The Beijing Baoyi Interaction Scientific and Technological Company, which was established by a blind entrepreneur to help people with disabilities was able to take part in a "cloud accelerator" training program arranged by Microsoft, in January，in Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency has reported.

The Microsoft "cloud accelerator" program is intended to be an incubator for small to mid-sized technology enterprises in Beijing's Zhongguancun district, the Chinese "Silicon Valley". Its goal is purely to help small technology enterprises enter the market -- not companies with experience and a clear business model – according to Lin Weiqian, the general manager of the program.

Beijing Baoyi, whose founder is Cao Jun, was lucky to be one of only 18 companies to get the Microsoft incubator second phase training. Cao wanted to learn more about cloud services and related technology.

Microsoft's "cloud accelerator" program is just one examples of the new incubators in Zhongguancun. Another is Nokia Experience Innovation Center, which is intended for small to mid-sized companies and is somewhat similar to Microsoft's program, and provides policy, technical, and capital support for free, said Fu Lei, its general manager. The Nokia incubator's goal is to select 3,000 innovative ideas and provide support for 300 enterprises and help 30 of them get market-qualified.

International companies that establish incubators for small and innovative companies could also benefit from this, suggested Fu, who added that Nokia hopes to build an innovative system and has a lot of "indirect innovations".

Microsoft's Lin went on to explain, "Companies in the incubator have provided valuable suggestions for Microsoft's cloud computing in China". In addition, Microsoft can cooperate with the enterprises in the incubator to monitor the performance of Microsoft's cloud computing network and that of competitors. Microsoft will also consider investing in the better-operated companies.

Edited by Zhao Qian and Roger Bradshaw