How to assess a region's innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) landscape with one number? In 2017, Yangpu District initiated I&E Index to assess and evaluate developments and trends in I&E.
On Oct. 9, the 2018 I&E International conference was held in B-link. The district officially released its 2018 I&E index report for model units at the conference.
Upgraded from its 2017 version, I&E Index was jointly developed by Yangpu District Statistic Bureau and Athena Data Analytics and Service Co. Ltd. (ADAS). With 2013 as base period and a base value of 100, the index surged to 188.7 in 2017, with an average annual growth rate of 17.2%, or a year-on-year growth rate of 25.7% from 2016, the highest since 2013. This reveals the influence of the national biweekly I&E conference meeting is quickly translating into economic development dynamic and building up high quality development.
In 2017, the I&E Index project team developed an comparable (both horizontally and vertically) index system fully reflecting the district's I&E landscape and its domestic and international impacts, with I&E elements, environment, achievement and influence as 1st-tiered indexes. The index was upgraded in 2018. For higher accuracy, the project team incorporated more off-line phone call survey targets, the number of which grew from 500 to 1,000. Specially, business & operation environment was highly rated. The I&E policy assessment index was up 20.1% from 2016. "This indicates the District's innovative policies, such as better services for foreign talent working in China, I&E award and accurate tax services have been paying off," said the head of Yangpu District Statistic Bureau.
The upgraded version leverage more diversified big data resources for comprehensive assessment on businesses' I&E dynamics. For instance, Yangpu District's Wujaochang area is among top five both by the ratios of science and technology companies registered and operating in the area, according to big data analysis on registration and operating locations of existing businesses. This reveals emerging impacts of technology-led high-tech business clusters. In addition, the team consolidated data from micro blog, search engine, HR websites, etc, to mine data including news reports on businesses, online news on business and recruitment news. According to statistics, the activeness of businesses in the District is increasing. Specifically, the matrix increased from 473,000 in 2013 to 823,000 in 2017, up by around 74%, with an average annual growth rate of about 15%.
To better assess the link between I&E ecosystem and business environment, the project team analyzed the district's efforts, strengths and trends in optimizing business environment from the perspective of business environment. According to the report, 80% of the respondents rated four business environment related attributes, namely "governmental agencies' efficiency, legal environment, market entry facilities, and service mindset" as "excellent" and "good". Optimized registration and business environment encourage businesses to increase R&D investment, which in turn drive businesses and economic growth, and vice versa. According to statistics, 73.76% of businesses operating in Yangpu are registered in the District; and 82.73% of those registered in Yangpu are operating in the District. Among the respondents, 85.9% are satisfied with the District's overall environment for start-ups and 82.4% are willing to start their businesses in the District if given a second chance.
