Implementation Plan of Shanghai Municipality for the Cultivation of High-Quality Incubators

December 1, 2023

(June 26, 2023)

SMPG GO D [2023] No. 16

This Implementation Plan is formulated to implement the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerate high-level technological self-reliance, leverage the role of incubators in promoting whole-process innovation, aggregating all factors and speeding up the entire industrial chain development, continue to optimize the ecosystem for technology innovation, facilitate the cultivation of hard and core technology enterprises and high-quality development of future industries, and fully support the building of Shanghai as an international technology innovation center.

I. General Requirements

1. Guiding Principles

Following the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the guiding principles from the Party's 20th National Congress, Shanghai will benchmark against world-class standards, focus on optimizing the technology innovation ecosystem and promoting high-quality economic development, endeavor to aggregate resources for innovation, apply technological advances, incubate hard and core technology enterprises and cultivate future industries, foster new tracks of technological competition, and create new growth drivers and new advantages.

2. Significance

High-quality incubators are innovating and entrepreneurial service entities that are powered chiefly by world-class incubation talents, and have the capacities for originating hard and core technology, applying disruptive technological advances, incubating high-growth technology enterprises, and integrating total factor resources. By accelerating the cultivation of a group of high-quality incubators that focus on specific industries, demonstrate prominent professional capabilities, and exhibit significant demonstration effects, the incubators aim to drive the transformation of incubators from general services to precise services, from enterprise aggregation to industry nurturing, and from incubation chains to ecosystem cultivation to lead high-quality development in innovation and entrepreneurship.

3. Basic Principles

(1) Keeping forward-looking in planning. By centering around a modern industrial system simplified into the 2+(3+6)+(4+5)[ In this formula, "2" refers to the digitalizing of traditional industries and low-carbon development, "3+6" means the three leading industries, i.e. integrated circuits, biopharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence, and six key industries, i.e. electronics, life and health, automobile, high-end equipment, advanced materials and fashion consumer goods; "4+5" refers to the four new tracks for industrial development, i.e. digital economy, low-carbon economy, metaverse and smart terminals, and five potential industrial direction, i.e. health, smart development, energy, space and materials.] formula, Shanghai will explore the development of high-quality incubators oriented to future industrial development, support the application of the disruptive technological advances and accelerate the incubation of hard and core technology enterprises in new fields and tracks of competition, new orientations and new functions so as to lead the industrial transformation and upgrading.

(2) Upholding professional leadership. It is important to support various entities such as top-notch incubation talents, leading technology enterprises, renowned universities (university science parks), research institutes and top investment agencies to engage in building high-quality incubators and improve the professional service capabilities in terms of professional talents (teams), technology service platforms, early investment and resource matchmaking.

(3) Insisting on multi-chain collaboration. It is imperative to connect key links, and promote the integrative development of innovation chain, industrial chain, fund chain and talents chain. It is also necessary to create new incubator service models in terms of function, strategic layout, construction path and support methods so as to achieve positive interactions among science, industry and finance.

(4) Adhering to international collaboration. With a global perspective and internationally advanced philosophy, it is necessary to guide high-quality incubators to integrate international high-end resources, expand global innovation and cooperation networks, and build a cross-border collaborative incubation service system that's with international rules and Chinese characteristics to achieve synergy of the "going global" and "bringing in" initiatives.

4. Working Objectives

By 2025, Shanghai will have cultivated no less than 20 high-quality incubators, and through their demonstration, lead no less than 200 incubators to achieve transformation and upgrading in terms of professional service, famous brands and internationalization. These incubators will collaborate with high-tech zones and specialized industrial parks to incubate and foster 10,000 small and medium-sized technology enterprises, 2,000 high-tech enterprises, 300 gazelle enterprises, 100 small-giant technology enterprises, and a group of hard and core technology enterprises that operate globally with independent, cutting-edge and disruptive technologies. The incubators will also stimulate the formation of several incubation clusters and build two to three technological innovation areas each with an output value of hundreds of billions yuan to preliminarily build Shanghai into a preferred destination for global technology enterprises.

