How an ecosystem turns knowledge into business
At Shanghai Business School, the group attended a class on innovation and entrepreneurship in China. The presentation is attributed on the slides to Professor Xu Tao of Tongji University and offers an overview of policies, financial support and the ecosystem between 2012 and 2026. The session included interpretation into Portuguese and questions from the group.
The class connected talent development, universities, business needs and development policies. Its central thread was understanding how these relationships help turn an idea into practice.
The conversation expanded the view of innovation beyond an individual company or technology. It covered learning, the movement of professionals, applied projects and the ability to sustain efforts over time. For entrepreneurs, this perspective invites a closer look at the connections that make a product possible.
From mass entrepreneurship to building technological capability
The teaching framework presented organizes changing priorities between 2012 and 2026. An important shift is the connection between encouraging new businesses and developing deeper technological capabilities. The periods help explain the presentation without turning that trajectory into a single sequence that applies to every company.
Documented milestones provide context for this perspective. The 2016 policy on entrepreneurship and innovation demonstration bases built on measures launched in 2015. The national innovation strategy published in 2016 set horizons for 2020, 2030 and 2050. These were announced strategic objectives, with a broader scope than the specific 2017 AI plan. Policy on demonstration bases and national innovation strategy.
For founders, the application is to examine the relationship between continuity and a changing focus. A policy, company or program can maintain its direction while updating the tools it uses. The important task is to investigate which capabilities and connections have been built along the way and which still need to mature.
The ranking is a starting point for investigating the system
The class used WIPO's innovation index and reviewed its historical evolution, with a chart running through 2025. As a public update, the 2026 edition places China 10th and Brazil 53rd. It assesses 139 economies through approximately 80 indicators, covering both the conditions for innovation and the results produced. Global Innovation Index 2026 and official results.
The comparison becomes useful when it leads to investigation: how are professionals trained, where do they encounter real problems, who funds experiments and how do companies absorb knowledge? An aggregate number helps organize questions, but it cannot replace an understanding of a sector, city or concrete opportunity.
Developing talent also means creating places to apply learning
The presentation linked the ability to innovate with investment in education and the movement of talent. It discussed education abroad and professionals returning to their country. The argument was that knowledge needs conditions in which it can be used, shared and turned into work.
For a startup, the lesson is to examine the environment it offers people. Skilled professionals help, but the team also needs a clear problem, access to context and room to test. The bridge between learning and execution can take the form of a client project, applied research or a university partnership.
Basic research needs investment and a careful reading of targets
Basic research is part of the capacity to innovate. It seeks to understand principles and phenomena before a specific commercial application. Connecting it with businesses may require later stages of validation, engineering and testing, as well as people who can translate discoveries into practical problems.
Under the 14th Five-Year Plan, the target was to raise basic research to more than 8% of total R&D expenditure in 2025. A publication by the national statistics agency dated August 27, 2026, reported a share of 7.08% in 2025. The comparison distinguishes the target from the observed result, both measured as a share of R&D expenditure. Target explained by the NDRC and figure reported by the NBS.
For a technology business, this distinction is useful too: intention, budget and evidence play different roles. The plan describes the direction; execution needs to show what has been learned, what has become possible and which result can be demonstrated.
A business challenge can become a learning project
Part of the session described a direct connection between companies and universities: research and development problems can be addressed through projects involving teachers and students. The conversation also connected this practice with innovation competitions and entrepreneurship education. Its value lies in bringing technical work closer to a recognized market need.
This requires a carefully defined challenge. The company needs to explain the situation, what it has already tried and how it will evaluate the result. Researchers need to understand constraints, available data and users. A prototype becomes more useful when it reveals something about the problem, rather than existing solely to demonstrate a technology.
Preparing for a competition can be part of a development journey
Shanghai Business School itself offers a public example of this connection. On June 8, 2026, the institution reported 19 awards among 20 projects submitted to Shanghai's Challenge Cup business plan competition. Preparation began six months earlier and brought together training, expert guidance and business mentors. Shanghai Business School report.
The news item describes more than 500 proposals in the internal selection process, as well as support for business plans, presentations and project defenses. The case illustrates a path of preparation and review, with stages to develop ideas and connect projects with opportunities for application.
For an entrepreneurship program, a competition can serve as a visible milestone within a broader journey. The work beforehand and the follow-up afterward help turn the delivery into learning: what was validated, which need remains unresolved and who can contribute to the next test.
Demonstration bases connect different kinds of institution
The 28 bases cited in the material correspond to the first 2016 list for entrepreneurship and innovation, rather than a current count of all Chinese centers. The list combined 17 regional bases, four universities or research institutions and seven companies. The design brought different actors together to test forms of support and interaction. First official list from 2016.
For an ecosystem, the lesson is that support does not depend on a single building. It can involve access to knowledge, financial instruments, companies with challenges, services and networks of people. How these connections work deserves as much attention as the number of institutions.
The founder's role emerged as a central question
The group asked how important the entrepreneur is in the innovation process and how talent is recognized. The discussion returned to education and the ability to mobilize knowledge. This question helps bring the ecosystem conversation back to the work of someone who needs to turn an opportunity into a company.
Entrepreneurs can examine how the founder connects pieces that do not come together on their own: a problem, technical skills, a user, resources and a distribution path. Finding promising research or technology is one stage. Discovering who needs it, developing a solution and sustaining delivery require another set of decisions.
