Premier says to create innovation and entrepreneurship ‘ecosystem’

2017-07-16
english.gov.cn/yicai.com

At the latest State Council executive meeting on July 12, Premier Li Keqiang mentioned for the first time creating an “innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem”, which means the innovation strategy will be further endorsed.

The Premier said it is not enough to promote innovation and entrepreneurship only by building business incubators and innovation bases. The more important factor is environment, and supportive policies should be integrated and coordinated to create a vigorous ecosystem, he said.

An ecosystem is much more sophisticated than just one supportive factor, such as an incubator or a government document. It will take more effect because it contains systematic and coordinated policies and can create a social atmosphere that supports innovation and startups.

It is common sense that most innovations come from the market and entrepreneurs. What the government can do is to create a favorable environment, a comment from yicai.com said.

That is to say, government’s role in innovation should not be neglected. In the United States, two venture capitalists said in their book, The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley, that public institutions have taken a much more important role in innovation than people usually believe.

Governments’ role in boosting innovation is getting more and more recognition globally. And in fact, the Chinese government is leading the world in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Innovation in China has caught the attention of the international community. At the 2017 Summer Davos Forum, Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said China is showing the power of leading the fourth industrial revolution, and the secret is “mass innovation and entrepreneurship”.

In April, the UN General Assembly wrote the idea of “mass innovation and entrepreneurship” in a resolution, calling on countries to promote innovation and startups in the business sector.