II. Key Tasks

1. Upgrading Hard and Core Technology Incubation

(1) Establishing an in-advance incubation model. High-quality incubators and high-level technology think tanks are encouraged to cooperate to pinpoint the future development trends of specific competition tracks to realize in-advance discovery and a forward-looking layout. The incubators will work with various innovation projects including the “Basic Research Special Zones” and “Explorers” to enhance the tracking of and connectivity with basic research trends, and change from the former “project selection” to “project initiation”, thus improving the incubators' source capabilities. For major practical problems and demands from specific scenarios, Shanghai will organize experts, operation talents, funds and industry resources to establish partnership teams for initiating a group of entrepreneurial projects of hard and core technology.  (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and relevant district people's governments)

(2) Exploring new incubation models for future industries. National laboratories, high-level research universities and other strategic technological forces are supported to establish high-quality incubators to drive the transformation and application of key technologies of future industries. High-quality incubators are encouraged to deepen cooperation with universities, research institutes, industry leaders and investment agencies in emerging and cutting-edge areas, to make more breakthroughs in underlying and disruptive technologies. They are also encouraged to strengthen efforts to explore diverse paths for frontier technology and integrated innovation to build the future industry application scenarios, nurture future industries, and seize new highlands for development. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and relevant district people's governments)

(3) Accelerating the incubation of hard and core technology enterprises. High-quality incubators are guided to establish a mechanism for early identifying, validating and incubating hard and core technology (or technique) projects, and build a chain that integrates technological application, incubation and industrialization so as to foster hard and core technology enterprises. A new incubation model that integrates technology with industry will be explored to expedite the application of core technological advances and the cultivation of key technology enterprises; and financial support will be provided to those that have demonstrated significant effectiveness. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and relevant district people's governments)

(4) Guiding high-quality incubators to collaborate with good-quality resources. High-quality incubators are supported to establish open service platforms to carry out in-depth cooperation with various professional service organizations to provide technology enterprises with high-level technical screening, industrial design, supply chain, and connection between industrial chain and resource chain. Technologies such as big data, blockchain and artificial intelligence will be applied to conduct digital incubation, and improve incubation efficiency through entrepreneurial factor mapping and digital profiling. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and relevant district people's governments)

(5) Encouraging high-quality incubators to expand substantial services. High-quality incubators are supported to collaborate with industry leaders, universities, research institutes and healthcare institutions to jointly establish platforms of professional services such as experiment and testing, concept validation and pilot base; and financial support will be provided to those that have demonstrated significant effectiveness. The demands for digital, smart and green industries will be explored to create innovative application scenarios, which will be prioritized in inclusion in the Technological Achievement Transformation Catalogue or the Innovative Products Catalogue, and enjoy policy support. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health, the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, and relevant district people's governments)

(6) Improving service capabilities for intellectual property. High-quality incubators are supported to establish independently or jointly-built patent navigation service bases and high-value patent cultivation centers to provide enterprises with intellectual property service guidance in the entire lifecycle of key technology development. The cooperation with Shanghai Technology Exchange, Shanghai Intellectual Property Exchange and others will be strengthened to establish professional, top-notch and one-stop intellectual property operation and service platforms to provide value-added services for technological assets. (Responsible entities: the Municipal Intellectual Property Administration, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, and Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau )

2. Fostering Incubation Talents

(1) Introducing international incubation talents. High-quality incubators will be created by reliance on six types of incubation talents: scientists, interdisciplinary experts, technology venture capital professionals, renowned professional managers, serial successful entrepreneurs and returning talents with overseas working (including entrepreneurship) who are experienced in applying technological advances. High-end incubation talents that possess a scientist's mindset, an engineer's skills, and industrial chain resources will be included in this Municipality's technology talent support system so that they enjoy relevant policy support and services. (Responsible entities: CPC Shanghai Committee's Office for Talent Affairs, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, and relevant district people's governments)

(2) Attracting and training professional incubation talents. High-quality incubators are encouraged to collaborate with universities and research institutes to carry out pilot programs in innovation and entrepreneurship education to explore new incubation models that integrate academic disciplines with incubation practice. Universities, research institutes and other relevant entities with the necessary conditions shall jointly create talent training bases for technological achievement application and entrepreneurship, and train interdisciplinary talents through offering formal education programs in technology application and providing vocational training and continuous training programs for incubation technology management professionals. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology and Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education)

(3) Further developing the supervisor team for technology entrepreneurship. High-quality incubators are encouraged to hire entrepreneurs, investors, scientists and others as supervisors. The database of technology entrepreneurship supervisors and the supervisor evaluation system shall be optimized to establish a training and guidance mechanism characterized by beneficial interactions, supply-demand mutual complementarity, and long-term effectiveness. Training courses for entrepreneurship supervisors shall be provided to offer them systematic training, improve the knowledge system of technology entrepreneurship, and upgrade their professional competence and guidance capabilities. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, and Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center)

