Two cities, one group of people | Ningbo's "enclave" in Hangzhou, the size of a football field, has become a "bridgehead" for more than 200,000 manufacturing companies
2024-08-10
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"Next door is the research and development center of Ningbo Deman Compressor Co., Ltd., a 'little giant' ranked among the top three in the industry." "Downstairs is the Cixi Innovation and Design Institute established by Zhejiang University of Technology last year, which mainly provides industrial design for Cixi companies." At the Cixi Innovation and Creativity (Hangzhou) enclave located in the Starlight Times UDC Building in Binjiang District, Guo Pu, head of the enclave business unit of Zhejiang University Netcom Science and Technology Innovation Group, enthusiastically led reporters on a tour.
As the person in charge of this enclave, Guo Pu spends three days a week in Binjiang, Hangzhou and two days in Cixi, Ningbo. He is a typical "dual-city office worker". Binjiang meets Cixi, and the strong combination has brought fruitful results - in the seven years since its establishment, the Cixi Hangzhou enclave has produced four listed companies, more than 200 practical talents with master's degrees or above, and the occupancy rate has remained at 100% for a long time. It was also rated as the "Digital Economy Enclave Demonstration Base" in Zhejiang Province with the first total score.
The enclave is located in the UDC Building in Xingguang Times, Binjiang District
Aiming to attract talents, we will build Ningbo's first enclave in Hangzhou
Ningbo is famous for its manufacturing industry, and Cixi, as the "capital of small household appliances", is a leader in this field. In the list of China's top 100 county economies in 2024 released by CCID Consulting last month, Cixi City once again led Zhejiang and entered the top ten in the country.
Behind the impressive achievements, there are also pain points. The difficulty in recruiting high-end talents has become the biggest headache for Cixi entrepreneurs. "High-end talents like to live in big cities, and the recruitment cost in a county like Cixi is very high. For example, an experienced system architect can be recruited and retained in Hangzhou with an annual salary of 700,000 or 800,000 yuan. If you want him to work in Cixi, the overall cost may have to be increased to 1 million yuan." Guo Pu said.
Since it is separated from Hangzhou by Shaoxing, Cixi can hardly attract Hangzhou’s talent resources directly like Keqiao, Haining and other cities near Hangzhou. “Before, if you took the expressway from Hangzhou, you had to get off at Shangyu first, or take a detour via the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which took two or three hours. In addition, Cixi does not have a high-speed rail station, so it is not realistic to commute across the city.” Guo Pu pointed to the odometer of his car. In seven years, this car running between Hangzhou and Ningbo has traveled 200,000 kilometers.
In this context, building a bridgehead for attracting talents in Hangzhou through the enclave model has become the best solution for Cixi enterprises. In February 2017, Fang Shuguang, member of the Cixi CPPCC and chairman of Ningbo Qixi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., submitted a proposal on "Suggestions on Improving the Industrial Chain of Double Innovation by Establishing an "Enclave" to Attract Talents" at the Cixi CPPCC Plenary Session. It was highly valued by the Cixi Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government and was identified as the No. 1 key proposal of the Cixi CPPCC that year.
At this time, the "enclave economy" was still in the exploratory stage in China. Both the government and enterprises lacked relevant experience, and there were few relevant policies and documents. In the end, they decided to adopt a government-enterprise cooperation model and entrust Zhejiang University Network New Group to operate, unify the leasing of buildings, act as an agent for attracting investment and talents, and entrust the matching of talents and R&D needs.
Just four months later, "Proposal No. 1" became a reality. On June 2, 2017, the Cixi (Hangzhou) Innovation and Creativity Enclave, covering an area of more than 6,000 square meters, officially opened in Binjiang, becoming the first enclave established by Ningbo in Hangzhou. Coincidentally, the National Development and Reform Commission just issued the "Guiding Opinions on Supporting the Development of the "Enclave Economy"" on the same day, which clearly encouraged the innovation of the "enclave economy" cooperation mechanism and promoted regional coordinated development, thus opening a new chapter in the development of the national enclave economy.
Demand-oriented, realizing the enclave economy with “core but no borders”
When building an enclave in a big city, a key is how to get the support of the enclave. Unlike ordinary industrial parks, the tax revenue of enterprises in the enclave belongs to the enclave, which is quite suspicious of "poaching" for the enclave.
