The beauty and splendour of Shanghai at night not only exist in sparkling shopping districts and bustling cafes and bars. Recently, the reporter checked the “lighting index” of the sci-tech innovation parks in the urban areas and the suburbs of Shanghai and interviewed the heads of sci-tech innovation enterprises, researchers, engineers and college student entrepreneurs burning the midnight oil in the parks. By doing so, the reporter felt flourishing sci-tech innovation ecosystems, tremendous creativity and a strong internal driving force to occupy a leading position in new industry sectors and appreciated another type of glamour of Shanghai at night.

At sunset, the trees danced in the breeze, cars and people gradually disappeared, and Shangda Road quieted down. On the north side of the road lies the century-old Shanghai University, which became even more solemn and silent at night. The circular building located on the south side of Shangda Road and at the junction of the road and Nanchen Road was still lit with lights.

Following the light, the reporter arrived at the Base Zero of the Circum-SHU Science Park. The circular building looks like an ordinary office building. In the eyes of many young people engaged in sci-tech innovation, however, it is the place where their dreams set sail. Since its launch in February 2021, 214 enterprises have incorporated in this innovation and entrepreneurship base that integrates the features of offering entrepreneurial services for teachers and students, sharing office spaces and displaying sci-tech achievements and realized the transformation of 69 sci-tech achievements.

Who are still staying at their office desks at night? What are they busy with? With curiosity, the reporter recently walked into the building to visit the people working at night.

The lights in the offices of sci-tech innovation enterprises are still blazing at night.

The basement gets livelier at night

Basements may remind people of dark, damp and cramped spaces. However, you will see a spacious and bright space of 1,000 square meters after stepping into the basement of the Base Zero of the Circum-SHU Science Park. About 40 open office desks composed of over a dozen of office tables are in the middle and shared conference rooms are on both sides. Facilities such as sofas, self-service drinking devices and toilets are also available. This is the “Adventurers’ Paradise” in the base.

It is difficult for many sci-tech innovation teams from higher education institutions and start-ups that need research and office spaces to find suitable venues. To solve that problem, University Science & Technology Park Shanghai Baoshan Development Co., Ltd. renovated the basement of the Base Zero and opens it from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm every day for free use by the teams. “Some start-ups only employ two or three staff members. They can work here. College students can come here to study and have discussions by making an appointment in advance,” said Liu Zehua, Director of the Technology Transfer Department of the Circum-SHU Science Park.

At 6:00 pm, the reporter went to the basement for the first time but didn’t witness the imagined bustling scenes. Liu Zehua smiled, “Come back to have a look in two hours.”

There are more people in the basement at night than at dusk.

The reporter walked into the basement again at 8:00 pm and found there were a lot more people. Liu Zehua explained that was the characteristic of innovation and entrepreneurship bases around higher education institutions: Students have to attend classes during the day and they come to the basement after dinner. The reporter went to the nearby parking lot for non-motorized vehicles and discovered there were more bicycles and electric scooters.

The innermost conference room was illuminated from beginning to end. The reporter didn’t interrupt the people who were holding serious discussions in front of computers. To the reporter’s surprise, they were still discussing topics two hours later. According to Liu Zehua, they are team members of Keyan Reading. As a tool for scientific research reading, Keyan Reading employs AI technologies to help users collect, sort out and read papers and accumulate useful information from the documents. The academic translation engine developed by the team of Keyan Reading supports multiple third-party software, addressing an average of over 5.5 million translation needs of more than 600,000 people every day since its launch. After the project of Keyan Reading was started in the Circum-SHU Science Park, it was awarded the 2021 Baoshan District Excellent Entrepreneurship Project.

The conference room is brightly lit from beginning to end.

Many people surrounded an office desk where several cool robots were placed. They are members of the SRM Team of Shanghai University and students from the School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, the School of Computer Engineering and Science, the School of Communication & Information Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. A few days ago, they finished the 3V3 competition of the RoboMaster 2023 Mecha Master University League Competition (Shanghai), the 22nd National Robot Competition for College Students. He Zhengyu, a team member, said to the reporter that they were doing a post-competition review. As the world’s first robot shooting confrontation competition, it integrates machine vision, embedded system design, mechanical design, human-computer interaction and other technical disciplines, attracting the wide attention and participation of numerous science and technology fans from higher education institutions in China.

He Zhengyu is a senior at the School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation of Shanghai University. He will join Fanuc in Shanghai for R&D after graduation. In his opinion, the days and nights he spent in the basement with like-minded partners have become indelible marks of his youth. It was in the process of preparing for the competition that he established his career goals.

The robots that participated in the 3V3 competition.

A student from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University also took part in the SRM Team’s heated discussion. The student surnamed Lu, the leader of the G-Master Team of the university, specifically travelled to Shanghai to learn from the experience of the SRM Team. Seeing that students at Shanghai University have access to a research and testing site close to their campus, Lu expressed envy. What impressed him more was that the Circum-SHU Science Park even built a simple laboratory in the garage to meet students’ needs for robot ramp testing.

The laboratory in the garage.

The reporter also spotted an automatic baby stroller under development beside the robots. According to Zhang Shuo, a second-year postgraduate at the School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation of Shanghai University, members of the “Ziqiang Team”, an extracurricular club involved in the research and production of intelligent robots and intelligent model vehicles, come to the basement almost every day. Sometimes the members of the team forgot the time when debugging devices before a competition, and the staff made allowances for them and reminded them to remember to lock the door before leaving. At the China Robot Competition and RoboCup China Open held at the end of 2022, “Ziqiang Team” won the champion of RoboCup@Home OPL, the runner-up of service robot simulation, the second runner-up of general service robots and the second runner-up of the supermarket assistant robots.

