Summary of Tu Guangshao’s Speech at the Forum of “Construction of Shanghai Scientific & Technological Innovation Center: Realization Approaches and Financial Support”
From yesterday until midnight tonight and even to tomorrow, typhoons slammed into Shanghai, and the violent storm rocked the sea. Meanwhile, there is another storm this morning, which is a brainstorm. The source of the brainstorm is the National Institution of Finance and Development and Lujiazui Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The eye of the storm is China Financial Information Center. The brainstorm has played a positive role in promoting the development of the Shanghai Scientific & Technological Innovation Center (abbreviated to “the Innovation Center”).
S&T innovation environment has basic features but it is easily overlooked
So far, for the construction of Shanghai Scientific & Technological Innovation Center, the Shanghai municipal government has issued 22 important opinions, which we call “1+X.” Later, about 9-10 concrete implementation measures or opinions will be promulgated revolving around the above 22 opinions, including the opinions of using financial services to support the construction of the Innovation Center. These have not been enough, because no matter how perfect the files are and the ways are wonderful, the key is how to implement them.
The construction of the Innovation Center involves a lot of content, including a fundamental content, namely the environment of its construction. The environment is fundamental, but it is most easily overlooked, because it is not so specific. Maybe we can feel it every day, but we cannot necessarily elaborate on it. When constructing the Innovation Center, we would place our focus on a patent, a specific major technology or the start-up of a specific project. Moreover, the environment is in a continuous accumulation, which will bring a subtle process of building the Innovation Center. Air is to us what the environment is to the Innovation Center, which is fundamental.
We can construct the Innovation Center fruitfully without the fundamental support of the environment, but it is hard for us to make long-term progress. Therefore, the 22 opinions concerning the Innovation Center specially touch on the environment. By breakdown, the environment covers all aspects, such as legal environment, credit environment, the environment of patent protection, the environment of letting talents play their roles, taxation support, financial services, and so on. Since it involves all aspects, the environment is both fundamental and integrated. As we all know the Wooden Bucket Theory (Cannikin Law). It suggests that a bucket’s capacity is determined by the shortest plank, rather than the length of the plank. Precisely because it is comprehensive, the environment needs to be advanced in an integrated way. A lack in any aspect of the environment will adversely affect the construction of the Innovation Center.
Construction of the environment is a long-term task. In the past, when we were engaged in construction, we might launch a big project in a year, a month or even a week. However, we need to make a lot of effort to construct or improve the environment. In the process of building our environment, we must carry forward the spirit of planting trees. Planting trees is not the same as planting grass, because planting trees has a greater role in environmental transformation. Sometimes, we can plant a lawn to beautify or transform the environment. However, we need to make a long-term effort to plant trees. Furthermore, as a Chinese proverb goes, one generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade. To create an environment must be an important priority of the Innovation Center. It needs to conduct a comprehensive promotion with long-term unremitting effort.
To create an innovative environment of tolerating failures and correctly dealing with mistakes.
In addition to the aspects we talked about earlier, the most important environment to be built refers to the social and human environment.
For the time being, when we talk about the construction of the Innovative Center, we are frequently thinking of Silicon Valley. We have seen numerous triumphs and achievements of Silicon Valley. In fact, there is another side of Silicon Valley. There are many entrepreneurial businesses and individuals in the Silicon Valley, some of whom have not yet achieved successful entrepreneurship or successful continual innovation. Besides, you can see enterprises leaving there almost every day, because Silicon Valley is an innovation mechanism with a constant ebb and flow. Those leaving the Valley can be categorized into two types: successful and unsuccessful enterprises or individuals. Successful ones come from Silicon Valley and go global, but many unsuccessful ones have yet to succeed. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that the latter will never succeed. However, they temporarily leave the Valley. They may need to revise or find other development paths. Whether they succeed or not, Silicon Valley will accommodate them and treat them all the same.
We need to encourage people to succeed, but we also need to tolerate and understand failures. Failure is the mother of success. If it cannot tolerate or understand failures or temporary setbacks, our community cannot see many people succeed. When you are engaged in entrepreneurship, especially in scientific and technological innovation, the first thing you will think is “what shall I do if I fail?” If I cannot obtain tolerance or understanding because of my failure, I do not think that I dare to pursue success.
There are rough statistics to the venture capital investment. Notably, the success rate will be lower as long as the more early stage investment companies are in. Maybe a venture capitalist invests in ten enterprises, only one will succeed. However, it does not mean that his investment has failed just because of the failure of the other nine. So, we need to have a special tolerance and understanding of failures, which is a very important aspect of fostering the environment. It will be critical for the construction of the Innovation Center to be able to create a community, especially in Shanghai, which can foster an environment of encouraging and promoting success and tolerate and understand failures.
In the human and social environment, we need to correctly deal with failures besides tolerating them. Scientific and technological innovations may have a lot of mistakes. Whether when experts in science and technology are engaged in invention or when entrepreneurs conduct scientific and technological innovations, including providing financial services, the methods, paths, and concrete measures they use may be proven to be incorrect. However, these errors may lay the very foundation for us to find the right ways, methods, and paths.
Innovative environmental construction has something to do with everyone.
Environmental construction is very specific, involving all aspects. Certainly, the government should play its part. Nonetheless, it needs us to work together to foster a good environment, perhaps even having a relationship with each of us.
We are talking about the great success of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the Jack Ma success. Like us in our fifties and sixties, let us suppose that your son or daughter learning in a domestic first-class university in his or her sophomore or junior, suddenly tells you, “I’m going to be engaged in entrepreneurship and conduct innovative activities, and I do not want to study”. Can you support him/her or not? Of course, I am not saying that he or she must drop out, but if such a student does have the courage and idea of being innovative, can you agree with him or her to do so? I’m afraid each of us will wonder about it: how can you allow your son or daughter to drop out of such good university? Let’s give another example: Your son or daughter has worked with an ideal enterprise, namely having a decent and well-paid job with a good development prospect, trust in leadership, and a perfect relationship with co-workers. However, he or she proposes one day to leave the enterprise to try his/her luck at a startup enterprise. Can we support and understand? As far as we are concerned, I am afraid the answer would not be a simple “yes” or “no.” Last example, suppose that you have a daughter who thinks she has found her fiancé. When he does not have a formal job or a good unit, or a house of his own, will you agree to allow your daughter to marry him? Of course, having not bought a house means starting from scratch. So this is the environment.
When we say that the Innovation Center needs to create a good environment, each of us must ask ourselves what attitudes we hold in the process of fostering the environment. The environment is very important, especially for the Innovation Center, because it represents a long-term goal and it is basic and decisive.
