A Chinese lawmaker said that mass entrepreneurship and innovation is witnessing a vigorous stage of development as the country’s structural reform advances, referring to the 2015 Development Report of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Gu Shengzu, of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, said that China is currently experiencing a fourth entrepreneurial wave since the country’s reform and opening up, ignited by the entrepreneurship and innovation calls of the 13th Five-Year Plan.

One global entrepreneurship report shows that China’s entrepreneurial index in 2015 stood at 79 percent, far higher than the global index (51) and Asia index (64). In 2015, about 12,000 new enterprises were registered on a daily basis, about eight per minute.

“The entrepreneurship and innovation initiative carried out in major cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu and Wuhan has started to show positive effects, with more rapid growth rates,” Gu said.

Compared with former waves of entrepreneurship, according to Gu, the current one features a coordination of entrepreneurship and innovation, appealing to more diversified participants from both the elite and grassroots.

Gu highlighted the growing trend of returning to hometowns for business, in which people return from studying or working abroad, entrepreneurs return from mega cities, and migrant workers return from coastal cities.

He also pointed out that large enterprises, with its advantages in talent, technology, brand and market, hold a pivotal position in promoting entrepreneurship. But with the growing number of people leaving their jobs at large enterprises to start their own businesses, a talent pool from Lenovo, Baidu, Tencent, and Huawei has been created.

In terms of the type of entrepreneurship, Gu said that 2015 saw the emergence of Internet start-ups, which has gathered over 50 percent of funds for entrepreneurial investment and 70 percent of angel venture investment.

The advent of the Internet era, with big data, cloud computing and mobile Internet, is expanding entrepreneurship from a “niche” to “the masses”, which can mobilize the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of millions of people.