Young people engaged in sci-tech innovation are making progress step by step

Jay Chou composed a popular song “Snail”, in which the sentence of the lyric “I want to climb up step by step in the highest point of the leaves to fly forward” touched many people. Young people engaged in sci-tech innovation are also determined to make progress step by step.

“Moving from the basement to the third or fourth floors is an important step forward.” According to the General Manager of University Science & Technology Park Shanghai Baoshan Development Co., Ltd., responsible persons of companies will rent office spaces on the third or fourth floors after their innovation and entrepreneurship projects are successfully incubated. Small enterprises will rent a room of 45 square meters, while the larger ones will rent a room of about 100 square meters. “After entering the stage of pilot-scale test, a company will ‘graduate’ from the Base Zero and move to a more suitable space in the surrounding bases.” Li Yuyang said that nine core bases had been built in the Circum-SHU Science Park and the achievement transformation chain featuring “nurseries of start-ups + municipal-level incubators + accelerators + industry parks” had been initially established after more than two years of construction.

The people who are working at night.

This is the case with Yaolu Technology co-founded by teachers and students from Shanghai University. Yaolu Technology is a high-tech enterprise specializing in developing products such as new gas sensors and respiratory chronic disease detection devices. It was incorporated in the Base Zero and its employees used to work in the base. Chen Yang, one of the founders, worked in the basement and moved upstairs. One year later, Yaolu Technology relocated its site for pilot-scale tests to the Base One of the Circum-SHU Science Park which is five kilometres away from the Base Zero. Chen Yang moved to the new site, too.

At 9:00 pm, the third floor was still ablaze with light. The reporter encountered Jing Yuan, the chief engineer at Beikun Ruihang Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., who was still working. Beikun Ruihang is a high-tech company that possesses artificial intelligence technologies, including intelligent vessel unmanned control systems, assisted driving systems, assisted decision-making systems and other control systems and core algorithms. It was incorporated in the Base Zero of the Circum-SHU Science Park in 2022. Jing Yuan informed the reporter that the leadership of Beikun Ruihang decided to set up the company in the base due to the concentration of professionals and technologies and an atmosphere favourable to innovation and business ventures. The company is doing well now. It will soon move to the Base One of the Circum-SHU Science Park to accelerate the development of the intelligent vessel unmanned control systems.

After the reporter stepped to the fourth floor, an elegantly decorated office caught the reporter’s attention. It is the office of Shanghai Jingna Career Management Consulting Studio. The founder Wang Yaying just finished work and was about to leave. Wang Yaying is a career development tutor at Shanghai University. The studio established partnerships with many schools of Shanghai University after it was founded. There are a large number of start-ups in the base, but they lack channels for and experience in recruiting employees. Jingna not only provides career counselling and employment guidance for teachers and students but also offers human resources sharing services for enterprises through its strengths in operating supply chain of professionals. Wang Yaying said, “A few days ago, Huichen Information visited us for help. On the day of signing the contract, we recruited qualified interns for the company.”

The people who are working at night.

It was neraly10:00 pm, but the lights on several floors of the building were still burning. Li Yuyang told the reporter, “That’s the norm.” Li Yuyang’s office is on the sixth floor. In his spare time, he will wander around the floors of the building.

On a weekend night, Li Yuyang went for a walk, took photos of the people working late at night with his cell phone and posted the photos in his WeChat Moments. Soon, a lot of innovation professionals and entrepreneurs liked and reposted his WeChat Moment, and some added the emoji of “struggle” in their comments.

Many cars still park in the parking lot at night.

Relevant parties water the “seedlings of sci-tech innovation”

It was late at night when the reporter left the Base Zero of the Circum-SHU Science Park. However, the reporter felt a subtle heat rising in heart. The reporter was deeply impressed by the serious expression in the eyes of the members of the start-ups when they had animated discussions, asked for advice and debugged the equipment. The vitality displayed by them is the foundation for this fertile ground for sci-tech innovation to thrive.

How to water these “seedlings of sci-tech innovation” to enable them to sprout to form a dense “forest of sci-tech innovation”? Relevant government departments and University Science & Technology Park Shanghai Baoshan Development Co., Ltd. are exploring and practicing.

The lectures organized for entrepreneurs.

Some details and scenes reflect the strong atmosphere of sci-tech innovation in the Base Zero of the Circum-SHU Science Park. For example, the event posters at the entrance are often updated. A special lecture on ChatGPT, its impact and response measures and World Intellectual Property Day will be held soon. Entrepreneurs can sign up to attend the offline lecture or scan the QR code to watch it online. Next to the entrance to the basement, there is a poster describing the rental benefits for employees at the businesses in the Circum-SHU Science Park; it details the locations and types of rooms in the apartments and exclusive benefits. Entrepreneurs will not waste time waiting for the elevator, as they can take a glance at the poster explaining the details of the Circum-SHU Science Park’s special policies on the elevator door.

The Circum-SHU Science Park’s special policies posted inside an elevator.

In addition to creating an atmosphere of sci-tech innovation, the staff at the Circum-SHU Science Park show concern for entrepreneurs. During the interview, the reporter was surprised by the staff’s familiarity with the entrepreneurial teams: They not only know the name of each team member but also are fully conversant with the progress of the projects. That is precisely the embodiment of the service purpose of the Circum-SHU Science Park: To be a professional “partner” to facilitate teachers and students to innovate, start business ventures and transform sci-tech achievements. The staff believes that treating all sci-tech innovation projects alike and matching them with suitable project managers, industry mentors and investors are the greatest respect for young people’s enthusiasm for innovation and business ventures.