Curtain falls on Zhongguancun innovation and entrepreneurship festival

The closing ceremony of the Zhongguancun Innovation and Entrepreneurship Festival 2016 was held on Oct 21 in Beijing, with more than 500 government officials and representatives of leading enterprises and entrepreneurial service institutes in attendance.

Yu Jun, deputy secretary of Haidian District, Beijing, said the innovation and entrepreneurship festival promotes Zhongguancun’s brand, adding that the district government intends to develop a higher level of mass innovation and entrepreneurship and to contribute more to the construction of China's science and technology innovation centers.

Achievements of innovative and entrepreneurial brands

This year's festival focused on improving innovative abilities. It attracted 716 institutes, 5,925 innovative programs and more than 50,000 people from 19 countries such as Israel, the US, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Twenty-nine activities were held during the event, including the Global Innovation Summit 2016, a 72-hour geek challenge, a youth maker marathon, an international innovation roadshow and several forums on economics, artificial intelligence and Zhongguancun innovations, resulting in 188 letters of investment intent.

The festival showed the latest new technologies, businesses, modules and industries of innovation and entrepreneurship. It attracted global advanced innovative and entrepreneurial resources, showcased international innovation and entrepreneurship trends and hastened the construction of China's technology and innovation centers.

Leading trend of innovation and entrepreneurship

The "2016 Innovation and entrepreneurship index of China" was published during the event. It analyzes the condition of innovative and entrepreneurial activities in China and the potential impact of scientific and technological innovation on China's economy.

The Index is researched by the Zhongguancun Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee and 36 Kr, a company offering entrepreneurial information, technological news, investment and financing and equity investment. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, as well as Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, are on the top of the index list in China, according to three indices -- output, input and ecology.

Building important financing propeller

The launching ceremony of the Zhongguancun M&A mother funds Center was held at the closing ceremony. Fund management companies, stakeholders, financing institutes and trustee banks signed cooperation contracts to jointly promote the integration of technological industries and the real economy.

Furthermore, the institute intends to unite leading high-tech enterprises to offer financing support for construction of national technology and innovation centers.

The funds plans to raise 30 billion yuan ($4.42 billion) and will support mergers and acquisitions worth 150 billion to 200 billion yuan in Zhongguancun over the next three to five years.