Mass entrepreneurship and innovation driving economic reform

2016-12-14
english.gov.cn/Xinhua

China is witnessing a new round of reform designed to push the world’s second-largest economy to the next level amid downward economic pressure.

So far, the supply-side structural reform is proceeding smoothly with three engines, namely “Made in China 2025”, mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and the Belt and Road initiative.

Of the three driving forces, mass entrepreneurship and innovation is the great practice of Chinese economics theory, according to Gu Shengzu, deputy director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Ever since reform and opening-up three decades ago, China has attracted entrepreneurship with people coming into the market and setting up companies.

Mass entrepreneurship and innovation is the latest trend with some new features.

Reforms such as streamlining administration and delegating power to lower-level governments are pushing forward mass entrepreneurship and innovation, which involves both elite and grassroots efforts, bolstered by technology and financial innovation.

To foster new driving forces through mass entrepreneurship, efforts should be made to create a favorable environment and mechanisms that can protect property rights, giving entrepreneurs a sense of security, Gu said.

The development of the real economy is based on both technology and financial innovation, which means the capital market should be further improved to encourage more venture capital investment to boost the country’s entrepreneurship and innovation.

New modes such as crowd sourcing and crowd funding should be coordinated with mass entrepreneurship to boost innovation.

Zhongguancun science park is a typical example of the combination of new innovation platforms which involves sources from many sectors and attracts innovation elements including talent, technology, capital and information.

Mass entrepreneurship and innovation can also boost employment and reduce unemployment risk amid downward economic pressure.

In the first three quarters, more than 10 million urban jobs have been created, keeping the national urban unemployment rate at a low level of about 5 percent.

In addition, domestic rates of patent for invention jumped 44 percent, indicating a promising momentum of innovation in the country.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are twin brothers as they can coordinate to convert technology innovation into productivity. So, to enable them to better drive the economy, the government should make further efforts to create a favorable development environment, according to Gu.