The Dream Factory of China

 On July 11, Young Professionals Alliance (YPA) makerspace celebrated its opening at Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (E Hub). Among the 20 Hong Kong startups situated in Qianhai, it is the first co-working space and business accelerator entirely managed by Hong Kong professionals.

 

 

Since its opening in 2014, the E Hub, where business incubators and accelerators concentrate, has attracted 124 startup teams from home and abroad, nearly half of whom are from Hong Kong. So far over 60 teams have successfully raised funds.

While Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation in manufacturing and real estate failed to adapt the changing market, youth innovation and entrepreneurship is a promising area for collaboration, according to Johnny Ng, the organizer of the YPA and president of Ko Fung Group.

“Standing out from other business incubators, the YPA makerspace focuses on accelerator services including large-scale financing,” Ng said. With Hong Kong-style management and foreign investment, it has attracted more than 20 Hong Kong startups to develop cultural and creative industry as well as to explore cutting-edge technology including virtual reality and robotics, Ng added.

Co-founding the makerspace withKo Fung Venture Capital and YBase Innovative Co-working Community, the YPA has eight fields of specialization; that is, information technology, accounting, law, financing, architecture, cultural and creative industry, education and health care. Ng said that the heads of each discipline, with rich working experience in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, have a great insight into local markets.

The business incubator and accelerator founded by YBase and String Drive will offer local assistance and international resources to lay the groundwork for enterprisers. Preparation time is cut down to 10 days.

With registration capital of 0.05 to 2 million yuan, those which have established for less than two years are eligible for the incubator program, whereas accelerator applicants are required to have over-2-million registration capital and less-than-five-year establishment.

Particularly, the business accelerator will assess potential demand for the startups’ product, and thus the enterprises are highly subject to market forces.

The duration of incubator service is three to six months. Those in accelerator can stay until the sixth month, and customized services are available even after their move-out.