Introduction to the Enterprise Salon
Initiated by TEDA International Incubator in 2007, the Enterprise Salon is a self-disciplined organization mainly comprising of entrepreneurs from innovative and high-tech oriented companies in TEDA. It serves as a platform for exchange of ideas, resources sharing and communications among the enterprises, the government, research institutes and investors. Not only does the Salon listen to the demands and requests from enterprises before reporting to relevant government departments to promote communications between the two, but also it facilitates business talks among enterprises of different sizes and different industries. Government officials, industry experts and renowned scholars are invited as senior advisors of the Salon. The membership-based Salon offers various forms of activities including themed seminars, informal discussions, training, lectures & speeches, Outward Bound programs, and sports & entertainment.
Contact
- Mr. Yaping Cao
- Tianjin TEDA International Incubator
- The Fourth Floor, Block A1, Tianda Science Park,
- No. 80 The Fourth Avenue, TEDA, Tianjin 300457, P.R. China
- T: +86 22 66211527
- F: +86 22 66211504
- E: caoyp@teda.net
Latest Event
26th Session—22/12/09
Taking place at TEDA Financing Service Center for High-tech Enterprises, the salon invited over 60 local business leaders as well as quite a few officials-in-charge from government organizations including TEDA Labor & Personnel Bureau, TEDA Financial Bureau, TEDA Investment Promotion Bureau, TEDA Economic Development Bureau, Tianjin Social Insurance Fund TEDA Branch and TEDA Small Enterprise Credit Guaranty Center. After an hour of free talks, Mr Li Xin, Director of TII, elaborated TII's service system and achievements in the past year, then the entrepreneurs talked about their feelings and stories and expressed their gratitude to TEDA Administrative Commission and TII for their support and assistance over the years. During the meeting, the aforementioned government organizations also answered the questions raised by the companies regarding operations and development.
Sessions Archived
24th Session—30/10/09
A seminar took place at TEDA Financing Service Center for Technology-based Enterprises to approach the topic of corporate financing. TII invited the V.P. of Tianjin Equity Exchange (TEE), Mr. Han Jiaqing, to the seminar to explain the strategic positioning, business model and trading system of TEE to some 30 leaders of local sci-tech enterprises, which led to a free exchange of opinions and ideas. After the seminar, the participants made a visit to the TEE, an unlisted public equity exchange market designed to serve China's vast number of SMEs which is the very first of its kind in this country.
23th Session—24/09/09
The 23th Salon was a field service seminar co-organized by TII and State Taxation Bureau of TEDA with the purpose of going into details of policies and work flows and solving problems raised by the enterprises. Mr. Zili Han, Deputy Director of State Taxation Bureau of TEDA, brought three colleagues of different expertise to the seminar where communications were made with over 60 participants from local businesses. Issues involved included modification of main items of business when needed, export tax rebates and determination of R&D expenses, etc. The participants agreed on the importance of constant attention to the State Bureau website, the need of enforced communication with assigned officer, and the communication mechanism with Bureau chiefs in case of emergency.
22th Session—27/08/09
On August 27, TII organized the 22th Salon featuring three tutors giving a lecture to students from Tianjin University of Science & Technology on how to start their own businesses. The tutors are Mr. Haitao Qi, CEO of Devott Co., Ltd., Mr. Ming Sun, Department Manager of Tianjin TEDA Venture Capital Co., Ltd., and Mr. Xiaofei Yang, Deputy Secretary-General of Tianjin Business Incubation Association. They learnt from the ten students about their business projects and plans and then gave respective advices on how to improve them. The students gained a lot from the comments and advices as well as valuable experiences and knowledge from the tutors.
21th Session—22/07/09
On July 22, together with Tianjin Social Insurance Fund TEDA Branch, TII held the 21th Salon with a seminar approaching the social insurance service for science & technology enterprises within the TEDA area to introduce the newly released municipal policies and regulations on social insurance and security which involved close benefits for staff working in TEDA. The officials in charge gave respective speeches in terms of the change of the procedures and the usual problems staff would meet with, they also answered the questions raised by the enterprises after the speeches. Some 50 people from more than 30 enterprises attended the salon.
20th Session—02/06/09
On June 2, the 20th Salon was held in the library auditorium of Tianjin University of Science & Technology in the form of a public lecture featuring outstanding returned Chinese scholars helping college students and recent grads to initiate their own business. This Salon was sponsored by Tianjin Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Tianjin University of Science & Technology and TII, and supported by Economic Development Bureau and Culture, Education and Public Health Bureau of TEDA as well as Tianjin Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China.
