Five-day national event expected to become a platform to exchange experience and showcase strengths

Mass entrepreneurship and innovation will promote social equality and become a new engine for China's development, said Premier Li Keqiang on Monday.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the first "National Week of Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation", which will continue through Friday in Beijing.

Li said mass entrepreneurship and innovation could create more job opportunities and help transform China's economic structure.

The five-day event aims to promote entrepreneurship and innovation by the masses in more sectors, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The main venue of the event, with the theme of "Entrepreneurship and Innovation - Gathering New Impetus for Development", is in the Zhongguancun Exhibition Center. It has branch venues in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xi'an.

Xu Shaoshi, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said he hopes the event will become a stage where entrepreneurs across the country exchange experience and showcase their strengths and provide a platform to spread the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Zhongguancun Inno Way, one of the branch venues, will host activities including an innovation market, which is expected to attract more than 50 domestic and foreign organizations and companies that offer services to startups.

Six exhibition areas at the market that focus on services such as startup incubation and investment, will allow entrepreneurs and service companies to directly communicate and interact.

Another event, a geek challenge competition, in Inno Way, consists of matches that require participants to make Web pages, applications and smart product models.

Events to be held in Inno Way, a street that mainly houses startups and service companies, are also important parts of the Zhongguancun Innovation and Entrepreneurship Festival 2015.

The festival's opening ceremony on Oct 11 publicized the development plan of an area called Zhongguancun Avenue. The area will be used to serve business startups and innovation, according to a representative on the Zhongguancun administrative committee.

Unlike Inno Way, which mainly serves Zhongguancun and Beijing, Zhongguancun Avenue will offer services for businesses in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei as well as other regions across the country.

The area's services cover all fields in strategic emerging industries and the whole process of company operations, while Inno Way mainly helps Internet-based startups find partners, investment and trade opportunities.

Tus-Holdings Co, Zhongguancun Development Group and Haidian Property Group plan to jointly invest to set up a new company to carry out transformation projects related to the focused area, according to the Tus-Holdings.

From this year, the national event for mass entrepreneurship and innovation will take place in October annually, with different themes each year, according to the Zhongguancun administrative committee.

Activities during the event will include the release of policies, exhibitions, investment, trade and communication.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/20/2015 page7)