Cixi-Hangzhou enclave solves this problem from the perspective of positioning. "We are a science and technology enclave. Our main function is not to attract investment, but to serve local enterprises. More than 80% of the settled enterprises are from Cixi. For Binjiang, it is not that Cixi has 'robbed' Binjiang's enterprises, but that the enterprises originally in Cixi have retained their R&D talents in Binjiang, so they naturally support it strongly." Guo Pu said that the Cixi enclave has also become an important window for "International Binjiang" to show itself to the outside world. "The study group from Hong Kong alone has come more than a dozen times, and almost all the mid-level civil servants in Hong Kong have come."
On May 29, 2024, the Hong Kong Intermediate Civil Service National Affairs Study Group visited the Cixi Hangzhou enclave
In the seven years since its establishment, the enclave has introduced 87 projects, some of which have become hidden champions or are at the forefront of the industry. In the specific operation process, Guo Pu also designed a special points system to use the idle resources of the settled enterprises to meet each other's needs. "From the business services of the enterprise itself to the right to use a conference room or a car, they can be used to exchange points, and then use the points to purchase the corresponding services needed. This effectively strengthens the connection and cooperation between enterprises and improves the operation ecology of the enclave."
Ningbo Rixin Hengli Technology Co., Ltd., an enterprise settled in the enclave, has a reverse osmosis membrane-free intelligent dust-free production workshop
How can the enclave of more than 6,000 square meters, which is less than the size of a standard football field, meet the huge needs of Cixi's manufacturing industry? "As the client, the Cixi Municipal Government requires us to not only serve the settled enterprises well, but also provide assistance to the more than 200,000 Cixi enterprises that have not settled in. With the enclave as the core, we will expand the market between the two places and become an important link for economic cooperation and realize the idea of the enclave economy 'with a core but no boundaries'." Guo Pu introduced that they have formed a complete set of operating procedures, which can effectively save the docking costs of enterprises. "For example, there was a small and micro enterprise in Cixi that was engaged in smart fire protection before. They wanted to cooperate with Hikvision. They put forward their needs in writing. We connected with Hikvision through the relevant departments of Hangzhou and finally facilitated the cooperation."
In order to meet the needs of different enterprises, Zhejiang University Network New has also established a team of more than 30 experts to provide support, covering various fields such as innovation and entrepreneurship, finance and accounting. Everyone in the team has a professional title of associate senior or above.
Using enclaves as a medium to promote the deep integration of industrial chain and innovation chain
As the "Tale of Two Cities" of Hangzhou and Ningbo becomes more and more popular, the Cixi-Hangzhou enclave has also begun to move beyond Cixi, playing a more important role in the industrial chain and innovation chain of Hangzhou and Ningbo, and has achieved many important results.
In May this year, Hangzhou Fabu Technology, founded by world-class AI scientist and Zhejiang University professor He Xiaofei, won the bids for the "Ningbo Meidong Container Terminal Co., Ltd. 40 Smart Container Trucks Procurement Project" and the "Zhoushan Yongzhou Container Terminal Co., Ltd. 45 Smart Container Trucks Procurement Project" with a total amount of over 100 million yuan, becoming the largest order in the field of unmanned driving in domestic ports.
Meidong Terminal Unmanned Intelligent Container Truck
The unmanned driving technology of Hangzhou has been implemented in the seaport of Ningbo. Behind this is the seaport intermodal innovation consortium established by Zhejiang University Network New Technology Co., Ltd., relying on the Cixi Hangzhou enclave and the Zhejiang University Computer Innovation Institute, in conjunction with Fabu Technology and Zhejiang Seaport Group. "Fabu Technology has leading unmanned driving technology, but lacks suitable application scenarios in the process of industrialization. The innovation consortium has found a place for scientific research results by linking with the leading enterprise Zhejiang Seaport Group." Guo Pu said.
Guo Pu is introducing the Seaport Intermodal Innovation Consortium
The Cixi Innovation Design Institute of Zhejiang University of Technology, which was put into use in March this year, is another example of Hangzhou's scientific and technological innovation empowering Ningbo manufacturing. The institute is located on the 13th floor of the Cixi Hangzhou enclave and has a technical service team composed of dozens of senior teachers. "Cixi is the capital of small household appliances. We use the interdisciplinary advantages of Zhejiang University of Technology in the field of industrial design to provide appearance design, product development and other services for some manufacturing companies." Li Yu, a doctoral student in the field of industrial design in mechanical engineering at Zhejiang University of Technology, introduced.
"Ningbo has a developed manufacturing industry, while Hangzhou has a large number of digital economy and productive service companies. The strong demand for cooperation brought about by this complementarity is the basis for the Hangzhou-Ningbo 'Tale of Two Cities' to become better and better, and it is also the key to the Cixi-Hangzhou enclave to become better and better." Guo Pu believes.