Mr. Haitao Qi, CEO of Devott Co., Ltd., Mr. Yuexiang Huang, President of Tianjin Highland Energy Technology Development Co.,Ltd., and Ms. Ping Liang, Chairwoman of Bonna-Agela Technologies, gave their respective speeches as successful returned Chinese scholars who had initiated their own business in TEDA and talked about their personal experiences and ups and downs in starting up the business and pointed out the key problems to be noted, all of which were welcomed and echoed by the students.
19th Session—13/05/09
The 19th Salon was an explanatory seminar held on May 13 for details of the up-to-date plan set up both by TII and University Technology Transfer Center of Binhai, Tianjin in helping the enterprises solve their technical problems either in the production or in the research & development, which is "Science & Technology Commissioner Plan".
40 people, who represented over 30 enterprises with the needs to bring in a commissioner, attended the seminar. Chief Director Ming-hai Yang first of all explained the plan in details, and Mr. Yu-ning Zheng, General Manager of TEDA Haining Ship-Engineering Co., Ltd., and Mr. Han-qiao Liu, PH.D of Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, gave the speeches as the representative of beneficiary companies and commissioners separately.
18th Session—08/04/09
The 18th Salon was held on April 8 between Tianjin Municipal Science & Technology Commission and the bio-tech, medical & pharmaceutical, and eco-friendly enterprises in TII. There were 15 enterprises attending the meeting. Officials from the government office answered the questions and solved the puzzles from the enterprises. They also explained the relevant policies in details for developing the bio-tech and medical industry which, they stressed, would be supported by the government as the most important area in coming years. For example, the Jing-Jin-Ji model zone of medical and pharmaceutical industry in TEDA, co-established by China MOST and Tianjin Municipality, was approved in 2008 in order to encourage the transformation of research results into products; moreover, earlier this year, Tianjin Municipal Government issued the 68th official document which carried the most preferential policies domestically so far.
17th Session—17/03/09
On March 31, the 17th Salon came off with the ceremony of the establishment of the "Tianjin Innovative Salon for Returned Overseas Scholars" which was presided both by TII and Tianjin Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. The objective of setting up the Innovative Salon for Returned Overseas Scholars is to inspire the passion of the scholars for innovation, promote the friendship and contact among them and with others so as to build a kind environment for thorough communications in their own business. Some 20 successful local scholars attended the ceremony. Director-in-Chief Ying Yuan of Tianjin Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Director Hong Zhu from Tianjin Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, and Xin Li, Director-in-Chief of TII, attended the meeting. It was also confirmed that the salon would be held irregularly later on.
16th Session—26/02/09
In the afternoon of February 26, the 16th Enterprise Salon was held with a theme of the issuing of the latest policies for business promotion in TEDA. Some 60 people representing 50 enterprises attended the meeting. Officials from Science & Technology Development Bureau and Labor & Personnel Bureau as well as the Policy Research Office of TEDA were giving the speeches in terms of the details of the newly issued policies and answering the questions in order to help enterprises weather through the downturn period, even more, to help them move on faster. The meeting was keenly welcomed by the enterprises. Vice Director Hong-liang Li of TII chaired the meeting and gave a short speech as well. Additionally, all the documents involved were released on official website of TII afterwards.
15th Session—14/01/09
Special Session – "Spring Reception 2009"
The 2-hour Spring Reception has attracted more than 100 participants from local enterprises, offering a valuable opportunity to facilitate exchange, and enhance friendship among entrepreneurs, many of whom got on the stage to show the audience their special talent and skills in arts, such as dancing, singing, poetry reading and musical instruments.
14th Session—30/12/08
As the first China ripples of global financial crisis come ashore, local SMEs are facing scarce resources and increasing threats because of their weakest financial structure and lower credit rating. To facilitate the preliminary exchange of views on the impact of the global crisis on SME and entrepreneurship financing, and to discuss the strategies in dealing with the existing problems and what should be done next, the second meeting of the TEDA Entrepreneurial Tutoring Campaign (TETC) was held in TII where senior managers of SMEs in various fields meet the tutors with expertise in finance, investment and HR to have an in-depth talk on the above-mentioned issues. Topics touched in the discussion included cost & cash flow management, client & order management, call for government & VC intervention, lean production and the need for emphasis on building core competence & seeking opportunity in the time of crisis.
