The number of “maker spaces”, a kind of incubator for start-up businesses and innovation, soared in Beijing last year, increasing nearly 12-fold from just 11 to 141, according to the municipal science and technology committee.

Statistics also show nearly 70 percent of the maker spaces have branches outside the Chinese capital, greatly promoting entrepreneurship and innovation across the country.

The maker spaces in Beijing span a total of nearly 560,000 square meters, serving about 10,000 start-ups in 2015. They are mainly operated by private enterprises, while 56 of the 141 maker spaces had registered with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Yan Aoshuang, director of the municipal science and technology committee, said maker spaces had boosted scientific innovation and the quality of the real economy. For example, in 2015, driven by the expansion of maker spaces, more than 40,000 scientific enterprises and 12,000 high-tech enterprises were founded in Beijing.