DoBe Supports the "Cultural and Creative Industry-Education Chain Creation Fund", Marking a Decade of Innovation Voyage for ICCI
Recently, the USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry (hereinafter referred to as "ICCI") celebrated its 10th anniversary. As a pioneer in China's cultural and creative education reform, the institute's development has always been deeply intertwined with industry participation. Since 2019, DoBe Group has partnered with ICCI to establish the "ICCI-DoBe Industry-Education Chain Creation Fund" (referred to as the "Creation Fund"), supporting over 50 student startup projects. Through joint efforts, the initiative has evolved from "industry-education co-creation" to "industry-education shared prosperity".
ICCI 10th Anniversary & 2025 Commencement Ceremony was successfully held on March 29. Attendees included Wang Yayuan, former Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and and President of Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industry Promotion Association; Qiang Ying, Deputy Director of Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industry Promotion Office; Wang Yanqun, Standing Committee Member of Jiuquan Municipal Committee and Secretary of Dunhuang Municipal Committee; Yang Zhenbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU); as well as over 600 participants from academia, industry, university departments, faculty, students, and alumni. Together, they witnessed the fruitful achievements of ICCI's first decade and offered heartfelt blessings for its new journey.
At the event, Yang Zhenbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of SJTU, stated that innovation is the defining characteristic of cultural and creative professionals, responsibility is their spiritual core, and excellence is their eternal pursuit. He expressed hope that ICCI would firmly seize the historic opportunity of digital transformation in the global cultural and creative industry. By adopting a more open attitude and innovative thinking, ICCI should cultivate more interdisciplinary talents with "creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship", using creativity to illuminate the world stage and wisdom to tell China's stories, thereby contributing more SJTU strength to the global presence of Chinese culture.
Jia Bo, Chairman of the DoBe Group and an industry mentor for ICCI, was invited to attend the event. Zhang Weimin, Dean of ICCI, presented him with the "ICCI Outstanding Industry Mentor Award" and thanked DoBe for its years of support and practice of ICCI's "industry-oriented" educational philosophy. In 2019, DoBe collaborated with ICCI to establish the "Creation Fund" and proposed integrating real-world corporate needs into the teaching system. Through a multidimensional framework of "credits + fund", "campus + industrial park", and "cultural creativity + X", the initiative aims to break traditional educational boundaries, extending students' classrooms from lecture halls to the frontlines of industry. With the continuous advancement of the "Creation Fund", through its innovative industry-education co-creation model, it has cultivated numerous versatile talents with innovative thinking, creative capabilities, and entrepreneurial spirit for the industry. By reshaping educational boundaries through corporate practice, it has explored new pathways for integrating industry and education.
The "Creation Fund" courses pioneeringly introduce "entrepreneurial practice" into the classroom. The entrepreneurial projects span cutting-edge fields such as urban renewal, rural revitalization, cultural and creative product development, AI-driven creation, the loneliness economy, the pet economy, self-media, and offline salons. Examples include the online community "Good Place", which focuses on female mutual aid, providing a safe space for female university students to connect; "COFFEE IN SHANGHAI", which helps foreigners understand Shanghai's coffee culture, fostering cross-cultural exchange; the "Cultural and Creative Space Station", a trendsetter in creative industry talent mobility, offering a new platform for professionals; and the "Distant Mountain Reading" public welfare project, which promotes reading habits among children in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, bringing knowledge and warmth to rural youth. These projects fully demonstrate the sharp perspectives and sense of responsibility of the younger generation. Through repeated entrepreneurial explorations, industry exchanges, and practical feedback, students provide innovative ideas and pathways for industrial development, achieving a "seamless connection" between "cultural and creative education" and the "cultural and creative industry".
By breaking down barriers between education and industry through industry-education co-creation, DoBe Group aims to organically link the education chain, talent chain, industry chain, and innovation chain, providing solid, market-aligned, high-quality talent support for the sustainable development of the cultural and creative industries. Education should not only focus on students' holistic growth but also emphasize character development and quality cultivation, enabling them to become key drivers of societal progress.
In the future, DoBe will further deepen the "Creation Fund" with ICCI, enhancing the conversion rate and implementation results of entrepreneurial projects. By collaborating with more outstanding VC institutions, industry associations, listed companies, and entrepreneurial mentors, we aim to build a comprehensive entrepreneurial ecosystem, providing end-to-end support from incubation to follow-up investments, helping more outstanding projects take root and flourish.
On the journey of the next decade, ICCI will continue to uphold the educational philosophy of integrating "Management, Art, and Technology", creating a new highland for cultivating cultural and creative talents with a global perspective. DoBe will also continue to practice the concept of industry-education co-creation, integrating resources from all parties to contribute more to the cultivation of cultural and creative industry talents and the incubation and development of high-quality entrepreneurial projects. The two parties will work hand in hand, using creative works to tell China's stories well, allowing the world to hear a louder and more moving voice of China's cultural and creative innovation.