3. Conducting Financial Empowerment

(1) Strengthening the guidance on interactions between investment and incubation. The role of the municipal fund of funds is utilized to guide "patient" capital to flow into high-quality technological achievements and seed-stage and early-stage technology enterprises. High-quality incubators are encouraged to collaborate with the municipal fund of funds to establish no less than one early-stage hard-and-core technology investment seed fund, further explore the interactions between concept validation and equity investment, mobilize social capital to invest earlier, and accelerate the technological achievement application and development. The registration and establishment of funds are to be quickened, and a certain part of the excess returns generated from government investments may be transferred to incubators and other social capital entities. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, and Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau)

(2) Increasing the supply of technology-related financial products. High-quality incubators shall strengthen cooperation with banks, insurance companies, guarantee agencies and other financial institutions to develop innovative financial products and services for hard and core technology development and start-up enterprises, and reduce the financing costs for hard and core technology enterprises. The services for matching finance with the incubation pool of technology enterprises preparing for listing are to be enhanced to improve the effectiveness of capital market financing; the priority-based cultivation and transfer of the listed hard and core technology enterprises are to be optimized; and the technology enterprises from high-quality incubators are supported to be listed for financing. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and relevant district people's governments)

(3) Stimulating the vitality of state-owned investment in incubation. High-quality state-owned incubators are encouraged to innovate models and establish a smooth benefit-sharing mechanism; state-owned incubation teams are allowed to obtain equity during the incubation process, investment approval procedures are to be optimized, and the exit and tolerance mechanism is to be carried out on a pilot basis. The integrated financial service capabilities of state-owned financial service enterprises and the capitalization ability of various state-owned funds are to be utilized; state-owned enterprises are encouraged to actively contribute resources such as land, funds, facilities and application scenarios and participate in the construction of high-quality incubators and innovation and entrepreneurship clusters. (Responsible entities: the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

4. Engaging with the Global Innovation Network

(1) Building Shanghai into a preferred global technology incubation destination. High-quality incubators are encouraged to establish overseas branches or innovation bases to strengthen collaboration with overseas universities, research institutes and industry leaders; the service chain of "global R&D-cross border incubation-application in Shanghai" is to be improved to accelerate the landing of overseas cutting-edge innovation projects in Shanghai. The role of International Entrepreneurship First Station and the Asian Enterprise Incubation Association is to be strengthened to establish a collaborative service system for cross-border incubation by offering venues, purchasing services and resources matchmaking to improve the cross-border two-way flows of innovation factors such as talents, technology, projects, funds and enterprises. (Responsible entities: the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, and relevant district people's governments)

(2) Building a global hub for high-tech talents. Through high-quality incubators, Shanghai will introduce high-level and urgently-needed talents such as scientists, research and development talents, corporate executives, and investment experts to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship projects. High-level domestic or overseas talents that engage in innovation or entrepreneurship projects are supported to apply for talent programs and be incorporated into the high-level talent service and support system, and they enjoy facilitation services in entry and exit, residence and stay, and work permits, among others. High-quality incubators are guided to provide services for high-level overseas talents that engage in innovation or entrepreneurship projects, and may receive rewards or subsidies for succeeding in introducing top overseas talents (projects). (Responsible entities: CPC Shanghai Committee's Office for Talent Affairs, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, and relevant district people's governments)

5. Conducting Regional Innovation Enhancement Programs

(1) Promoting a reasonable layout of high-quality incubators. High-quality incubators are to be developed around the layout of industrial development and with the help of universities, research institutes, national labs, leading technological enterprises, world-class research institutions, and high-level technology innovation bases. High-quality incubators with outstanding professional service capabilities and remarkable incubation achievements are also encouraged to promote the transformation and upgrading of other incubators through brand export, collaboration or other means to advance the development of regional industrial clusters. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

(2) Promoting the collaboration among large, medium and small enterprises. Leading technology enterprises, foreign-funded research and development centers, leading state-owned enterprises, etc. are encouraged to set up high-quality incubators and establish open innovation centers for large enterprises. Large enterprises are encouraged to establish innovation consortia by releasing innovation needs, making application scenarios available and setting up generic-technology platforms with a view to unblocking innovation channels and promoting the integration of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) into large enterprises' innovation chain, industrial chain and supply chain; and they may receive rewards or subsidies for their significant achievements. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

