中国很大，中国内部也不是同构型的；中国在知识产权(IP)的保护上有不太好的纪录，但针对新技术与产品的研发，无论是在中央、省级或地方政府都有庞大资金补助，也有广大的内需市场作为支持…总而言之，中国市场是个有优点也有缺点的大杂烩。
到目前为止，只有很少数的西方企业与学术机构能妥善应对中国的“IP地 雷”，与当地建立成功的伙伴关系并赢得市占率；北京大学产业技术研究院院长陈东敏(Dongmin Chen)在接受EETimes 美国版编辑访问时表示：“中国是复杂的。”而这正是他着力之处。
陈东敏目前也主导北京大学的科技研发部门，是一个名为“开放创新平台(Open Innovation Platform)”计划的幕后推手；他解释，该计划是要在寻找投资项目的中国风险资金业者，以及中国各大学或新创IP供货商(无论东西方)之间扮演媒合角色。陈东敏曾是美国硅谷创业家，并曾执掌哈佛大学(Harvard)量子组件物理实验室(Quantum Device Physics Lab)长达15年。
根 据陈东敏指出，如果“开放创新平台”计划成功，可望为中国的高科技产业带来深远影响；无论是中国科技业者、相关大学院校与政府机构，都在寻求来自西方的更 多技术转移。这类活动过去因为中国在IP保护上的不良纪录而受到阻碍，陈东敏是赌上了北京大学以及他自己的专业声誉来正视这个问题，其目标是藉由开放平台 来宣示中国保护智财权的承诺。
北京大学产业技术研究院院长陈东敏
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在不久前于北京举行的一场论坛中，针对中国科技部一位官员指“借用、消化、重新发明并创新”外国技术是中国可采取的作法，陈东敏公开表示不赞同；他响应，这种作法在其它国家的眼中就是侵犯知识产权。（请点击这里查看
《跟中国做生意，会担心自己的技术被偷走？》）
陈东敏了解，IP保护是中国最大的缺点之一，因此其“开放创新平台”特别着眼于这样的现实，希望能促成在国际性协议之下的技术转移到中国。该计划有三大目 标：一是为初期阶段的新创公司分担风险，二是协助海外与中国本地大学院校与中国投资者接轨，三是从基础上改变中国新创公司的经营模式、让它们能繁荣茁壮。
陈东敏表示，无论是中国或美国的新创公司“夭折率”都太高；而且目前风险资金业者的热门标的是软件，较不关注硬件。另一个较大的问题是：“没有人专门投资制程或是材料技术升级等领域。”藉由指派技术专家、创业家或是北京大学校友负责不同“媒合”任务，陈东敏认为“开放创新平台”能拉拢更多准备IPO的企业与中国本地投资者。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：中国新创公司往往最后“不得善终”
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此外陈东敏指出，随着越来越多私人资金转向更低风险的投资项目，大学院校所拥有的IP更常被局限在校园中无法出头；在此同时，全球各大学院校都在寻求中国本地的合作伙伴，或是能建立研发联盟。例如在今年6月，美国威斯康辛大学(University of Wisconsin)就在上海成立了一个创新中心(UW–Madison Shanghai Innovation Office)，目标是做为该校进一步耕耘中国市场的前哨站。
事实上，这类“创新中心”在中国如雨后春笋般随处可见；不过陈东敏表示，其挑战不在于竞争日益激烈，而是仅委托几位专门人员负责营运这类机构是否足够？常见的问题是要找到中国本地的人才来协助中心的营运，并能够与中国相关政府机关建立紧密关系。他进一步指出：“虽然中国有各种地方与中央补助资源，但要拿到补助并不容易。”其开放平台将能协助这些大学院校与企业有效率 地取得更多资金并进入中国市场。
中国新创公司与西方同业的发展模式不太一样，在1980年代与2000年，中国新创公司主要 是从大学院校独立出来；陈东敏表示，在过去十年，有越来越多中国本地大学院校让教授出去成立新创公司，但这种模式的问题在于，教授们是否能由研究人员顺利转换身分为CTO，然后成为称职的制造部门主管、甚至CEO。
也就是因为大多数教授们并没有接受过企业经营的训练，中国新创公司往往最后“不得善终”。“不是每个人都能成为万事通；”陈东敏指出：“我不打算聘用终身职教授来执行这个计划或是经营新创公司，我们需要来自外部的创业人才，可承担领导计划的风险，也具备争取国家补助的能力。”
陈东敏解释，未来那些教授或是创业家的薪资，将来自于他们自己负责的计划，并不是由北京大学提供；不过他也表示，该平台将为寻求创业协助的对象，提供北京大学的技术资源、该校教职员的专业知识以及博士后研究生等。
到目前为止，北京大学对于陈东敏的技术转移提案响应都很积极；该校纳入陈东敏的计划，有部分原因是他承诺以逐案审查的模式来资助新创公司，这种方法能消除旧 有人际关系、偏袒等因素，而是以一种新的评判基础来媒合投资人与值得投资、保护知识产权的项目。“中国有资金；”他重申：“但中国需要在知识产权保护方面 订定规则并使程序透明化。”
编译：Judith Cheng
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：参考英文原文：Will China bury its bad IP past?，by Junko Yoshida
相关阅读：
• 中国多家国企使用盗版软件被微软起诉
• 跟中国做生意，会担心自己的技术被偷走？
• 外观设计专利要被重视，给你7个理由先3fVesmc
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Will China bury its bad IP past?
