Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Evan Huang and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Huawei, a leading Chinese hardware manufacturer, made a notable return to the spotlight last year with its high-end Mate 60 series. Recently, rumors and leaks about the upcoming Huawei Mate 70 series have sparked significant consumer interest and anticipation in China. Reportedly, this new device is set to launch in mid-November. Given the information leaked so far, what key features can we expect?

Latest leaks and highlights

Recent leaks suggest that the Huawei Mate 70 series will, like last year, include four main versions: the Standard, Pro, Pro+, and the RS Ultimate Design. The Pro version is expected to be the highlight, offering a premium entry-level experience. Early glimpses of the Mate 70 Pro reveal a design that pays homage to the Mate 50 series, with a unified back color scheme and a triple-punch display on the front, likely enhanced by a quad-curved micro-edge design.

The new Kirin chipset is expected to deliver significant advancements in processing technology and performance. The Pro version will feature a BOE-supplied 2K display, approximately 6.8 inches in size, with 2160Hz PWM dimming and a 120Hz refresh rate. It will also be equipped with next-generation KUNLUN GLASS and reinforced with Xuanwu architecture, greatly improving resistance to drops, compression, and impact. Water resistance may also be upgraded to IP69 standards, adding further durability.

Popular blogger @厂长是关同学 shared a post on the Chinese social platform Weibo earlier in October saying, “If the rumors hold, the new Kirin chipset in the Huawei Mate 70 series will cost around RMB 1,100-1,300, marking a substantial investment. Other components—such as the screen, CMOS sensor, and power management chip—are also expected to be on the higher end of the price spectrum. Despite an estimated production cost nearly 30% above Apple’s 16 series, the Mate 70 series price won’t surpass Apple’s. The launch is slated for mid-next month (data for reference only).”

Additionally, blogger @智慧皮卡丘 leaked that the Huawei Mate 70 also features a flat-edge frame and side fingerprint power button, and the new Kirin chipset will be standard, along with 3D facial recognition. Although the battery capacity is thought to not exceed 6,000mAh, power optimization is still expected to be high. Regarding imaging, the main camera is expected to utilize the OV50K large sensor from China’s OmniVision.

HarmonyOS boosts Huawei’s hardware experience

On October 22, Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS NEXT, marking the third major mobile operating system globally alongside Apple’s iOS and Android. Unlike previous HarmonyOS versions, which relied on AOSP open-source code and compatibility with Android apps, HarmonyOS NEXT is entirely self-developed, bringing significant improvements in system smoothness, performance, and security, while enabling the Chinese tech giant to have full control over the OS.

At the launch event, Richard Yu, Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Huawei’s Consumer BG, announced that HarmonyOS NEXT 5.0 delivers a 30% increase in smoothness, an additional 56 minutes of battery life, triple the connection speed, four times the device connectivity, and a 20% reduction in power consumption. Currently, there are over 15,000 native HarmonyOS apps and service modules, with updates being released almost daily. HarmonyOS has seen widespread adoption, with over 38 million enterprise applications in use nationwide in China and thousands of internal applications for businesses and government agencies going live.

HarmonyOS NEXT facilitates seamless connectivity across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, and in-car systems. Utilizing a new distributed soft bus, it achieves three times faster cross-device connections with lower power consumption, supporting simultaneous connections with up to four devices for features like cross-device scanning, photo library sharing, and clipboard sharing. These advancements are expected to drive Huawei hardware sales.

In conclusion

In summary, the Huawei Mate 70 series stands as the most eagerly awaited flagship phone of Q4 in China. From its design and internal configurations to advancements in imaging technology and its operating system, the device promises significant upgrades and breakthroughs. Particularly notable is the HarmonyOS NEXT, signaling a bold move toward ecosystem integration. Though Huawei has yet to reveal the full details of the new device, the hints so far are already building excitement.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Evan Huang and translated by Zinan Zhang.

As autumn unfolds, the Chinese internet is abuzz with anticipation for the year’s biggest shopping event—Double Eleven. Unlike in the past, this year’s shopping festival launched long before November, as a way for major e-commerce platforms to extend their presale periods. In fact, the constant stream of discounts and sales throughout the year has made consumers less enthusiastic about Double Eleven deals, challenging merchants to draw in shoppers with more than just price cuts.