Building capability has a longer horizon than a launch
In the class, planning and education were presented as components of a long-term effort. The presentation referred to artificial intelligence and electric mobility to discuss results that depend on earlier preparation. The lesson from the session was to examine the continuity of capabilities, alongside the new products reaching the market.
As public historical context, on July 20, 2017, the Chinese government published the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan. The document connected research, industrial applications, education and objectives through 2030. These were priorities and targets announced at that time. Official 2017 document.
For a business, the application is to distinguish the strategic horizon from execution cycles. A long-term direction can coexist with short tests, revised decisions and discarded hypotheses. Consistency depends on learning from results and continuing to invest in the capabilities that make a difference.
Patient capital: matching the investment horizon to the technology
Projects that take a long time to mature need capital aligned with their development timeline. The national venture capital guidance fund provides a public example. At its December 2025 presentation, the reported national fiscal contribution was RMB 100 billion, alongside capital mobilization through regional funds and subfunds. Fiscal details of the fund.
The national vehicle was structured with a 20-year duration. The total of RMB 1 trillion appeared as an estimated scale in the public account of a February 2026 press conference. These are different measures: the national contribution, the estimated scale of capital mobilization and resources invested over time. Structure and duration and published estimated scale.
The stated approach combines investing early, in small companies, over the long term and in deep technologies. For a startup, the key question is the alignment between its needs and the investment horizon: research, engineering, testing and market entry may mature at different rates. The existence of a fund does not, by itself, determine whether a specific project can access it.
A financial ecosystem includes entry, growth and capital circulation
Public guidance instruments, angel investment, venture capital and capital markets can work alongside acquisitions and secondary transactions. This list describes paths that can be combined. It is not a fixed sequence that every startup must follow.
When evaluating a funding opportunity, each instrument needs to address a need: validating a hypothesis, funding a technical stage, expanding operations or allowing a change in ownership. A company can also grow through revenue and partnerships. A useful approach starts with the work to be done, the conditions of each option and the decisions it entails.
This perspective broadens the investment conversation. The ecosystem needs to help good ideas get started, companies develop capabilities and resources circulate. For founders, understanding the people involved and the decision-making process is part of assessing whether a concrete opportunity for collaboration exists.
Shanghai and Hangzhou show why innovation geography matters
Shanghai identifies integrated circuits, biopharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence as three priority industries in its planning for 2026 to 2030. The document also connects research, commercialization, incubation and financing services with these activities. The city offers a setting in which to observe how a sector connects with suppliers, knowledge and applications. Priorities published by Shanghai.
Hangzhou appears in the material as another hub. The informal group known as the Six Little Dragons comprises DeepSeek, Unitree Robotics, Game Science, BrainCo, DEEP Robotics and Manycore Tech. These are distinct companies associated with AI, robotics, games, neural interfaces and spatial design technologies. The name describes a set of notable companies in the city. Overview from Hangzhou's municipal portal.
For an international trip, geography can guide more specific questions. Which problem is being addressed in that hub? Which skills come together there? And which connection would make sense for a Brazilian need? An encounter becomes more useful when it connects people and organizations around work they could undertake.
Electric mobility makes the importance of the value chain visible
The conversation mentioned the shift from traditional products toward more complex technologies. Electric mobility helps put this idea in context. According to the IEA's Global EV Outlook 2026, China accounted for almost 75% of global electric car production and more than 80% of battery cell production in 2025. Chinese electric car exports exceeded 2.5 million that year. IEA data and analysis.
The numbers describe production and trade; they do not attribute the result to a single cause. For founders, the question is where a solution fits within the value chain: materials, components, software, infrastructure, services or customer access. A large market can contain very specific opportunities that require an understanding of partners and deployment constraints.
Comparisons with Brazil can guide more useful connections
The WIPO report also recognizes Brazilian strengths in science, entrepreneurship and the market, while discussing the need to connect research, businesses and practical application more effectively. This perspective makes the comparison more productive: identifying existing capabilities and investigating the bridges that still need to be built. Brazil in the GII 2026.
For the NewHack community, a visit of this kind helps generate questions for its own ecosystem. Which company has a challenge that could become a project? Which team can test a solution? Which institution could take part? And which customer could provide a concrete reference for evaluating the result? The answers help turn an international connection into work in Brazil.
Five components for understanding the whole
Our reading of the material organizes the learning into five mutually reinforcing components:
- Continuity: sustain capabilities and learn from shifts in focus over time.
- Strategic direction: make priorities clear and connect instruments with the work that needs to be done.
- Financial capability: align resources, the time horizon and the project stage, without confusing an announcement with an investment already made.
- Talent: educate people and create conditions in which their knowledge can be applied.
- Ecosystem: connect universities, companies, government, partners and the market through projects with clearly defined responsibilities.
The combination is more useful than choosing a single factor to explain results. Technology needs people; people need problems and working conditions; a project needs resources and someone who will use its result. For NewHack, the practical question is how to make these relationships more frequent and productive within the community.
From learning to a project supported by evidence
- Choose a specific business challenge and describe its impact.
- Map the skills, institutions and partners that could help address it.
- Define access to data, users and testing conditions before starting.
- Agree on a verifiable deliverable and a way to review the learning.
- Plan how the project will continue after the presentation or competition.