China-based entrepreneurs look to Beverly and Woburn for business incubator best practices

Life sciences and technology innovators in Woburn and Beverly recently had the opportunity to highlight their expertise and initiatives to a delegation of visiting professionals from China. The group consisted of six owners and managers of regional startup hubs and business incubators from the country’s Hebei Province.

Massachusetts Association of Business Incubators and BostonWise, a firm that promotes educational and commercial exchanges between China and the United States, coordinated the visit.

Its purpose was to learn and share ideas on the best practices of business incubators and entrepreneurship, as well as explore opportunities for international cooperation, according to Freddie Qi, director of professional development at BostonWise.

NSIV China Visit
PHOTO: A delegation from The Association of Technical Business Incubators of Heibei Province in China visited Cummings Center in Beverly. Left to right:  Justin D’Aveta of Cummings Properties, Yu Liu, Yongcheng Liu, Martha Farmer of NSIV, Jing Li, Tom Kinneman of NSIV, Shiqian Wang, Yuan Gao, Eric Anderson of Cummings Properties, and Shen Fei.

The delegation visited with two clients of Woburn-based commercial real estate firm Cummings Properties.

“Cummings’ portfolio – in Beverly, Woburn, and nine other communities – is home to a suite of innovative life sciences and technology firms,” said Eric Anderson, executive vice president of Cummings Properties. “It was a privilege for us to connect our guests from China with these leading organizations.”

The group met with Dr. Raj Rajur, founder of Woburn-based CreaGen Life Science Incubator, and Dr. Martha Farmer, the founder of North Shore InnoVentures (NSIV) at Cummings Center in Beverly.

CreaGen is currently home to nine start-ups, and is working to expand that number to 30 in the next year. The company recently doubled in size from its current facility on Rainin Road in Woburn to approximately 20,000 square feet at Cummings Properties’ 299 Washington Street location.

North Shore InnoVentures is a nonprofit technology incubator helping early stage biotech and clean-technology companies increase their probability of success. It has helped launch 40 companies, and currently has 20 in incubation. A longtime client of Cummings Properties, NSIV has expanded several times. It now occupies 13,000 square feet at Cummings Center, the largest office and technology campus on the North Shore.

“We were so glad to meet the teams at Cummings, CreaGen, and North Shore InnoVentures,” said Qi. “The delegation was very impressed by both Cummings Center and the incubators, and showed great interest in collaboration in the future.”

Cummings Properties operates 11 million square feet of real estate across 11 Greater Boston communities. Its portfolio accommodates offices, healthcare facilities, labs, restaurants, retail storefronts, warehouses, co-working spaces, executive suites, and more.