How does the "mentor innovation, student entrepreneurship" model incubate golden eggs? Entrepreneurship stories in incubators, academia grafting onto industry entrepreneurship | universities | students
Starting a business in July 2020, the new contract amount increased from over 4 million yuan in 2020 to tens of millions of yuan in 2022, with an annual growth rate of over 100%. This rapidly developing enterprise is the high-tech company that grew up in Jiading Park of Tongji Science and Technology Park - Shanghai Tonglu Cloud Transportation Technology Co., Ltd.
As a contractor of digital technology for lightweight road facilities, Tonglu Cloud has received support from Tongji University's Dream Building Fund, Shanghai Chiying Plan, and Tongji University's Top Ten Science and Technology Achievement Projects. With the new model of "mentor innovation, student entrepreneurship", Tonglu Cloud has become a high-tech enterprise in just one year, completing a Series A financing of tens of millions and winning the first prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award. At present, Tonglu Cloud has authorized more than ten national invention patents and one international authorized patent for its independent core technology. Nowadays, this joint research and development achievement of industry, academia, and research, originating from innovation in universities, has achieved the large-scale technological application of nearly 200000 kilometers of highways nationwide.
【 Dream of Tonglu Yun 】
Zhang Xiaoming, the General Manager of Tonglu Cloud, is 31 years old this year. When he first entered Tongji University, he studied at the School of Mechanical Engineering. In his sophomore year, he transferred to the School of Civil Engineering, and then went to the School of Transportation during his postgraduate recommendation. Perhaps it is the interdisciplinary background that has given him a deeper understanding of the application of cross-border knowledge.
When Zhang Xiaoming was studying undergraduate, the country was entering a peak period of highway construction. According to statistics, as of the end of 2021, the total length of highways open to traffic in China reached approximately 5.28 million kilometers. "This number has increased several times compared to the 1990s!" Zhang Xiaoming sighed, with 161000 kilometers of highways open to traffic, firmly ranking first in the world. At the same time, there are over 10000 kilometers of highways and nearly 200000 kilometers of ordinary roads in China that require major and medium repairs every year, with a maintenance investment of nearly one trillion yuan. The traditional extensive maintenance method has low efficiency and repeated defects, resulting in traffic congestion and seriously reducing the efficiency of road traffic.
How to transform from an "infrastructure maniac" to an "operations master"? In the past, a lot of data on road maintenance was collected manually. "Usually, two people were needed to drive out, and the old wizard relied on photography, visual judgment, and manual recording." Zhang Xiaoming said that this not only was inefficient, but manual judgment could only determine some major road diseases, such as large pits, cracks, subtle cracks, or deep conditions of the roadbed, which were unknown. Moreover, people's requirements for road conditions are also changing. "In the past, there was a way to walk, but now we still need to walk comfortably."
"Only by leveraging digitization and informatization, moving towards intelligence and meticulous maintenance, can these problems be fundamentally solved," said Zhang Xiaoming firmly. Coincidentally, ten years ago, the team led by Du Yuchuan from Tongji University began this research, and Zhang Xiaoming was an important member of them. In 2013, the students took the new road detection method as the content of the competition, and successively participated in the National Traffic Science and Technology Competition, the Challenge Cup, and the "Internet plus" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, winning the first prize, the gold prize, and the national silver prize.
After the first generation products came out, they just caught up with the Internet plus era, and the detection lightweight has the "cloud" support of the Internet. Through continuous research and competition, the Du Yuchuan team has established an integrated product from rapid data collection to cloud data processing, ultimately producing maintenance decision-making services. The current "Road Cloud" system is composed of "Detection Cloud", "Management Cloud", and "Service Cloud".
What digitalization brings
What changes does digital technology bring to road maintenance?
Relying on technologies such as edge cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data, Tonglu Cloud has built a closed-loop "cloud" of "inspection management maintenance evaluation" with full coverage, full elements, and full cycle in Xuhui, continuously assisting in the refinement of municipal management and achieving remarkable results.
Pan tilt camera installed on the roof.
In terms of efficiency, originally two people per car relied on manual photography, judgment, and recording; Nowadays, one person, one vehicle, one equipment, equipped with wide-angle cameras, significantly improves efficiency. If we want to collect the condition of all roads in Xuhui District, it used to require 5 vehicles and 12 people, covering every 2-3 days; But now only 2 cars and 2 people are needed, with full coverage in 2-3 days.
In terms of accuracy, manual inspection used to only see major diseases, such as a very obvious pit; Millimeter sized cracks can now be seen, allowing for early intervention to prevent major issues from causing vehicle accidents. Moreover, during manual inspections, people often had to stop and slow down, which could easily cause rear end collisions; Now, when the car is basically driven over, you can have a panoramic view of the "diseases".
Ground penetrating radar.
Not only does it have data on roads, but if maintenance data, asphalt materials, processes, and equipment are all linked together using data, then this database can be analyzed by intelligent factories for evaluation, decision-making, and even prediction of future hidden dangers. Nowadays, not only is data collected through devices, but it is also automatically classified to form structured data. Therefore, an individual can process 1-2 million images per day and dispatch orders; In the past, with handwritten signatures for dispatching orders, 300 orders could be signed per day, which was already a lot. "Now, after big data processing, it is directly assigned to the maintenance team, freeing up management time for the supervisory department."