13th Session—27/11/08
Today the Salon members witnessed the official launch of TEDA Entrepreneurial Tutoring Campaign (TETC) initiated and sponsored by TII. The first 13 tutors showed up at the meeting and were officially introduced to the 10 enterprises who wished to receive tailored tutoring. The tutors were selected and appointed from various walks of life from government sectors to industry associations and successful enterprises. They were capable to provide expertise and resources in different fields including arbitration, taxation, property right and investment. At the meeting, the taxation tutor delivered the first lecture on financing and tax planning. Officials present today included: Su Liang, Director-General of Tianjin Business Incubator Association, and Fengling Ma, Director of Tianjin Technology Entrepreneurship Services.
TETC was a local implementation of the Entrepreneurial Tutoring Campaign of China Torch Program put forward by China MOST, and it was also the first program of this kind among over 30 business incubators in Tianjin.
12th Session—01/11/08
This was the first collective activity after the establishment of CPC General Branch of TII in October. 35 participants, including CPC members and candidate members from over ten enterprises in TEDA, visited the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution to the west of Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. The Military Museum was hosting a themed exhibition on the heroic deeds in the relief work of Sichuan earthquake, with many heart-shaking scenes and touching stories on show. The participants were deeply moved by the stories of the heroes and greatly inspired by the flame of patriotism and the national spirit embodied in them.
11th Session—24/09/08
Taking advantage of this year's Annual Meeting of the New Champions (a.k.a. the 'Summer Davos') taking place in TEDA, the 11th session of the Enterprise Salon was held as part of the pre-conference workshops. More than 120 Young Global Leaders (YGLs), a World Economic Forum community of top business executives under 40 years old, paid a visit to TII in Tianda Science Park (TSP) where overseas business leaders were meeting over 150 local entrepreneurs to have an exchange of opinions and ideas concerning entrepreneurship and the economic outlook for China. As the sponsor of this event, TII created a window of opportunity for local businesses to talk with global leaders and locate the link to success.
After a field visit to Tianjin 3D Imaging Technique Co., Ltd. (an incubated company of TII), the event proceeded with a trade and culture show in the Scientific Assembly Hall (SAH) in TSP and a panel discussion in SAH's auditorium with panelists being Suhas Gopinath, CEO & President of Globals ITeS Pvt. Ltd.; Eric Anderson, President & CEO of Space Adventures Ltd.; Ping Liang, General Manager of Tianjin Bonna-Agela Technologies Inc.; Haitao Qi, CEO of ChinaSourcing Co.,Ltd.; and Yu Zhao, Vice President of Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine. The discussion was moderated by Michelle Guthrie, Managing Director of Providence Equity Asia Limited.
10th Session—28/08/08
The aim of this session was to encourage better use of electronic information resources and services by tech-based businesses in TBNA. More than 40 representatives, from experts of e-info service company to librarians at TEDA Library to business managers, shared their knowledge and experience on utilization of e-resources and skills of information searching in the forms of presentations and discussions held in Electronic Search Room on the fourth floor of TEDA Library. TEDA Library now boasts 31 international databases of academic electronic resources with all kinds of special services aiming to offer customized, professional and public services.
9th Session—30/07/08
This session was held on the TEDA Campus of Tianjin University of Science & Technology (TUST) with participants being experts from 18 universities and over 40 business leaders as well as officials from Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, Tianjin Binhai - University Technology Transfer Center (UTTC), TEDA Bureau of S&T Development and the TII. A meeting was held with the purpose to introduce the newly established UTTC and to make a call for cooperation between the industry, university and research institutes to create a chain for technology transfer in TBNA by integrating technological and human resources of universities around the country into local pillar industries. The meeting was followed by a minor Beer Festival on the campus where business leaders and university representatives enjoyed the draft beer brewed by the university's Food Processing Center.
8th Session—05/07/08 ~ 06/07/08
This was an outward bound program carried out in a training center in the mountainous Jixian County of northern Tianjin. 30 youth members of the Salon attended this corporate program, a training course specifically designed for young managers to redefine project goals, tap into the potential within employees and enhance team spirit and cooperation. Through the "learning by doing" activities conducted by instructors, a positive atmosphere for team development was fostered, assisting individual trainees in pre- and post- conflict situations to discover inner resources, develop leadership skills, and improve communication and team problem solving.
