Jingrong Town: Rebirth of Entrepreneurship

Town Entrepreneurship

“It takes 10 years to grow a tree and 100 years to rear a generation of good men. We provide soil for the seeds of entrepreneurship and innovation to take root and sprout,” said Xiao Shijie, who is in charge of Jingrong Town’s public relations.

Most partners in Fu’s company are graduates from Chengdu Textile College. The company mainly engages in artware design and the making and marketing of Sichuan embroidery.

“During our initial stage of trading, the town offered us free rent, water and electricity, which helped us make considerable cost savings,” said Dang Jianping, one of the company’s partners. “Such an undertaking is a huge challenge, bearing in mind the lack of distribution channels. To solve the problem, we have expanded our network marketing channels, opened online stores, and launched crowdfunding for several products. Relevant officials also gave us advice and suggestions. Our market has now expanded to Beijing and Guangzhou.”

In addition to product customization, the company set a higher target than making profits.

“We will open a workshop soon after the facilities are delivered in August. The town will offer the site for free. Admirers of Sichuan embroidery can study here gratis, including related culture and workmanship, in order to inherit the time-honored culture,” said Fu. She believes that entrepreneurship means not merely creating something new, but also revitalizing traditional things.

In addition to traditional embroidery, a cutting-edge big data industry is also striking roots in Jingrong Town.

“Aside from preferential policies on tangible aspects, we also value the industry guidance that the town offered us, such as the entrepreneurship and innovation index, which is of great value to our entrepreneurial enterprise,” said Peng Juan, who works at Xundao Technology Co., Ltd. The company entered the town in 2015. Its chief scientist Zhou Tao is a leading figure in China’s big data industry. He translated the book Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think.

Together with the State Information Center and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Jingrong Town has built a big data platform and industry agglomeration. “The town boasts a dozen relevant companies. Our company focuses on the application of education, while others engage in the security domain, which brings enlightenment to us all,” said Peng. Established in 2014, the company has obtained RMB 50 million in angel investment.

Jingrong Town also provides these companies opportunities for face-to-face communication with industry leaders.

Billboards of renowned entrepreneurs on a high-rise in Jingrong Town.

The first Big Data Application Congress of China was held in Chengdu in July 2016, with a parallel session in Jingrong Town. The conference invited a number of world-class enterprises, such as Sinosteel, Inventec, Founder, Baidu, Alibaba, Jingdong, IBM, and Sina.

Jingrong Town plans to promote cluster competitive advantages and build China’s first “big data town.” At present, some 59 big data companies and almost 3,000 related professionals have gathered here.

In Jingrong Town, entrepreneurship is not only an undertaking for young people.

“I have studied solar cars since 2012. The town owns a plethora of talents and has a dense entrepreneurship atmosphere. I have good concepts while the young people have fresh ideas, therefore I chose to join them in starting a business,” said Wu Guilin, founder of Santong New Energy Technology. Seventy-year-old Wu used to be a college teacher, and like other college students realized his entrepreneurial dream in Jingrong Town.

“Our test car now has a cruising ability of over 200 km and our photovoltaic panel has a high electric conversion efficiency. Therefore the electricity output is amazing,” said Wu. “Next we will continue to overcome difficulties and enhance the efficiency of the solar cell.”

Besides, the company has to solve the problem of graduate employment. So far, it has offered jobs to more than 200 college graduates. Some employees now live in the apartments offered by the town. According to the preferential policy, they can enjoy free rent for three years.

Now, the town has more than 10,000 entrepreneurs, and each and every one of them has a unique story.