Junko Yoshida
BEIJING – China is big. China is not homogeneous. It has a poor record of protecting intellectual property. But it also has plenty of government funding at the central, provincial and municipal levels to go along with a massive domestic market for new technologies and products.
Add up the pluses and minuses and the Chinese market is a mixed bag.
So far, only a few Western companies and universities have managed to navigate China’s IP minefield to form successful partnerships and grab market share. “China is complicated,” Dongmin Chen, dean in Peking University’s (PKU) School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, noted during a recent interview with EE Times.
That’s where Chen enters the picture.
Dongmin Chen in his Peking University office.
Chen, who also directs the university’s office of science and technology development, is the force behind new initiative called “Open Innovation Platform.” The idea is to match up “Chinese [venture capital] that can’t find projects” with “universities or startup IPs [Western or Chinese] that can’t find capital,” explained Chen, a former serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur who also headed Harvard’s Quantum Device Physics Lab for 15 years.
If successful, the initiative could have far-reaching implications for China’s high-tech sector, where companies, universities and government agencies seeking more technology transfers from the West have been stymied by China’s weak record on IP protection.
Chen is putting PKU’s and his professional reputation on the line in confronting the IP issue. His goal is to use the open platform initiative to demonstrate China’s commitment to IP rights.
During a recent forum here, Chen openly disagreed with an official of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology who asserted that “borrowed, digested and reinvented innovation” based on foreign technologies is a legitimate option for China. Chen replied that such an option “is viewed as infringement of [IP rights] in other countries.”
Chen knows IP protection is one of China’s biggest shortcomings. The Open Innovation Platform specifically addressed that reality, and China hopes it will eventually encourage technology transfer to China based on international agreements.
Matchmaking
The platform initiative has three goals: take risks on early stage startups; help foreign and domestic universities connect to Chinese investment; and fundamentally change the way Chinese startups are operated so that they can prosper.
The “infant mortality rate” for both Chinese and U.S. tech startups is too high, Chen said. The current focus for VCs is software, not so much on hardware. A bigger problem is that “nobody is funding projects focused on improvement of manufacturing process or materials,” he said. By assigning technologists, entrepreneurs and PKU alumni to “match-making” tasks, Chen said he envisions the Open Innovation Platform connecting more pre-IPO companies with Chinese investment.
University IP
As more private capital moves to lower-risk investment, university IP remains locked up in school with nowhere to go, Chen said. Meanwhile, universities are seeking Chinese partners or creating research consortia. In June this year, the University of Wisconsin opened the UW–Madison Shanghai Innovation Office designed to “serve as a focal point for the university’s growing engagement in China.”
Indeed, Chen said “innovation offices” are popping up everywhere here. Rather than growing competition, the challenge is whether this model is sustainable with only a few experts running the offices.
A typical problem is finding local talent to help run an innovation office while building vital relationships with government agencies. Despite a variety of local and national funding sources, Chen said, “getting Chinese funding is not that easy.”
Hence, Chen argued that the Open Innovation Platform can help universities and companies attract funding and gain market access – more efficiently and effectively.
Growing Chinese startups
Chinese startups often follow a different trajectory from their Western counterparts. Between 1980 and 2000, the Chinese startup was a university spinoff. Over the last decade, more universities have spun off professors to head startups, Chen explained.
The problem with this “professor spin-off” approach is that professors who come up with innovations must shift gears from R&D to CTO, then manufacturing boss and eventually CEO. Chinese startups often end up floundering because most professors are not trained to do that. “Not everyone can be a jack of all trades,” Chen noted.
“I have no intention to hire tenured professors to run projects or startups,” he said. “We need entrepreneurs coming from outside who are willing to take risks to lead projects and compete [for] national grants.”
Pay for professor/entrepreneurs will be based on their projects, not out of the university’s payroll. Chen acknowledged that this Open Innovation Platform creates an “unfair competitive advantage for PKU.”
The Platform is set up to offer PKU’s resources in technology, faculty knowledge and post doc students to those who seek help in developing an incubation process, he explained.
The university’s response to Chen’s tech transfer proposal has so far been enthusiastic. Its embrace of the project derives in part from Chen’s promise to finance startups on a “project by project” basis. That approach could eliminate the importance of old connections and favoritism, requiring a new merit-based model to successfully connect investment with deserving projects that protect IP rights.
“China has money,” Chen reiterated, but “China needs rules of engagement and China needs to make the process transparent” in order to protect IP rights.
责编：Quentin
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