This may be why e-commerce leaders Taobao and JD.com kicked off their presales on October 14, while platforms Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, and Pinduoduo launched theirs on October 8, 10, 12, and 14, respectively. Meanwhile, competition among platforms for Double Eleven traffic has intensified, with each platform ramping up efforts to engage consumers and maximize gross merchandise value (GMV) while building long-term loyalty.

Taobao and Tmall “break down walls” with JD

Long-time e-commerce rival group Taobao and Tmall and JD have taken an unexpected step this year, putting aside their differences to “break down walls” to expand the market while seeking to enhance consumer satisfaction. On October 16, JD Logistics announced a partnership with Taobao Group, marking a major shift in China’s e-commerce landscape. Through this collaboration, JD Logistics will be fully integrated into the Taobao and Tmall platforms, allowing merchants to select JD Logistics as their service provider. JD’s comprehensive supply chain solutions, including JD Express, will now be available to Taobao and Tmall merchants, covering warehousing, courier services, and transportation across the supply chain.

On October 28, further reports revealed that Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, will integrate itself with JD’s third-party platform. This integration means JD’s third-party merchants can choose between Cainiao Express and Cainiao’s large-goods services. With the systemic integration already in place, some Taobao and Tmall merchants have opted for JD Logistics, and consumers can now track their packages via the Taobao and Tmall apps.

This alliance could be significant, especially given JD Logistics’ impressive growth. According to its semi-annual report, revenue from JD Logistics’ external customers reached RMB 59.9 billion—an 11.2% increase year-over-year—accounting for nearly 70% of its total revenue.

Dependence on top streamers remains unchanged

Top streamers remain invaluable to e-commerce platforms, driving substantial consumer engagement despite pervasive controversies. 

Douyin’s pre-Double Eleven report, released on October 18, highlighted the momentum of live-streaming e-commerce. Between October 8 and 17, 52 brands exceeded 100 million yuan in sales, while 323 live-streaming rooms surpassed RMB 10 million in revenue. Live-stream products reached users over 200 billion times during this period.

This surge is backed by the latest data from the Chinese Academy of Metrology Science, showing that live-streaming e-commerce penetration in China rose from 4.9% in 2019 to 30.4% in 2022, and further to 37.8% in 2023, marking 24.3% year-on-year growth.

AI Reshapes the e-commerce shopping experience

With the rise of generative AI, many labor-intensive marketing tasks, like creating product images and descriptions, sales, and software engineering work, can be automated, leading to significant cost savings. Alibaba, for example, has embedded AI across Taobao and Tmall, transforming its e-commerce business by enhancing the shopping experience and boosting merchants’ efficiency. Through AI-driven personalized recommendations, smart customer service, and logistics optimization, Alibaba has streamlined operations. One key feature, the “site-wide promotion” tool, leverages a “paid-free linkage” mechanism, where AI identifies user intent and applies precise tags, delivering more predictable ROI for merchants. During this year’s June 18 shopping festival, over 1.5 million products saw a 65% increase in GMV within seven days of investment due to this promotion.

JD has also upped its AI solutions portfolio. In March 2024, it introduced AI tools that can cut merchant operating costs by as much as 50%, accelerating product listings and creating realistic virtual digital influencers who host 24/7 live streams. Most recently, on October 14, JD launched a “Double 11” campaign featuring free trials of AI tools for brand merchants, promising to enhance video content production and support various marketing needs, including image and video content creation, product recommendations, and short-form drama content.

AI’s appeal is resonating with consumers as well, especially younger generations. Bain’s survey of over 3,000 Chinese consumers revealed that while 12% of consumers overall used generative AI tools in the past six months, that figure reached 23% for Gen Z users. The most popular AI features across demographics include visual search (using images instead of text), intelligent customer service bots, voice search, and smart shopping assistants, all of which are helping to redefine the consumer experience in China’s dynamic retail landscape.

Conclusion

Behind this year’s shopping extravaganza, e-commerce giants are entering the competition with a more collaborative approach, while the live-streaming arena continues to heat up as consumers hunt down the best deals. Despite the Double Eleven shopping frenzy, the influence of AI in this sector extends far beyond any single event. With enthusiasm for large promotional events gradually cooling, consumers are approaching purchases with greater rationality, looking not just for deep discounts but also for quality and service.

