Ebidding, Shanghai Huizhao Information Technology Co., Ltd.’s key product, was China’s only “Internet+” integrated bidding and procurement service provider, integrating supply chain management consulting, project implementation, and electronic bidding platform operation. Its main business was to provide enterprises with a full-process electronic bidding and procurement solution. The Ebidding team had developed a full-process electronic bidding platform in 2012, and it had been upgraded and developed regularly since then. A business expansion opportunity emerged for Ebidding as a result of shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of precautions to combat COVID-19, offline bidding and procurement across China were severely curtailed. Electronic bidding procurement projects were also stalled due to the inability of experts to evaluate online bids. To seize this market opportunity, gain competitive advantage, and grow its business in the face of significant uncertainty, Ebidding would have to determine how to quickly develop a remote decentralized bid evaluation system, gain acceptance for it, and lead customers to accept the new system.
In 2017, the successful Canadian innovation center TEC Edmonton initiated a joint venture with TusStar, an important Chinese accelerator, and found itself in the middle of a debate about the challenges and opportunities of Chinese investment in Canada’s technology sector. Both organizations were unique collaborations among industry, academia, and government. This joint initiative had added significance because of the implications for these stakeholders. The role of government was also significant, especially regarding the role of the Chinese government in innovation. The partnership was also nationally significant because of the important roles TEC Edmonton and TusStar played in the innovation ecosystems in Canada and China. How could TEC Edmonton define its role underpinning its relationship with TusStar and the Chinese government and make a compelling case for this new cooperation to stakeholders in industry, academia, and government?
Founded in late 2014, Xinke used a crowdfunding café model to provide a platform for communication among entrepreneurs and investors. In June 2015, Xinke co-operated with a leading real estate company to create a crowd innovation café, and in August 2016, it received A-round financing that led to the establishment of a crowd innovation fund and the creation of a self-access media platform. Xinke had opened a high-end shared office to provide all around services such as funds, publicity, and venues for settled enterprises. It had a network of crowd innovation space (CIS) platforms in various cities across China and was beginning to build a nationwide CIS platform. Could the crowd innovation ecology designed by Xinke inject new vitality into the development of the CIS? How should Xinke’s crowd innovation eco-strategy be improved? How could Xinke realize professionalization in and improvement of the crowd innovation ecology?