(3) Promoting the synergetic development of high-quality incubators and industrial parks. Long-term cooperation and relay incubation mechanisms between high-quality incubators and high-tech development zones and featured industrial parks are to be strengthened. Through resource and information sharing, featured programs, special policy support, and performance-evaluation guidance, coordination is to be achieved to promote hard and core technology enterprises to receive priority in settling down in fairly compatible industrial parks so as to meet the needs of their full lifecycle development and achieve "sharing, integration and win-win". (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

(4) Building entrepreneurship and innovation clusters integrating production, life and ecology. By focusing on key areas such as Zhangjiang Science City, neoBay and West Bund, taking the development of high-quality incubators as the central task, and aggregating leading technology enterprises, universities, research institutes, and other service agencies for technology finance and achievement application, Shanghai will promote free circulation and beneficial interactions among various innovation factors including talents, technology and funds, thus creating new space that integrates production, life and ecology. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

(5) Building a collaborative and interactive cycle for incubation in the Yangtze River Delta. High-quality incubators will be guided to establish resource-sharing service platforms or collaborative incubation centers to carry out cross-region and cross-domain collaborative innovation, opening-up and cooperation through mechanism coordination, organizational innovation and resource sharing so as to establish an interactive network for incubation in the Yangtze River Delta. High-quality incubators are supported to participate in the building of sci-tech innovation demonstration bases in the Yangtze River Delta to promote the cross-region transfer and application of technologies and achievements and accelerate the nurturing of innovation-driven enterprises and industrial clusters. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, and relevant district people's governments)

III. Methods of Cultivation

1. Global Selection and Tailored Policy Support

By introducing, founding, nurturing and upgrading incubators, Shanghai will select potential incubation resources globally, and issue tailored policy to attract domestic and overseas first-rate incubators to develop in Shanghai. By referring to its development objectives, Shanghai will also emphasize the classification-based cultivation of incubators, which generally include the two levels of high-quality and nurturing high-quality incubators, to make them gradually focus on specific areas and channels. Through publication of the joint evaluation results, Shanghai will incorporate the incubators into its general planning for building Shanghai into a scientific innovation center for faster incubator development. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

2. Tracking, Evaluation and Dynamic Adjustment

By introducing top-notch talents, strengthening the origination of hard and core technology, promoting the application of disruptive technological advances, and boosting incubation of high-growth technology enterprises and aggregation of total factor resources, Shanghai will introduce a classification-based evaluation system of high-quality incubators; the milestone performance evaluation will be carried out to establish a mechanism of dynamic management, tracking, statistics, periodical assessment and entry-exit. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

IV. Guarantee Measures

1. Strengthening Coordination and Service Guarantee

The role of the Municipal Joint Meeting for Promoting the Transfer and Application of Technological Achievements will be leveraged to establish a working pattern of inter-departmental collaboration and municipal-district coordination to implement each specific task. A service guarantee system, in which two service persons from the municipal and district people’s governments are provided for every high-quality incubator, shall be established to follow up the implementation of the tasks and coordinate to solve the difficulties. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, relevant functional departments, and relevant district people's governments)

2. Strengthening Finance Guarantee

The municipal and district people's governments will jointly create special funds for cultivating high-quality incubators, which will be provided in stages such as the initiation before the construction, the annual operation subsidies, and the rewards after milestone performance evaluations. To manage these special funds, rules will be formulated, according to which the construction funds are mainly provided by the district people's government while the funds for the operation and rewards will be provided by the municipal and district people's governments through coordination to jointly guarantee the development needs. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, Office of Promoting the Construction of Shanghai as a Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and relevant district people's governments)

3. Fostering a Culture of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

High-quality incubators are supported to hold global brand events on hard and core technology such as entrepreneurship and innovation competitions, forums, resource matchmaking meetings and academic salons to conduct diverse exchanges and cooperation. The public exposure of high-quality incubators, top-notch talents and typical innovation and entrepreneurship cases is to be enhanced to help create a culture of innovation, attract more resource factors of technology innovation to Shanghai, and realize leapfrog development. (Responsible entities: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, CPC Shanghai Committee's Office for Talent Affairs, and relevant district people's governments)

This Implementation Plan shall be effective as of July 1, 2023.