The application scenarios are still constantly expanding. After research and development, Tonglu Cloud has designed devices of different levels that can be installed on buses, motorcycles, and professional engineering vehicles for collection on different roads. For example, installing it on a bus can view the road conditions of the bus lane, and installing it on a motorcycle can view non motorized lanes such as sidewalks and alleys.
The "mentor innovation, student entrepreneurship" model
How can we achieve such efficiency and diversity? In fact, it cannot be separated from the close linkage between enterprises and universities.
Most of the innovations in schools are original and forward-looking research, and there is still a long way to go before they can be truly applied in the market; What enterprises need to do more is product innovation.
If enterprises can closely integrate with universities, it is actually a win-win process. Enterprises will inform the research group of universities of the most authentic and frontline market demands, and the research and development capabilities of universities can reduce the trial and error costs of enterprises. "You should know that for enterprises, the cost of trial and error is really high," said Zhang Xiaoming. In the process of scientific research, university research groups not only need real-life scenarios from the market, but also require more data. "We have many application scenarios, such as urban roads, rural roads, highways... During the research period, students can directly communicate with customers, understand their needs and pain points, and once they can truly solve problems, students also feel a sense of achievement." Zhang Xiaoming said, truly achieving the goal of "writing papers on the land of our motherland, not in drawers.".
The model of "mentor innovation and student entrepreneurship" has greatly benefited Tonglu Yun. The founder spent 3 million yuan to purchase the original core patented technology of Du Yuchuan's team at Tongji University. Professor Du Yuchuan also became the chief scientist of Tonglu Cloud, and on this basis, nearly 30 new research and development personnel were added. Tonglu Cloud and Tongji University jointly cultivate talents, jointly tackle key technologies, and jointly transform achievements. On the basis of resource sharing, personnel sharing, and venue co construction, both parties have established one joint laboratory, which is commissioned by the enterprise for research and development. The internship base supports 16 people and guides students to win 11 awards. They have successfully applied for provincial and ministerial level talents and awards multiple times.
Regarding the research and development capabilities of universities, Tong Lu Yun has his own unique insights. "We rely on, but not on universities," said Zhang Xiaoming. University experts provide technical support, and we independently complete the commercialization implementation, each performing their own duties, with high efficiency and good quality. The end customers are also satisfied, and Tonglu Yun will also give some of the profits back to his alma mater to support the development of disciplines. As of now, Tonglu Cloud has won three provincial and ministerial level first prizes, including the first prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, and one China Industry University Research Cooperation Innovation Award.
Road mirror.
【 "Drive away" the host 】
It is precisely because of the need to closely connect with the research and development forces of universities that Tonglu Yun did not hesitate to choose Tongji Science and Technology Park Jiading Park when choosing a site for entrepreneurship. "The headquarters of the School of Transportation and Professor Du are here," Zhang Xiaoming smiled and told the reporter. Now we are working on the second floor, and the fourth and fifth floors are the third floor of the Transportation Science and Technology Research Institute of Tongji University. It is very convenient for communication.
Speaking of the current office location, there is another story. "This used to be the office space of the incubator operation unit in Jiading Park. To be honest, we 'drove' the host away." It turned out that with the expansion of Tonglu Cloud's business, the office space of Tonglu Cloud increased from the initial 40-50 square meters to 100 square meters, and then to 400 square meters, but that was still not enough. At this point, all the entrepreneurial enterprises upstairs and downstairs were already fully rented out. "What should we do if there is really no space left?" Gu Wenjie, the general manager of Shanghai Tongji Jiading Technology Entrepreneurship Management Co., Ltd., the incubator operating unit, decisively decided to find a new space to work and "relocate" the enterprise. Finally, the enterprise ensured close proximity to school innovation and expanded office space; And the operating units of incubators have also settled in other venues in the park to continue providing services to enterprises.
In addition to strong support in physical space, Jiading Park in Tongji Science and Technology Park has also "ingeniously" opened up shared laboratories, opening up research and testing resources from universities, large scientific research institutions, and leading enterprises located in the park. "It should be noted that the cost of these large-scale advanced experimental equipment and professional talents is very high, and it is not possible to rely on a single enterprise to invest, especially start-up enterprises." Gu Wenjie explained that start-up enterprises also need testing and experimentation, so through "shared laboratories," high-quality supply and diversified demand docking are formed to meet the needs of enterprise inspection, testing, and scientific research innovation. ".
In the 14th Five Year Plan for National Transportation, big data and smart transportation have become highlights, and the sky and earth of Tonglu Cloud will become increasingly vast. "Now, our equipment is also showing its edge on highways. We have also participated in intelligent inspections of G15 and S32. The equipment is installed on small cars and hitchhikers, and when the car comes back, we collect data and make decisions for them, which is very useful." Zhang Xiaoming's tone was relaxed and cheerful.
