Qianhai incubator helps Hongkong and mainland startups grow

Shenzhen's Qianhai, the cooperation zone between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, has established an "ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship" with the aim of providing comprehensive resources to mainland and Hong Kong startups to help them grow.

The ecosystem covers 12 mainland, Hong Kong and international incubators with specialities in research and development, talents and capital, including Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT), Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and IDG Capital.

The incubators will share their resources with each other in an effort to create synergy by offering comprehensive services to startups in Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub(E Hub).

The IDG Capital incubator in Qianhai is the company's first one in China. Orient Zhu, vice president of IDG China, said the incubator will focus on developing mobile internet-related high tech and cultivating entrepreneurs and innovators for smart products.

"We will take advantage of IDG's strong resources …to push forward with international high-tech exchanges and development to provide fresh meaning and vitality for the Qianhai model," Zhu said at the incubator ecosystem's launch ceremony in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

However, SIAT president Fan Jianping, said to achieve desired results, incubators need to improve their technological capability.

"Traditional barriers for entrepreneurship, like financing, have become lower. Right now, the barrier lies in technology," Fan said.

"The improvement of technological capability among incubators can greatly reduce the threshold for entrepreneurship and thereby enhance its effect."

As an entrepreneurial center for Shenzhen and Hong Kong startups, E Hub has incubated 163 entrepreneurial projects since its establishment in December 2014, including 71 from Hong Kong and Macao teams. More than 60 percent of the startups have already secured investment.