Weng Shihui / Shanghai Daily news

It only takes one idea to change the world and soon there will be many ideas evolving in Yangpu District, where the world's best and brightest are set to gather in an intellectually conducive environment. This environment is the KIC, the Knowledge and Innovation Community.
The knowledge and innovation hub's strategic intention is to create a unique space with advanced facilities where high-tech entrepreneurs, world-class businessmen, educators, researchers and venture capitalists can meet, network and prosper, said district officials.
The concept is similar to that of the famous River Rouch (Left Bank) of the Seine in Paris. Home of the revered University of Paris and the college of France and one of the most influential testing grounds for new ideas during the early twentieth century.
The construction of the innovation hub is being supported by Shui On Land Ltd and Shanghai Yangpu Knowledge Innovation Zone Investment & Development Co.
The promising 840,000-square-meter center, located in Wujiaochang area, will be comprised of four parts - the Knowledge Hub, the Tech Park, the SOHO and the Jiangwan Sports Park.
The Knowledge Hub, which offers more than 30,000 square meters of commercial space, is expected to create an ideal environment for innovators to develop new technologies and commercialize products, thereby contributing to the city's economic growth, skills development and job creation.
It will be home to research and development (R&D) centers for world-famous names in technology, university research bases, and small and medium-sized high-tech enterprises.
Complete with exhibition, research, training, information and entertainment facilities, it will serve as an ideal platform for communication between professionals.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between Shui On Land, a leading property developer in China, and Oracle China on October 15, signaling that the two parties will work together to support Yangpu's efforts to transform itself into a leading knowledge and innovation hub. Digital community technologies from Oracle will be implemented at KIC, with the aim of creating a "digitized" community.
In addition, a learning center will also be set up around the hub for executive education, lifelong learning, and regional headquarters for leading international universities.
North of the Knowledge Hub will be an intimate high-tech park, with purpose built facilities for corporate R&D centers, technology-based multinationals, small-and-medium-sized enterprises, new high-tech companies and companies that are progressing into the high-tech sector.
SOHO stands for 'Small Office Home Office,' a new work-life concept emerging from the Internet era. Global connectivity has freed people from the conventional working environment, opening the door to home offices like those provided by SOHO.
Where minds can meet
The SOHO in KIC is a mixed-use area consisting of residential accommodation, office buildings, retail shops and recreational amenities.
The area is being designed as a place where minds can meet. Cafes and specially themed restaurants along the University Avenue, a highlight in the innovation community, encourage people to get together and interact with each other.
The extremely commodious University Avenue in the SOHO area will be an imitation of the River Rouche where canopies, specialty bookstores, affordable galleries, open air cafes, ethnic restaurants and small shops are gathered together.
The nearby Jiangwan Sports Park has been reconstructed and will serve as a recreation center, including a stadium, gymnasium, swimming pool and other sports related facilities.
Construction of the Knowledge and Innovation Center started in 2004. It is expected that full occupation will be realized by 2010, upon the completion of the four sections.
The innovation hub is fulfilling a key role in nurturing commercial and technological innovation that, in any dynamic and truly competitive economy, must form the foundation of stable development and future growth.
It caters for the needs of any entrepreneurs with good ideas so that innovation will flow freely amongst tenants in the hub's working and living area.
More over, the KIC offers significant investment opportunities for high-tech companies, financial institutions, investors and developers interested in participating in a fast-growing intellectual community.
Under their development philosophy, the hub promises to create a high-tech cluster of companies and individuals in an environment responsive to the changing needs of technology-based companies, education, research, and the lifestyle choices of today's IT workers.
KIC also aims to enhance innovation through location, design and infrastructure management.
"We intend to make the innovation hub the preferred address for all innovative and young entrepreneurs with world-class ideas," said a district official.