Private entrepreneurship, innovation to drive space technologies: CASIC

State- owned high- technology company China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp ( CASIC) is pinning its hopes on private entrepreneurship and innovation to speed up the commercialization of the country’s space technologies.

The company supports more than 6,000 private innovative, entrepreneurial programs that have attracted more than 1.7 billion yuan ($ 250 mil- lion) in total funds, according to information from CASIC obtained by the Global Times on Thursday.

It has also set up eight innovation incubators across the country, covering a total of 483,000 square meters. Last year, the output of businesses in those incubators surpassed 40 billion yuan.

“We call for private efforts to participate in the development of China’s aerospace and industrial technologies, which takes time to benefit ordinary consumers if the process relies solely a single company,” CASIC Vice President Liu Shiquan told reporters during a media tour on Thursday.

The media tour showcased the commercial applications of technologies developed by CASIC in sectors such as telecommunications, commercial satellites and cloud computing.

Of the applications, the CASICloud Internet platform, founded in 2015, was highlighted.

The platform aims to help enterprises from all nations find the advanced technologies they need, a representative from the company said.

The platform now serves businesses from 120 countries and regions, with nearly 800,000 regis- tered Chinese enterprises and 3,386 from abroad, Xu Shan, vice general manager of CASICloud, told the Global Times Thursday.

CASIC’s promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship also reflects the central government’s push for innovation- led development in the next few years.

The State Council, the country’s cabinet, has approved a second group of demonstration bases, involving nearly 100 institutions and companies such as Tencent Holdings.

These are intended to boost the country’s capacity of innovation and entrepreneurship, Shen Zhulin, deputy director general of the HighTech Industry Department under the National Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference held in Beijing on Thursday.

The first group approved last year, includes CASIC, Alibaba Group Holding and Haier Group.

Shen said in terms of market size and dynamism, China’s innovation and entrepreneurship ranks second only after the US.

Still, there are problems. For instance, it’s rare that innovative programs are set up in western China, according to Shen.

When asked about the challenges in boosting innovation, Liu said that China does not lack technological talent, capital or policy support.

“The priority is how to integrate those resources together well,” he noted.