FOR more than a decade, few visitors to Shanghai would consider their sightseeing tour complete without wandering through Xintiandi, a bustling downtown commercial landmark where chic restaurants and bars and stylish shopping and entertainment venues receive huge foot traffic all year round.

The first large-scale city-core redevelopment project in Shanghai and a brainchild of Vincent Lo, chairman of Shui On Land Ltd, Xintiandi has earned enormous fame since its first opening in late 2001.

The tremendous success of the project, however, didn’t stop Shui On from moving forward with new initiatives. Twelve years ago, the company kicked off the Knowledge & Innovation Community (KIC) project together with the Yangpu District government in the city’s northeastern Wujiaochang area. After 12 years’ development, KIC, where the spirit of scientific innovation of Silicon Valley is perfectly integrated with the innovative culture of Left Bank in Paris, has emerged as an entrepreneurial paradise for people to share knowledge, communicate, seek for cooperation and have fun.

In a recent campaign held in the city to promote innovation, KIC was picked as one of the 40 winners of the Best Innovative Practice awards.

Lo, who was invited to give a keynote speech at the awards ceremony held on October 22, sat down with Shanghai Daily to share some of his views on the city’s general entrepreneurial and innovation environment, how he perceives the strength of the city in regard to its ambition to develop itself into a global technology and innovation center as well as what Shui On Land is looking for future business growth over the next couple of years.

Q: How do you perceive the general entrepreneurial and innovation environment
in Shanghai? Compared to other major cities in China such as Beijing, where does Shanghai’s strength lie?

A: It is fair to say that Beijing boasts a much earlier kickoff in this realm but Shanghai has still got its own strengths. On one hand, there are a lot of colleges in the city particularly in Yangpu District while on the other hand, which I believe should be one of the superior advantages of Shanghai, the commercial environment here is stronger.

Moreover, Shanghai is an international metropolis and that is very important. Because when it comes to technology and innovation, we should always take a global perspective and check the latest trends around the world rather than just looking around within the country. Therefore, I remain very upbeat that Shanghai does have all the prerequisites.

Q: What should be done to fulfill the city’s ambition to develop itself into a global technology and innovation center?

A: More effort, from both the government and enterprises, should be made to accelerate the city’s development into a technology and innovation center with global influence. We have spent 12 years in the development of this single project of KIC and one project is far from enough. The size of Silicon Valley in the United States, for instance, is more than 100 times than KIC so we certainly need at least 100 projects of this kind to realize our goal to become a global technology and innovation center.

How do we proceed and where shall we build those projects? I think colleges are of critical importance. As I’ve mentioned earlier, Yangpu, where Fudan University and Tongji University are located, boasts great academic resources.

So maybe the district government can push forward it in a more active approach. Why can’t we develop Yangpu into a place just like the Silicon Valley in the US particularly after the successful establishment of KIC?

I’ve made personal visits to the start-up companies in KIC and I am thrilled to find that the overall environment there is extremely positive and vibrant. People there are very passionate about what they are doing, which is a must for start-ups to succeed. What I saw actually reminded me of my own experience of working at least 16 hours a day for seven straight years without a single day’s rest when I began to build my own construction business in Hong Kong at the age of 23 with an initial fund of HK$100,000 (US$12,900) provided by my father.

However, it is not enough to have government support only. More companies should also join to make their contributions because the involvement of companies will help transform innovations and new technologies into products that the market really needs.

Q: Does Shui On Land have any medium-or long-term plan to develop more projects like KIC in Shanghai?

A: Of course we do. I am extremely thrilled when Premier Li Keqiang called for a national campaign for mass entrepreneurship and innovation. That’s exactly what we have been thinking for more than 10 years and we believe that will be a future trend.

But then comes the question — what kind of approach we shall take? We all know that the Silicon Valley plays a key role in the US. But we can’t just copy its successful experience. Instead, we need to create our own environment that should allow entrepreneurs and new technologies and innovations to cooperate.

Colleges are extremely important as many new technologies are driven by them. But without companies, those technologies won’t be transformed efficiently into real products catering to the market demand.

I fully understand that it is very difficult to build more projects like KIC in Shanghai due to difficulties in relocation but it all depends on the government’s determination. In this case, Yangpu is most privileged because it outnumbers other counterparts in the number of colleges. As a matter of fact, we have been looking at other places in Yangpu as well as other districts around the city.

Q: Besides this one in Shanghai, do you also look at opportunities elsewhere
around the country?

A: Quite a lot city governments in the country have invited us to check the feasibility for KIC-like projects but we have been very careful about it so far. I am afraid that at least for the next couple of years, Shui On will remain focused in the Shanghai market because of the city government’s ambition to build itself into a global technology and innovation center.

Q: What is special about KIC compared to other technology parks in the country?

A: KIC just serves as a platform where entrepreneurs can exchange their ideas and thoughts. All the so-called technology parks in China are actually industrial parks. At KIC, there is “three-zone integration” which consists of the school campuses, surrounding communities as well as science and technology parks.