Multiple Regions Announce Subsidies for "Raising Lobsters," Up to 20 Million Yuan! True Innovation Doesn't Need "Force-Feeding"

Source: Daily Economic News Author: Du Hengfeng

Since Shenzhen Longgang District released the OpenClaw “Lobster Ten Rules,” Wuxi High-tech Zone, Changshu City in Suzhou, Hefei High-tech Zone, Hangzhou Xiaoshan District, Nanjing Qixia High-tech Zone, and Jiangning District have followed suit. The “lobster farming” craze has quickly spread from the geek community and capital markets to local government investment promotion efforts. While people marvel at local governments’ deep understanding of new technologies and precise grasp of new industry development opportunities, some common issues in investment promotion deserve close attention.

“Lobster farming” should not turn into “awarding lobsters.” The most direct, noticeable, and “practical” subsidies are often highlighted in news headlines. The earliest maximum reward in Shenzhen Longgang District was 4 million yuan, followed by versions offering 5 million, 6 million, 10 million, and even 20 million yuan.

Regarding office space incentives, Shenzhen Longgang District offers up to 18 months of office space benefits for OPC (one-person companies). Subsequent regions have increased their support, offering “up to 2 years of free independent workstation use, with water, electricity, property, and internet fees waived,” or “up to 3 years of rent-free office space support,” or “up to 5 years of rent subsidies, with a maximum of 3,000 square meters annually,” among others.

“Lobster farming” is closely linked to OPC support policies. Shenzhen Longgang District provides “up to 100,000 yuan household registration subsidy + up to 2 months of free accommodation,” while other regions offer “up to 120,000 yuan living subsidies,” “30 days of free office, accommodation, and dining + high-speed rail subsidies,” “up to 36,000 yuan annual housing rental subsidy + 300,000 yuan employment subsidy + up to 6 months of free talent station stay,” and even “up to 2 million yuan home purchase subsidy.”

Shenzhen Longgang District proposes up to 10 million yuan in equity investment support, and subsequent policies also uniformly include “equity investment” as standard. Some even offer OPC-specific credit products and 50% loan interest subsidies.

These reward and subsidy policies have some rationality. New business opportunities in their nascent stage face high costs and risks. Government support can lower entrepreneurial barriers and risks, allowing greater innovation and entrepreneurship. However, subsidy policies should focus on “ensuring basic needs” and not turn into competitions of scale or coverage. Fiscal resources are scarce and precious; more impact can be achieved by investing in employment, education, and other public welfare issues.

“Lobster farming” should not turn into “picking lobsters.” Many see OpenClaw as a “DeepSeek moment” for intelligent agents, eager to take risks rather than miss out. OpenClaw indeed demonstrates AI’s potential to move from guiding humans to independently performing tasks, but the development of intelligent agents is still in a very early stage. Even with OpenClaw, issues like deployment difficulty, compatibility, and high token consumption remain, not to mention serious security risks.

Take ChatGPT as an example: its competitors can quickly catch up or even surpass it in certain areas. The technical barrier for AI applications like OpenClaw is much lower, and better intelligent agent tools may emerge in the future. Policy support for new technologies should encourage fundamental technological innovation rather than selecting winners.

Clearly, OpenClaw is far from being the ultimate solution for intelligent agents. Currently, supporting policies favor OpenClaw, but this is not “lobster farming”—it’s “picking lobsters,” which could crowd out other innovative AI developments. During the early stages of new technology, this is highly detrimental to innovation.

I also note that some regions include other intelligent agents in their support policies, but these are only mentioned briefly. From an entrepreneur’s perspective, they are more likely to choose OpenClaw to receive rewards than other “less popular” intelligent agents. The answer is obvious.

“Lobster farming” should not turn into “fattening shrimps.” The success of a new technology is always the result of market selection. Market selection must consider availability, cost, safety, and other factors. The development of intelligent agents also follows these principles. Comprehensive subsidies for computing power, data, models, office space, and living expenses do lower entrepreneurial barriers, but products built on these subsidies often have artificially suppressed costs. Without subsidies, their commercialization stories become much harder. If many “fattened shrimps” appear simultaneously, the market will only clear through brutal淘汰, incurring huge economic costs.

The steam engine case best illustrates how new technology succeeds. Early steam engines were heavy and inefficient, consuming大量煤炭. For coal mine owners, coal was cheap, so high energy consumption was acceptable, but for textile factories, such steam engines were uneconomical. It wasn’t until Watt improved the steam engine, significantly reducing energy consumption, that it could be widely applied in textiles, mining, transportation, and other industries.

AI development must also address cost issues, with computing power being the key. Behind computing power is energy, which has become a critical bottleneck for AI development. Intelligent agents consume enormous amounts of computing resources; solving cost issues is essential for widespread application. However, subsidies reduce entrepreneurs’ focus on this problem, much like coal mine owners with endless coal, who have no incentive to improve steam engine efficiency.