To adapt, e-commerce platforms must move beyond a singular focus on sales volume, shifting toward enhancing user experience and building long-term value. For manufacturers, this means pivoting from a reliance on short-term sales growth to a strategy that emphasizes lasting engagement. AI technology is at the heart of this transformation, serving not only to improve service quality but also to boost user engagement. As AI evolves from a support tool into a strategic asset, it is poised to become a core competitive advantage in e-commerce.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Ever wondered how AI could help create a one to two minute short film? Chinese software maker Meitu recently launched a short video creation tool, MOKI, that provides users with exactly that option. The tool has been developed to simplify the process of creating short and engaging videos. Users of MOKI can craft a range of content from simple animated clips to web dramas, illustrated storybooks for kids, or romantic videos for loved ones.

MOKI’s intuitive user interface means this is software that requires no professional expertise. A robust library of templates and material makes it possible for users to select and customize elements. MOKI also offers comprehensive tutorials and information to troubleshoot any issues encountered in the creative journey.

Pre-production

With just a simple text description, MOKI can automatically generate a storyboard and visuals. We gave MOKI the following story to test its powers:

“In a small town, a young librarian named Ike stumbles upon an ancient magic book containing a forgotten spell. As he reads it, time in the town freezes, leaving Ike the only one unaffected. To restore time, he embarks on a thrilling adventure filled with danger and riddles. In the end, Ike not only breaks the spell but also discovers his true courage and mission, becoming the town’s protector.”

MOKI’s storyboard is ready in about 30 seconds. Then it’s up to the user to select a video style (such as Chinese cartoon or 3D animation), the tone of narration, and the screen ratio before proceeding to preview the pre-generated content.

Narration styles offered by MOKI range from youthful and energetic to warm and gentle. Your narrator could be a wise elder or a cute young boy. Your film could be produced in landscape (16:9) or portrait (9:16).

Content generation

During this stage, the story can be refined with details of each scene tweaked and characters assigned to every frame. In addition to AI-generated characters, MOKI allows for custom characters if users upload a frontal image as a reference. AI-powered customization is also available for adjusting characters’ clothing, hairstyles, and other visual elements.

Post-production

At the final stage, MOKI’s interface mimics a simplified video editing tool, complete with a timeline for both image and audio tracks. It excels in AI-powered dubbing, offering a variety of voice styles to enhance the final video. Users can also choose background music from a wide selection of moods such as grand, cute, sentimental, intense, eerie, or futuristic electronic.

For visual effects, users can adjust camera movements, adding simple transitions like horizontal shifts or zoom-ins, similar to PowerPoint effects. Text inputs can also be used to generate additional content with AI.

Generating the final video took our test team around 3 minutes. However, we were bemused that the tool didn’t accurately reflect key elements of our script, such as the key moment when “time in the small town seems to stop,” a major plot point. For what it’s worth, you can view the final video here： https://weibo.com/1878726905/OC5awr91L

Conclusion

Overall, MOKI is a promising AI tool that lowers the barrier to entry for video creation, making the fun pursuit accessible to more users. While it’s a great option for those looking for speed and simplicity, there’s room for improvement. We hope to see better image quality, more style options, and support for longer videos in future updates. Additionally, integrating MOKI with other creative tools would give users a more comprehensive solution to their video-making needs. And it would be great if MOKI could stick to the script.

Pros

• Simple, fast, and user-friendly 

• Highly customizable with a range of options

Cons

• Details like facial expressions and actions can appear blurry or inaccurate

• Lacks support for importing custom background music during post-production

• Currently only available on the web

• Limited sharing options for finished videos

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Kunlun Tech recently launched Melodio, which claims to be the world’s first AI-generated music streaming platform. On Melodio, you can input prompts based on your current mood, and the system will continuously generate customized music to match the specified style. So, how does the experience of the Melodio app hold up? Let’s dive in.

User interface

Melodio’s interface design is simple and intuitive, with the main functions easy to navigate and smooth overall operation. The home screen is the music player, where the background’s wave visualization changes color, making the listening experience more immersive. At the bottom is a music description panel, and when swiping to the far right card, you’ll find the lyrics. On the far left is a music discovery area, where you can easily find music to listen to. The top-left corner houses the “My” section, where you can browse your saved and favorite tracks anytime. The app doesn’t offer settings or other similar options, making it extremely minimalist.

