Shibei Park turns green to spur business upgrade
Print Edition
THE Shanghai Shibei Hi-Tech Park, previously a traditional industrial base, is luring both local and multinational companies with stepped-up efforts in sustainability.
The park in Zhabei District has already become an incubator for local startups and a strong business platform for global giants like KOHLER and Starbucks.
“It is the ideal natural environment that attracted sanitary facilities giant KOHLER to settle its Asia Pacific headquarters here in the park,” said Zhou Xiaofang, vice president of Shibei Hi-Tech Park.
About two decades ago, Shibei was an underdeveloped area. However, with a focus on innovation and sustainability, the park has been catching up to gain recognition from companies.
Shanghai is on track to build an innovation center in science and technology with global influence. The government gives top priority to sustainability in the city’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which identifies key goals in the 2016-2020 period.
In order to monitor the natural environment, the Shibei Hi-Tech Park has developed a cloud data-based system. That helps ensure water quality in the river or dust in construction sites are under control.
These technologies were developed by the startups located in the park as part of the incentive program to foster their growth.
The park operator also provides training for professionals working in the park while helping startups recruit college graduates.
According to the Zhou, the average incubation period for a startup in the park runs for three years, after which it will have the capability to develop on its own.
“The river in the park used to be disgusting, but we made great efforts to remove algae and sludge and introduced fish and aquatic plants,” Zhou said. “KOHLER tested our soil sample and said it met the standard in the US.”
Another interesting story was about Starbucks.
Initially, the park had a rent-free policy for some startups. That made Starbucks reject an offer to open a shop on concern that employees in these small companies might not be able to afford their coffee products.
But it proved that Starbucks was wrong as local companies thrived quickly.
After recognizing they missed a good opportunity, Starbucks came back three years later to apply for opening an outlet within the park at a rent of more than US$1 per square meter per day. Now, it has even become one of the busiest Starbucks shops in the city.
“The transformation of our park proves to be successful because we are accepted by more global brands,” Zhou said. “We are glad to see an increasing number of high-value industrial companies to settle here.”
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