Special Session—04/07/08
This special session was arranged due to the existence of popular problems concerning employee accommodation and recruitment among the incubated enterprises. It was an explanatory presentation on the current construction progress of the employee apartments in TEDA, detailed introduction to these apartments and application procedures related to them. In addition, recent issues on policies regarding senior talents in TEDA were introduced to the business representatives. The speeches were delivered by Deputy Director from the Labor and Personnel Department of TEDA Administrative Commission and Director from Human Resources Service Center of TEDA.
7th Session—28/05/08
The subject of the seventh session was Exploring the Blue Ocean Market. Addressers included Mr. Qi Haitao, an expert in service outsourcing from an incubated business of the TII, and Mr. Wu Jiahai, Section Chief of the Science and Technology Development Bureau of TEDA Administrative Commission. The participants were given a whole picture of the background and development of the service outsourcing industry as well as the policy support to this sector from different levels of the government. After the warm and rewarding discussion, many entrepreneurs began to re-evaluate their business for potential opportunities.
6th Session—24/04/08
Over 30 business representatives, including some new members of the Enterprise Salon, showed up at the sixth meeting to acquire desired information from the presentations given by relevant government departments. The lecturers gave detailed introduction to policies regarding available channels of corporate financing for high tech businesses, methods of seeking credit guaranty for such enterprises, existing loan programs for young entrepreneurs, and specific explanation and case analysis on the procedures of science based enterprises seeking a loan or credit guaranty service.
5th Session—21/03/08
Under professional guidance, scores of entrepreneurs took part in the event of creating a small grove of fruit trees by planting rows of saplings on the premise of the TII under their own business names. The tree saplings and the small grove were named The Business Evergreens and The TEDA Woods of Innovation & Entrepreneurship respectively, reflecting human concern for the quality and protection of the natural environment, innovative and enterprising spirit of TEDA entrepreneurs, as well as the fervent wishes for the thriving future of the businesses with the TII. They were seeding hope and confidence by growing tree saplings.
4th Session—27/02/08
Held in TEDA International Hotel & Club in the form of a Spring Reception, the fourth session was considered as a major event to facilitate communications between the government and the enterprises and to enhance mutual understanding among businesses. Over 50 entrepreneurs enjoyed a happy get-together with government and Bohai Bank representatives to discuss the future development of local high-tech businesses. A number of speeches and discussions were delivered focusing on the following issues: starting a youth business, promoting a favorable enterprising climate and entrepreneurial culture, improving employee welfare, equipment utilization for scientific researches, the Angel Fund, and service outsourcing, etc.
3rd Session – 23/01/08
The third meeting featured two presentations given by officials from the Labor and Personnel Bureau of TEDA Administrative Commission. One was a policy interpretation on official measures to encourage the introduction and education of talents towards building a huge human resources pool in TEDA; the other was a comparative interpretation of the recently enacted Law of the People's Republic of China on Employment Contracts and the previous Labour Law of the People's Republic of China. After the speeches, questions were invited from the more than 30 entrepreneurs, who then received further explanations on concerned issues such as the application of employee apartments, policies on competent migrants with expertise and skills, and specific subsidies available to senior talents.
2nd Session – 27/12/07
The second session witnessed the launch of the Enterprise Tutor Plan of TEDA. Over 20 entrepreneurs were present for the interactive lecture given by Prof. Zhang Yuli, Vice Dean of Business School, Nankai University (NUBS). Prof. Zhang is a top researcher in China famous for his knowledge on starting an enterprise. He is also Director of the Research Center of Entrepreneurial Management of the NUBS and Deputy Managing Director of the Research Center of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the NUBS. Under the subject of entrepreneurial activities and related skills, the lecture encouraged discussions on the following subtopics: creative integration of resources, entrepreneurial team management, and the importance of being unique for new businesses.
1st Session – 14/11/07
Followed by its opening ceremony in the TII on 14 November 2007 was the first session of the Enterprise Salon held at the same time. It witnessed the official launch of the Salon and members from more than 30 companies gathered for the first time to get acquaintance with each other. The three-hour session went on as follows: the official interpretation of relevant TEDA policies regarding high-tech businesses, a seminar on the introduction to the official procedures for enterprises to enjoy relevant government services, and a survey and discussion on TEDA's investment climate for technology based start-ups.