User experience

All you need to do is enter keywords into the search bar, and the app’s AI will quickly generate a song that matches the description.

It’s worth noting that while it supports Chinese-language prompts, we could only hear music when using individual Chinese words in testing. When we inputted combined Chinese descriptive phrases, the system didn’t respond. For example, entering “hard rock, Linkin Park style” in Chinese resulted in no output.

We then tried using simple English descriptions, such as “happy” and “Winter Cabin Escape with Metal Essentials,” both successfully generated music that fitted the described atmosphere.

It’s important to mention that, in some cases, the AI-generated music may sound repetitive or disconnected, which can slightly affect the listening experience.

Conclusion

Overall, Melodio is a promising AI music app. If you’re a music lover or want to experience AI’s new approach to music creation, Melodio is worth a try. However, its current features are still somewhat incomplete, and we hope to see improvements in the future.

Pros:

• Listen to any style of music you want

Cons:

• Interface does not yet support Chinese

• Poor recognition of Chinese descriptions

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

The name Zhumengdao evokes a sense of wonder and fantasy upon hearing it. As the name suggests, the app has a rich character setting and immersive interactive experiences.

According to the official introduction, the “Dream Companion” feature in the Zhumengdao App is not just a simple virtual character, but a character created by the user with a unique identity, personality, and interests to act as the user’s virtual reading partner. This feature gives the user-created dream character a high degree of openness, allowing the user to customize a unique identity based on their likes, interests, and imagination.

The fun of conversations

The biggest highlight of Zhumengdao lies in its ability to allow users to engage in deep conversations with AI virtual characters. Taking the “Coaxing simulator” as an example to try out the dialog, you just need to appease the character. Every response from the simulator will count towards their “Forgiveness Value”, and you will pass the test once you reach a value of 100.

In addition, you can invite two characters other than yourself to chat and set the relationship between the characters. You must manually trigger the character to speak to chat in the chatroom. You can watch them interact without saying a word or join in to create endless possibilities through all sorts of combinations.

Mini-play

The mini-play feature adds more backstory and personality traits to the virtual characters. Through reading mini-plays, you can gain a deeper understanding of these characters. Taking the “Mid-Autumn Bunny Lantern” experience as an example, the mini-play scenarios in the app immerse you into the story with the option of autoplay, and the addition of background music enhances the overall experience.

Dream collection

Every conversation you have with a virtual character can be saved and turned into a precious memory. You can revisit these dream scenarios anytime to relieve those beautiful moments. In the “Chat” and “Activity” pages you can browse the chat history and dream history records.

Looking forward to more possibilities

Of course, there is still room for improvement in Zhumengdao. For example, some of the virtual characters’ dialogue is still relatively fixed, lacking the element of randomness and flexibility. Additionally, Zhumengdao has the potential to add a wider variety of virtual characters to satisfy different requirements of different users.

Conclusion

Zhumengdao is a highly promising AI interactive product. It offers users a platform to engage in deep exchanges with virtual characters, enriching our social experiences. When you do not feel like reading novels or scrolling through short videos, you can try interacting with the virtual characters on Zhumengdao.

Highlights

–   Wide selection of virtual characters

–   Great mini-play experiences

Shortcomings

–   Some virtual characters’ dialogue modes lack flexibility

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

At the 2024 INCLUSION in Shanghai, Ant Group unveiled its independent AI app, Zhixiaobao.   Developed based on Ant’s Bailing large language model, this new AI lifestyle assistant is integrated with Alipay, offering quick services like booking tickets, ordering food, accessing public transit codes, and finding nearby activities through conversational interactions.

The app’s introduction graphic highlights its slogan, “Your AI Life Companion.”  But does it live up to that promise?  Here are our ideas.

Features and User Experience

Zhixiaobao’s user interface adopts Alipay’s signature blue theme but with a lighter tone. The interface is simple, featuring a standard chat window layout. The main menu is divided into three sections: “Current,” “Chat,” and “Intelligent Agents.”

The “Current” section displays cards with immediate needs like weather, package status, food pickup numbers, or ride-hailing updates. The “Intelligent Agents” section contains various AI assistants across domains such as airlines, cultural guides, nutritionists, fitness coaches, relationship experts, and personality tests. Over time, the number of these assistants is expected to increase. During the test, this section primarily showed weather and package information, and tapping on a card launched the related mini-program service.

