The 10th anniversary of the Optics Valley Qingtonghui opens in the Optics Valley of China. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The 10th anniversary of the Optics Valley Qingtonghui – an innovation and entrepreneurship event that is committed to assisting start-ups in financing – recently took place in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC).

More than 500 corporate representatives, entrepreneurs, specialists, scholars, and venture capital staff members participated in the event, sharing their insights on innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry incubation.

The 2023 OVC innovation and entrepreneurship report and the OVC innovation business district map were released at the event.

The report demonstrated the valley's progress in innovation and entrepreneurship. This progress can be seen in multiple dimensions, such as technologies, capital, policies and openness. By the end of 2023, OVC had accommodated over 200 entrepreneurship carriers, including 28 State-level sci-tech firm incubators, one national lab, one national research center, three national innovation centers, four provincial labs, and five university sci-tech parks.

Incomplete statistics show that last year, eight sci-tech enterprises in the valley had secured equity financing totaling nearly 6 billion yuan ($835.8 million).

Skyscrapers in OVC. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

In addition, an innovation and entrepreneurship agglomeration belt has been formed in OVC, centered around the Gaoxin, Guanshan and Guanggu avenues. The incubation area along the belt exceeds 2 million square meters, with over 4,000 enterprises being incubated. Moreover, 13 innovation industrial parks have been set up in OVC based on the layout of local sci-tech research institutions, innovation platforms and leading enterprises. This is according to the OVC innovation business district map.

The anniversary event also featured a demonstration of the accomplishments made by Optics Valley Qingtonghui over the last decade. Some 30 typical enterprises benefited from the event, as they were able to showcase their competitive products. Meanwhile, roadshows for optoelectronic and life and health projects were also conducted, followed by exchanges with investors. A total of 14 OVC enterprises successfully got financed on that day.

Since its first edition in 2013, the Optics Valley Qingtonghui has provided a stage for the roadshow of over 1,300 projects, and it has recommended more than 2,500 projects to nearly 1,500 institutional investors.