Exploring the path to entrepreneurship in the instrumentation industry through the two most frequent words in the opening speech at the start of school term

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　　In the golden month of September, university freshmen, having gone through the college entrance examination, finally start attending classes one after another, beginning their college life. Many university presidents delivered speeches at the opening ceremonies, with “learning,” “era,” and “development” being the most frequently used terms. These three words convey the principal’s high expectations for all students, and they also reflect the direction of development in higher education today. http://www.jiweimeter.com/uploads/image/20180914/1536923698.jpg As the successors to future **development, college students undoubtedly bear important responsibilities of the times. As part of the foundational industries in China’s manufacturing sector, instrument and meter companies also need to fulfill their responsibilities. In particular, the new wave of startups is like young graduates who have just left academia, and they will bring fresh blood to the industry. Given that the concept of “development” is too broad, the following discussion will primarily use the two key terms of “learning” and “era” to explore how a number of new enterprises emerging in the instrumentation industry should develop. 　　Keywords: Learning* In an interview at an exhibition, an entrepreneur who had been working in South China for over a decade described to the reporter the circumstances surrounding his early days as a business owner. He had worked for many years at well-known instrumentation companies, and leveraging his expertise in laboratory instruments and supplies, he decided to resign and embark on an entrepreneurial journey. However, suddenly going from an ordinary employee to the CEO of a startup meant that there were many more responsibilities to take on, and one had to learn and gain experience in various areas. Through this experience, he wants to offer advice to other entrepreneurs: in the early stages of starting a business, it is necessary to learn a wide range of things; not only must one master the knowledge relevant to the specific field, but one must also seriously study how to run a company. 　　Many entrepreneurs in the instrumentation industry initially had experience working at other companies, usually in roles such as sales engineer. Such work experience typically leads to the gradual accumulation of professional knowledge, and one may become quite familiar with product development and sales. Conversely, entrepreneurs may not be very familiar with business management knowledge, which requires them to learn more before and at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. Especially in the early stages of starting a business when there is a shortage of staff, one may have to take care of everything – from registering and operating the company, choosing a location, and recruiting employees, to purchasing office supplies, registering phone numbers, and installing company broadband. 　　For example, the entrepreneur of that laboratory equipment company mentioned earlier initially did not hire a full-time accountant in order to save money. When he needed to communicate with the tax authorities, he had to learn some financial knowledge on his own. Furthermore, he handled almost everything personally, from sales and procurement to shipping, as well as marketing, technology, and HR. Although it seemed like menial work, this experience taught him a great deal. Especially in the later stage of establishing departments, he used the knowledge and experience he had acquired to train a group of capable assistants, who helped him take on much of the workload. However, spending too much time learning various skills is not advisable, as entrepreneurs have limited energy; focus should instead be placed on business expansion. 　　Keywords: Era. It is believed that many entrepreneurs seek advice from older generations of instrument and meter industry professionals in order to find guidance for starting their own companies. However, times have changed; the development of China’s instrumentation industry has gone through several stages, and the entrepreneurial environment in each period cannot be compared. Initially, it was mainly from the 1950s to the 1980s; this period is known as the era of development of state-led large-scale production bases. At that time, the production bases were mainly located in cities such as Shanghai, Chongqing, and Beijing, and their establishment and development were led by **. Today, a group of established companies with strong capabilities were developed from some instrument and meter factories of that era, such as the Shanghai Optical Instrument Factory and the Beijing Analytical Instrument Factory, among others. Today, the new batch of instrument and meter companies are all private enterprises, with completely different development environments, models, and paths. 　　In contrast, the era of the rise of private enterprises after the reform and opening up, the era of capitalized operation and maintenance, and the Internet era are more in line with the development environment in which modern enterprises operate. The era of the rise of private enterprises came alongside state-owned enterprise reforms, mainly as a large number of corporate managers and technical personnel started their own businesses. At that time, the market economy was still a relatively new concept, and the industrial chain for instruments and equipment was continuously evolving, providing a vast opportunity landscape for entrepreneurs. The era of capitalized operations and maintenance is primarily driven by the impacts of the development of finance and capital markets, enabling companies to use capital as a tool for competition. The instrumentation industry is beginning to embrace capital markets, leading to a wave of M&A activities both at home and abroad. 　　The final stage – the Internet era – is the one in which instrument and meter companies currently find themselves, and it is also the period that entrepreneurs should pay the most attention to. Today, both the market economy and capital markets have matured, and the entrepreneurial environment seems more favorable, yet the success rate remains low. To \"survive,\" one must keep up with the trends of the times, and only then can they consider whether they can lead the development of the industry or even the era. For example, the era when manufacturers relied solely on direct sales is over; more and more instrument and meter companies choose to use distributors for distribution, employing methods such as telephone sales, online sales, and even sales through e-commerce platforms. At the same time, advertising channels are also changing; print and television advertising resources are no longer scarce, while new marketing methods such as Internet advertising and search engine optimization are increasingly favored by instrument and meter manufacturers. 　　New era, new development. Although this article does not directly discuss “development,” the concept of “development” is implicitly involved in the interpretation of the two key terms, “learning*” and “era.” Compared to popular fields that attract the attention of investors and entrepreneurs, such as the \"sharing\" economy, artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain, traditional industries like instrumentation do not enjoy as much visibility, nor do they offer as many opportunities for quick wealth accumulation. For this very reason, entrepreneurs in the instrumentation industry have the space to think calmly, to figure out why they started a business, how to use learning to help themselves and their companies grow, and how to adapt to the trends of the times. It’s easy to start a business, but difficult to maintain it; the future of domestic instruments depends on you.