Opened in September 2017 on the campus of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, the Incubator now contains 23 companies focusing on areas including high-tech, culture innovation, financial services and healthcare industries. It is a workspace for entrepreneurs from many countries around the world, such as Canada, Ghana, India, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and Zambia. Approximately 90% of start-up founders or shareholders are international talent.
On one hand, the Incubator provides a platform for foreign enterprises to enter the Chinese market and introduces high-quality projects to support development of the local economy. It also utilises abundant international resources to serve as a bridge for local businesses to communicate with the world.
Since joining the Incubator in 2019, Ai5 Livestock Technology has become a fine example of localising overseas start-ups. Its core technology is currently the most advanced cow teat cleaning and disinfection method in the world.
“We cooperated with the University of Nottingham UK. Learning that we wanted to commercialise our project in China, they recommended the Li Dak Sum Incubator to us. After careful investigation, we were impressed by this international, professional and passionate team, and decided to join,” says Yongbing He, manager of Ai5 Livestock Technology.
With support of the Incubator, the enterprise has been recognised as one of the C class entrepreneurial teams of Ningbo “pan 3315 plan”. It received orders from big companies like Nestle after attending the China International Import Expo.
Yikun Sports, the first professional disc sports company in China, is one of the most successful cases of local start-ups going international. The founders learned about disc sports while studying at UNNC and started their entrepreneurship projects with the support of the Incubator.
Yikun later gained Championship-level approvals from both the World Flying Disc Federation and the Professional Disc Golf Association – the first company in Asia and the third globally to do so. Its products have been exported to more than 50 countries and regions.
The Incubator is now expanding its capacity to accommodate a growing number of start-up projects. In the future, the Incubator will continue serving as an innovation platform for startup businesses both inside and outside the University and facilitate the mutual flow of high-quality national and international projects.
Dr Li Dak Sum is a Hong Kong-based businessman and philanthropist, devoted to paying back to Ningbo, the city of his birth. The Incubator was named after him to commemorate and appreciate Dr Li and his wife Mrs Li Yip Yio Chin’s generous support for UNNC and contribution to higher education.