The 2019 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week was opened in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on June 13th. The weeklong event is held in various parts of the country, with its main venue in Hangzhou. Over 200 activities, including competitions, themed exhibitions and forums for entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and university students will be held over the next few days. The latest technological achievements and innovations from high-tech companies across the country in the fields of big data, cloud computing, 5G technology, internet of things, artificial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing are also on display at six themed exhibition areas. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for further boosting mass entrepreneurship and innovation to better stabilize employment, promote innovation and strengthen new growth impetus in his remarks at the opening ceremony.
Forty-seven characteristic towns in Hangzhou have launched activities related to the event, among which China's future science and technology artificial intelligence town has its key layout based on big data, cloud computing, Internet of things. By optimizing the entrepreneurial innovation environment, providing policy and funding to service innovative companies, it is committed to offer high-end talent, make innovation demonstration platform, and build the artificial intelligence industrial concentration area. Up to now, it has attracted 17 high-end R&D institutions and more than 350 innovation projects, such as Zhijiang Laboratory and Baidu (Hangzhou) Innovation Center, with increasingly complete supporting facilities.
During the event, a program titled "the 2019 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Benefiting People's Lives" was launched in Beijing, seeking technological solutions to 29 problems regarding local residents' lives in areas such as public services, environmental protection, healthcare and agriculture. The program aimed to solve hot spot issues related to people's lives by using Beijing's rich science and technology resources. This year, 18 government departments and companies participated as solution seekers. Bridging the wisdom of entrepreneurs with people's basic needs, the projects were promoting the application of technological innovations and the enthusiasm of startups to solve problems of everyday life.
During the event, the national Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation data released by the service institutions commissioned by the National Development and Reform Commission showed the highlights and achievements in the past five years, which presents the following five characteristics:
The environment for innovation and entrepreneurship continued to improve. In recent years, a total of 169 authorized reform measures have been completed in eight comprehensive innovation and reform pilot zones, more than 70 policy documents have been issued, 36 reform experiences have been promoted nationwide, and 120 demonstration bases for entrepreneurship and innovation have been built nationwide. In terms of the world economy, China ranked 46th among 190 economies in 2018 for ease of doing business, 32 places higher than the previous year and the most significant improvement in recent years.
Market players are full of vitality. In 2018, the number of newly registered market entities exceeded 20 million, and the number of market entities grew steadily. From the perspective of the venture capital market, in 2018, the number of newly raised funds on the market exceeded 700, and the amount raised exceeded 300 billion yuan. China has become the second largest venture capital market in the world.
The capacity for scientific and technological innovation has been significantly improved. Over the past five years, scientific and technological innovation has played an increasingly important role in driving development and economic growth. The contribution of scientific and technological progress has risen to 58.5%. Since 2015, China's innovation index has been soaring. In 2018, China ranked among the top 20 countries for the first time, ranking 17th in the global innovation index.
Significant progress has been made in creating jobs through innovation. About 4 million people are employed each year on 12,000 incubators, with fresh graduates accounting for more than 14 percent of the total. By 2018, a total of 7.8 million migrant workers had returned to their hometowns to start their own businesses. More than 50 percent of them had made use of information technology to start their own businesses, and nearly 90 percent had started their own businesses jointly.
New drivers of growth accelerated. since 2015, a new generation of information technology, energy conservation, environmental protection, high-end equipment, and other key strategic emerging industries have maintained rapid growth. New energy vehicles, smart phone, smart TV and other key products production continued to rise. Strategic emerging industry is increasingly become the new engine for economic and social development.