On January 13, 2021 in Shanghai, XNode successfully held its 2021 Innovation Roundtable. Nearly 60 innovation leaders from Fortune 500 companies, embassies and consulates gathered in Shanghai to discuss the challenges and opportunities of building an open and collaborative innovation ecosystem in the post-pandemic era.

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"XNode has accelerated a total of 56 foreign startups in cross-border acceleration programs in partnership with government-affiliated innovation institutions from Australia, Korea, Italy and Singapore,” said Wei Zhou, XNode CEO and Founder. “These startups are born with the innovation gene, and they are able to naturally bring their advanced academic research to market and create social and commercial value during their rapid growth. With the growth of these startups, industries can be replenished with diverse and new ways of thinking and capital can be relocated to more productive initiatives. An active startup ecosystem stimulates healthy competition, encouraging corporates to innovate even more frequently".

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Technology continues to drive innovation and power enterprises to achieve breakthroughs at multiple levels. Whether it is products, technologies, business models or organizational structures, digital touchpoints provide a solid foundation for various industries to bring better services to consumers. In the post-pandemic era, industry-leading corporates continue to seek new ideas. XNode has powered corporate innovation strategy through various models, such as corporate-startup collaboration by opening up technology resources externally, re-thinking organizational systems to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation internally, and adopting agile development methodologies that advocate user-centeredness.

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"Since its establishment in 2015, XNode has been committed to connecting the diverse forces in the innovation ecosystem and changing the world together with innovators. Importantly, corporates are crucial to this ecosystem’s development,” says XNode Chief Commercial Officer Luuk Eliens. “Over the years, XNode has established close partnerships with about 60 Fortune 500 companies. Through analysis and validation in different innovation projects, we believe that corporates are the backbone of the innovation ecosystem; laying the foundation of the industry, connecting upstream and downstream resources, whilst also contributing most of the R&D efforts and exporting industry talents." In the post-pandemic era, in addition to the industry opportunities brought by the unexpected market changes, how to effectively leverage the abundant resources owned by corporates for collaborative innovation will be of special concern to innovators from SMEs. "To truly drive innovation, XNode provides end-to-end support to corporates: from helping define innovation strategies, to in-depth research into their specific industries, and implementing accelerated projects and post-project industrialization support. We believe that as the innovation market grows more mature, corporates must look for partners who can help them drive long-term business growth, and XNode is positioned to do just that."

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Diversity is an extremely critical attribute of the innovation ecosystem, and as the world changes, more players will join. "This year, XNode will be opening additional innovation branches in Shenzhen and Tokyo to expand the resources of the innovation ecosystem by connecting with local corporates, investment institutions, academic institutions and industry partners, enabling more community members to accelerate their innovations into target markets and strengthen their international business influence,” announced Wei Zhou at the Innovation Roundtable. “At the same time, XNode has officially launched a partnership with Parsons School of Design to explore the path of bringing the world’s leading design capabilities and resources to China: to provide top-tier design-related services to Chinese brands and enterprises; to build a vibrant design community that serves Parsons’ alumni in Asia; and to enhance the comprehensive vision and professional capabilities of young design talents in China through world-class education programs."