Research On The Construction Of Makerspace Ecosystem And Its Ecology Empowerment Mechanism

As “Mass innovation and entrepreneurship” becomes a national strategy in China and sets off a wave of innovation and entrepreneurship,the construction and development of Makerspace is changing with each passing day.China has become a large country of makerspace with its current number increases to more than 5,700.However,makerspaces are still at an early stage of development in China because its growth rate is not in accord with its theoretical research and policy administration,which keeps China far from being a great power of makerspace.The comprehensive and intensive study on makespace from both theoretical and empirical aspects will help direct the long term planning and construction of makerspace,promote its steady and sound progress and further encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.In addition,makespace is the result of the sharing economy and it serves as a platform which is service-oriented,empowerment-focused and targeted at value co-creating.These features all distinguish China's makerspaces from both foreign ones and traditional incubators.Therefore,it is necessary to study the system structure,operating models,operational mechanism and status quo of makespace ecosystem.On the basis of former researches and fieldwork,this paper analyzes the connotation,characteristics,function,constituent elements and interactive layers of makerspace ecosystem.Then,founded on the different function orientations and interactive layers of makerspace ecosystem,six value co-creating models with some operational features peculiar to themselves are categorized which provides references to makerspaces' self-assessment and self-positioning.Thirdly,synthesizing the previous discussion and based on entrepreneurship-related studies and empowerment researches,an investigation into the value co-creating mechanisms of makerspace ecosystem is carried out.Finally,using the 2016-2018 makerspace's annual reports of Zhejiang province,this thesis conducts an empirical research on correlation between the empowerment approaches and cultivating performance with panel negative binomial model.The results show that the resource empowerment of makerspace has a significant impact on the sustainable performance and innovation performance.Onthe contrary,service empowerment has a significant impact on entrepreneurial performance;the current efficiency of resources allocation of makerspace is far from ideal due to the lack of comprehensiveness and integrity of its services.As a result,makerspaces should focus on balancing its investment in “hardware” and “software”in the course of their future development,as well as take an active part in cooperation with government in order to be supported and guided by policies.