In some situations where the AI reads content (e.g., 5-minute news summaries), users can choose between male and female voices.

At present, Zhixiaobao only supports Alipay login, and it prompts users to enable service shortcuts. If enabled, the platform will share personal and order information with third-party services as necessary.

On the left side of the input bar, there’s a “Quick Commands” button, which includes frequently used commands like weather updates, news, monthly expenses, and finding shared bikes. For instance, when we selected “Help me find a nearby bike,” the service provider was HelloBike. You can scan a code to ride the bike directly from the chat window or click the service card arrow to access the corresponding Alipay mini-program for further actions.

We asked Zhixiaobao a few questions about the weather and Black Myth: Wukong, and they provided fairly satisfactory responses. Some of the solutions offered by the AI agents also met expectations.

It’s worth noting that Zhixiaobao is described as an “AI life assistant” initially, which means it primarily focuses on providing practical, everyday services. However, features that TechNode typically tests in an AI tool, such as multimodal capabilities like text-to-image generation, are beyond Zhixiaobao’s capabilities.

Summarize

Zhixiaobao, as an AI life assistant product that operates independently of the main Alipay app (though it can also be accessed within Alipay), has indeed achieved the goal of “providing certain life services” at this stage. In the same chat window, it can read the news for you, remind you of the weather, help you book a ride with one click, recommend great hotpot places, and even plan a night CityWalk route for you.

However, the quick services Zhixiaobao offers are currently all part of Alibaba’s ecosystem. You won’t find services from Tencent-related companies (for example, you can’t track JD.com deliveries). The reasons behind this “invisible wall” are well understood by everyone. Therefore, Zhixiaobao has yet to achieve the status of a truly all-in-one AI life assistant.

Highlights:

• Fresh interface, easy to use

Drawbacks:

• Functions need improvement; sometimes they give irrelevant answers
• Still can’t fully deliver an “all-in-one AI service” experience

The deployment of foundation models in various industries signifies a transformative shift, but it is not about introducing a single, powerful solution to replace existing workflows. 

Instead, this era of AI agents involves a nuanced and iterative process of aligning technology with engineering practices and market needs. On Thursday, founders of two Chinese AI unicorns, BaichuanAI and MiniMax, joined a forum with the president of Ant Group to discuss deploying foundation models for industries at the 2024 INCLUSION·Conference on the Bund in Shanghai.

After LLM

Baichuan AI has chosen healthcare as its focus for deploying AI models. Headquartered in Beijing, the company is valued at over RMB 20 billion and has received support from major players in China’s technology sector and investment funds from several local governments.

Founder Wang Xiaochuan noted that Baichuan AI is approaching the health sector via two main groups, pediatricians and general practitioners. The company aims to achieve low-cost and accessible healthcare by next year, and to alleviate hospital congestion.

“Creating super applications is not just a technical challenge; it also requires a collaborative development process with the industry,” Wang said. Public reports reveal that Baichuan AI has enlisted experts above the deputy chief physician level from 100 top hospitals to annotate data for its AI model, with the aim of enhancing the model’s accuracy and reliability.

In a separate keynote speech, renowned computer scientist Harry Shum echoed a similar sentiment: “The advent of the AI agent era will not involve a magical, all-powerful model suddenly replacing all workflows. Instead, it will be about the ongoing refinement and integration of technology, engineering, and market demands, ultimately delivering services that exceed human expectations.”

In a panel discussion on the same day, Peng Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Ant International and Senior Vice President of Ant Group, highlighted that over 70 countries have begun adopting open banking, with increasing reliance on AI to support this transition. In this context, he emphasized that privacy-preserving computing can break data silos, enabling businesses to collaborate without sharing raw data. This fosters the development of new business models and enhances customer service both domestically and internationally, making his view particularly relevant as AI becomes integral to open banking efforts.

Future trends

Since OpenAI released several Sora-generated AI video demos earlier this year, there has been a surge in investment in text-to-video technology. Last week, the Chinese AI startup MiniMax also launched a Sora-like tool video-1, becoming the latest tech company in the country to enter the sector.

