, including
67 incubators providing workspaces for
budding startups. The park holds a diverse

free competition,' and the
amount of disruptive technology,
entrepreneurial atmosphere
including robotics, software and bio- Zhangjiang
High-tech Park
of 'encouraging success and tolermedicine. Some of the biggest tech
in Shanghai
ating failure,'" according to the
companies, including HP, NVIDIA
ZJ Park government website.
and Qualcomm host offices in ZJ.
The government is lending a hand,
One ZJ-based startup, Pimax, won
as well. For 2020, the state approved
the Best Virtual Reality Product of CES
building a global technology and innovaAsia 2016 for a 4K headset designed for
tion center to support foreign investgaming and 360° movies. The company
ments and research.
continues to innovate and recently
announced its first 8K VR headset.
Fourier X1 is also working out of ZJ
ShanghaiTech University
Park building a lower-body exoskeleton
Some 110,000 of ZJ Park's 360,000 workdesigned to help people with disabilities
ers have a bachelor degree or higher, Wang
walk again. The wearable robot is in early
says. Many of them got their degree within
development, but will aid those who
the park at ShanghaiTech University. The
have spinal cord injuries or had strokes.
University is also working with Zhangjiang
Incubator Management and startup accelerator Xnode to build a student-focused
A Wealth of Support
InnoLab. "As a platform to serve startups,
To support these businesses, some
we also make great efforts to bridge the
200 venture capital funds are located
gap between universities and startup comat the park, according to Alacrity
Foundation. Last year, China became the panies," Wang says. "We have a variety of
events and activities to let students and
first country to receive more than one
startup founders meet and talk." ■
million patent applications in a year,
according to the Financial Times.
"The Park is witnessing the gradual forGO ONLINE: See the latest innovations at
mation of the culture of 'independent
CES Asia 2017 June 7-9, in Shanghai, China.
design, independent business operation,
Visit CESAsia.com for more information.

ZJ Park isn't the
only Innovation Park
in China. Here are
three other thriving
innovation hubs:

42

MAY/JUNE 2017

Changzhou
Located northwest of
Shanghai, this city features
an innovation park with
a dual initiative by both China
and Israel to help Israeli
companies break into the
local market.

TusPark
Connecting professionals, Tus Park
is a global network of different hi-tech
business parks located in Chinese
cities like Beijing to places like India
and France. Each area offers public
companies and enterprises workhubs,
makerspaces and everything else
a startup needs.

Chengdu
The capital of China's
Sichuan province is home
to some of the most
successful development
zones in China focusing
on electronics and
software development.

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

Xinhua /Alamy Stock Photo

ACROSS CHINA
http://www.CESAsia.com
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