The first and only in China: UNNC's Li Dak Sum Incubator gains EU|BIC certification

On 17 November, the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN) officially announced that the Li Dak Sum Incubator (LDSI) at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) has been awarded the European Business and Innovation Centre (EU|BIC) quality certification, making it the first and only university incubator in China to receive this internationally recognised quality mark.

This milestone signifies that UNNC’s excellence in research-driven entrepreneurship, innovation-led growth, and locally rooted global collaboration has been strongly endorsed by an authoritative international body.

Established in 1984 through a joint initiative of the European Commission and European industry leaders, EBN serves a pan-European and global community that uses innovative business as a driver for regional development. The EU|BIC quality mark—developed, implemented, and managed by EBN—is the only international quality certification system for innovation incubation and technology transfer organisations recognised by the European Commission.

The certification process involved nearly a year of comprehensive evaluation. EBN experts conducted in-depth interviews with the incubator's management team, incubated start-ups, and government partners, assessing aspects including management, organisation profile, best practices, business support services and impact metrics. A systematic benchmarking exercise also compared the incubator's services and performance with leading European counterparts.

The results demonstrated outstanding performance across multiple key indicators, confirming that the incubator's overall capabilities have reached world-class standards.

“Li Dak Sum Incubator demonstrates excellence in cultivating globally minded innovators. It connects China’s regional innovation ecosystems with Europe’s through high-quality incubation and public–private collaboration,” said Pietro De Martino, EBN President and EU|BIC Auditor, who led the certification review in Ningbo.

Leveraging the global ecosystem of the University of Nottingham's unique tri-campus model (UK, China, Malaysia), the Li Dak Sum Incubator has developed distinctive international strengths. It attracts exceptional global innovators and business resources to Ningbo, providing comprehensive soft-landing services for international start-ups—including those from Ethiopia, Norway, and the UK—seeking to enter the Chinese market. At the same time, it supports local ventures in expanding overseas, including to Denmark, Hungary, and the United States, through international visits, platform development, and project matchmaking.

Through initiatives such as launching the UK Overseas Innovation Cooperation Centre, building partnerships with Italy's Liguria region, establishing the international Proof-of-Concept Centre, and hosting the Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit, the Li Dak Sum Incubator continues to deepen international collaboration, develop innovative platforms, and promote research commercialisation. It has established a complete service chain supporting the entire journey from ideation and proof of concept to industrial application.

“With LDSI, the EU|BIC community gains a strategic partner in China—an organisation that embodies the spirit of collaboration and continuous improvement that defines the EU|BIC Quality Mark,” stated Laura Lecci, CEO of EBN.

To date, the incubator has nurtured nearly 60 start-ups, 84.8% of which are technology-innovation focused, and 43.6% of which feature international teams. It has achieved a start-up survival rate exceeding 80%.

“We are committed to fostering a more vibrant and interconnected entrepreneurial ecosystem with our local and global partners by leveraging our advantages in internationalisation and research excellence. This will create new solutions to address global challenges, empower industrial upgrading, and contribute to society,” said Professor Laura Bishop, Vice Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange at UNNC.