(NBD) Sept. 8 -- The 2017 National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week will be held from Sept. 15 to 21 in both Shanghai and Beijing, with the former being the main venue. 

This is the third year for the National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week. Last year, nearly 5,000 activities were held across China and attracted more than 20 million people.

This year, a total of 153 innovative programs will be on display in the main venue. The programs are developed by large-, medium- and small-sized enterprises, research institutes of universities, overseas returnees, entrepreneurs and returning migrant workers as well as foreign funded R&D institutes and other innovative entrepreneurship entities. 

Some classic cases and useful experience for entrepreneurship and innovation activities in different fields and regions across China will be shared during the week-long campaign to demonstrate the new progress and breakthrough in entrepreneurship and innovation.

The mass entrepreneurship and innovation is encouraging people to start business and cultivate innovation. The new registered market entities have risen rapidly since 2013 and the number of those has reached 8.87 million in the first half of this year with 16 thousand increased every day, doubling from the level in 2013.

According to the Global Innovation Index 2017 of the World Intellectual Property Organization, China ranks the 22nd with 3 places up from last year, and becomes the only middle-income country which has an improved ranking and narrowed the gap with developed countries.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn