[Direct hit leading area] Help China build a scientific and technological innovation ecosystem! Enai Instruments achieved leapfrog development in Pudong

It has grown from only a few people to nearly 500 local employees, and from zero domestic market size to annual sales of several billion yuan in the country... Since entering the Chinese mainland market in 1998, with the overall vigorous development of the Chinese market, Enai Instruments continues to grow. Especially after moving to Pudong in 2007, Enai Instruments has developed by leaps and bounds thanks to Pudong's leading policy environment and good technological innovation ecology.

"The development of some industries in China is no longer simply following the pace of the world. In some fields, it is even leading the world or taking a different route from the world. Therefore, we must have a deep understanding of China's industrial development and technological innovation, so as to serve China in China. , become a part of Pudong’s technological innovation and development, and grow together with Pudong and domestic partners,” said Qiao Wei, general manager of Enai Instruments Greater China.

National Instruments (National Instruments, referred to as NI) was founded in 1976. It is a technology company focusing on the field of test and measurement. It is also the first automated test and measurement manufacturer to propose an open software platform and modular instruments in the world. Its products and service solutions are widely used in electronics and industrial fields, among which semiconductors, automobiles, aerospace, life sciences, energy, and scientific research institutions are the most common; electromagnetic testing fields such as radio frequency radio also cover the emerging Internet of Vehicles and other industries. Five key areas of the plan.

Today, NI has offices in more than 40 countries and regions around the world, providing nearly 1,000 software and hardware products. As early as 1998, NI officially entered the Chinese mainland market. Today, Shanghai Enai Instrument Co., Ltd. (NI Greater China Headquarters) has become one of NI's largest overseas branches, developing more than 150 local partners and nearly 500 local employees, of which more than 50% are technical or R&D talents.

Looking back on NI's development history in China, Qiao Wei summarized it into three stages: the first stage was to enter China in the form of a research and development center, like most multinational companies at the time, and to carry out research and development through division of labor and cooperation under the global framework of NI; in the second stage, Shanghai NI Instruments gradually developed from a simple research and development branch to operations centered on the entire Chinese market; in the third stage, which is currently in place, Shanghai NI Instruments has gradually and fully exercised its headquarters functions and began to transform to "in China for China" in order to better integrate into China's industrial ecology and better serve China's scientific and technological innovation and industrial development goals.

Qiao Wei said that NI has been committed to building an open software interconnection platform, with more than 22% of its revenue invested in research and development. "We believe that a strong cooperative ecosystem can make NI's technology more in line with local needs, and form synergy and common development with our local partners."

In 2007, Shanghai Enai Instruments moved from Puxi to Zhangjiang, Pudong. Qiao Wei said that this was based on NI's own development needs and was also attracted by Pudong's strong scientific and technological innovation atmosphere and leading policies.

"Pudong has a strong atmosphere of scientific and technological innovation, and many technology companies have taken Pudong as their new starting point for development; in addition, Pudong's policies themselves also have many innovations, are relatively flexible, and the supporting policies are also very friendly, in terms of talent settlement, talent apartments, and for foreigners. They are very friendly and efficient in terms of introduction and other aspects.” Qiao Wei said that such an environment will undoubtedly help the company have greater room for development in the future.

In the more than 20 years that NI has been in China, there have been two periods of relatively large leaps in development. The first period was due to the blowout development of the entire industry from 2004 to 2008, and the second period is from 2018 to the present. Qiao Wei believes that the rapid development of the company during this period was greatly aided by the accelerated technological innovation and industrial development in Pudong and even China as a whole.

"In recent years, domestic scientific and technological innovation and accelerated industrial development have been very obvious. Take Pudong's integrated circuit industry, new energy and intelligent connected vehicle industries as examples. These industries are our main service targets, which means that in Pudong we can be closer to the market and customers. The continuous development and growth of the market and customers naturally brings us development opportunities." Qiao Wei said that at the same time, the company itself also responded quickly and made new operating model changes internally. It is no longer product-centric, but has shifted to a customer-centric approach to seize opportunities and release greater value.

At the end of 2019, Shanghai Enai Instrument Co., Ltd. was recognized as the headquarters of a multinational company. Qiao Wei believes that after being recognized as the headquarters of a multinational company, the company's standardized operations have further developed in an effective direction, and there have been more exchanges with the government and the industry, helping the company make better decisions and integrate into local development.

In order to better match the functions of the headquarters, Shanghai Enai Instruments is currently promoting a name change and upgrade to Enai China. Qiao Wei said that during the name change process, he received a lot of support from relevant departments in Pudong and felt the efficiency of Pudong. "We encountered some name-related problems during the name change process. The relevant departments of the new district gave us timely guidance and help, so that the name change can proceed smoothly. Now the approval has been basically completed, much faster than the time we planned."

NI is also deeply integrated into the innovation ecology of Pudong. Last year, NI officially established the NI China Innovation and Development Center. It plans to help China build a technological innovation ecosystem through a dedicated team and resources, which also opens a new stage of NI's "in China, for China".

"The goal of the NI China Innovation and Development Center is to empower the ecosystem and innovate with the ecosystem." Qiao Wei explained that this is a completely new component of NI China, rather than simply an upgrade from the original department. This includes Organizational innovation, open ecological innovation and technological innovation for the local market make it a more comprehensive and three-dimensional innovation center. He said that this is NI's largest investment in a single regional market in the world in recent years.

After the establishment of the NI China Innovation Center, it joined the Pudong New Area Large Enterprise Opening Center (GOI) program to stimulate new ideas with more companies and drive more local technological innovation and development. Qiao Wei believes that the complexity of innovation is getting higher and higher now. Joining the Pudong Large Enterprise Open Center Program can not only help NI itself better promote R&D innovation, but also promote the common development of the industry.

Now, NI's development goal in China is clearer, that is, to keep up with the pace of domestic industrial development and technological innovation, and to participate in and serve them while achieving its own commercial success. "Our products still have a very large differentiation advantage in the industry. If this advantage can be matched with industrial policies, it will definitely play a greater value in the end." Qiao Wei said.