Business association celebrates 20 years of achievements
The Asian Association of Business Incubation celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this week, with great achievements in fostering sci-tech startups over the past two decades.
Business incubation has played an important role in assisting economies to continue to being resilient and competitive, especially in the post-pandemic era, said Suwipa Wanasathop, president of AABI.
Founded in 2002, the association is a multilateral network of business incubation that focuses on building a collaboration framework to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the Asia-Pacific region.
For 20 years, it has evolved into a large and vibrant innovation network, successively connecting 26 members from 19 countries and regions such as Thailand, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and more, with useful links with more than 5,000 incubators in APAC.
Other than the 31 Incubator Award winners and the 98 Entrepreneur Award winners, 16 volumes of the Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship including 239 academic papers have also been published, highlighting AABI observations and research. Various events have also been organized, or co-organized by AABI members each year to empower cross-border collaboration of business incubation with AABl recognition and international impact.
"Collaborating with strategic partners in the regions, co-creating new solutions and new ways of doing business, as well as building a vibrant ecosystem are the key enablers for the success of our entrepreneurs and our economic growth. AABI has acted as a key mechanism to support and develop partnership to support entrepreneurs in the region," Wanasathop said.
Dai Gang, director-general of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, delivers a video speech at the event.
"In the future, we expect AABI to further leverage its multiple advantages of internationality, professionalism and flexibility, to participate deeply in the sharing and cooperation of technology resources and services in various countries and regions in Asia Pacific," said Dai Gang, director-general of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Dai also pledged that the department will continue to create opportunities, build platforms and provide support for international innovation and entrepreneurship cooperation, to contribute to the common prosperity and development of all countries.
The Shanghai Caohejing Hi-tech Park Innovation Center, which was Shanghai's first AABI Incubator Award winner, has cumulatively incubated a total of 1,702 enterprises, among which six have gone public on major bourses and 26 are listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, as well as the Shanghai Equity Exchange, according to Lai Haofeng, general manager of the Center.
Meanwhile, the Zhangjiang Pharma Engine Co, which won the 2022 AABI Incubator Award, has nurtured more than 490 outstanding innovative enterprises in the life science field, and 415 enterprises have successfully graduated and moved out, including Junshi Biosciences, Hua Medicine, Medicilon, and Liferiver Biotech.
Among them, six were listed in Hong Kong, eight on the SSE STAR Market, and 10 on the NEEQ, while more than 50 projects were valued at more than 1 billion yuan (US$142 million), according to Jiang Tao, assistant to general manager of Zhangjiang Science & Technology Venture Capital and General Manger of Zhangjiang Pharma Engine.
