Spurring scientists to exploit research

Brilliant young engineer Hu Tianlian once faced a dilemma. Hu was a lecturer at China's Southwest University of Science and Technology, where he also pursued the design of robots for remote operation in dangerous industrial environments. In 2012, he founded Fude Robot Co. But there wasn't enough time in the day for both pursuits.

So he quit lecturing. "There was no going back," Hu said.

For this robotics wunderkind, a new policy giving academics three-year sabbaticals to start businesses came just too late, but many more like him stand to benefit.