While AI model applications are a prominent trend, a key issue becomes increasingly clear: the speed of innovation in applications depends on whether the underlying technology is solid and robust.

At the forum, MiniMax founder and CEO Yan Junjie emphasized his current focus on pushing the boundaries of AI through technological optimization. He stated that if the model’s error rate can be reduced to single digits, it would be considered reliable, allowing AI to evolve from an assistant into a productivity tool. 

“This shift could lead to genuinely mainstream products and drive fundamental changes in the industry,” Yan added.

On the same day, Ant Group’s Alipay launched an independent app called Zhixiaobao, an AI-powered assistant that connects to Alipay’s lifestyle service ecosystem and can quickly book tickets, order food, hail a cab, and find nearby dining and entertainment options.

Ant Group President and CFO Cyril Han summarized the goal of AI model-powered products as being “easy to use, useful, and affordable.”

Emphasizing the second of these three goals, Han added that if users mention that the AI lifestyle assistant is useful, “I think that would be even more meaningful.”

In a groundbreaking shift, China’s automotive sector has evolved from a conventional manufacturing hub to a digital innovation pioneer. This transformation is redefining vehicle design, manufacturing processes, and their seamless integration into the expanding digital ecosystem. At the premiere TechNode BUZZ event on September 4th, Bill Russo, Founder & CEO of Automobility Ltd., shared his expert insights into China’s EV industry. Dive into the keynote address by Bill Russo through our featured video.

Key Highlights: 

• “China has now 32% of the world’s automobile production coming from virtually nothing in 1990.  So that’s what’s happened in those 40 years is China has become one-third of every car made in the world with the capacity to produce half of the cars in the world.”

• “This is what Henry Ford taught us over 100 years ago.  If you can scale and mass produce the car, you can make it affordable.  If you can scale and mass produce the EV, you can make it affordable.  Nowhere else does that happen other than here.”

• “Their DNA is the car isn’t just an analog device driven by a driver. I don’t just sell to the driver. I sell to every set of eyeballs in that car. And it’s a data aggregator at scale. I can collect information about the movement, I can stream information, can create a moving living experience. The car becomes a living space, not just a conveyance device, right? That’s what the Internet economy is trying to do.”

• Discover More by Watching Our Video!

Conclusion:

China’s automotive industry stands at the cutting edge of a digital revolution, reimagining the future of mobility.  The convergence of EV technology, smart devices, and digital services is revolutionizing vehicle production and usage in China and setting a precedent for global industry transformation.  As the world increasingly adopts sustainable and interconnected transportation solutions, China’s pioneering role is poised to significantly influence the trajectory of automotive technology and consumer experiences worldwide.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Icebin and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Car design, a task that has always been done manually — whether sketching, molding clay, or digital rendering — is gradually feeling the impact of AI and is set to undergo a fundamental transformation. Machine learning models can not only predict the appeal of new aesthetics but also generate attractive designs of their own. After being trained with large models, AI programs can run on standard enterprise laptops. AI models not only help designers work more efficiently but also generate new creative designs.

In the summer of 2000, General Motors introduced the Aztek, a crossover SUV that, despite having multiple features desired by outdoor enthusiasts, was heavily criticized for its appearance and often mocked as one of the ugliest cars ever made. The Aztek’s sales were only half that of the Buick Rendezvous, which was built on the same platform but redesigned and relaunched as the Buick Enclave, achieving success.

To avoid releasing the next Aztek, automakers are investing heavily in using AI to predict and generate attractive models. 

Using AI to Predict and Generate Attractive Designs

Traditional theme clinics cost $100,000 a time, but with machine learning and deep neural networks, predictive models can significantly reduce the number of designs that need to be tested in these clinics. AI generative models create new car designs based on designers’ prompts, while predictive models can forecast consumer reactions to the designs.

As John R. Hauser, a professor of marketing at MIT Sloan School of Management, has said, the design of a car indeed has a significant impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. With the advancement of AI technology, automakers can develop attractive models that meet market demand more efficiently and economically. By leveraging AI, automakers can maintain high design quality while significantly reducing design costs. For example, the design investment for a typical model may exceed $1 billion, and a major redesign could cost up to $3 billion. With AI assistance, these costs are expected to be greatly reduced.

AI has achieved a successful closed loop in automotive design

Data analysis and consumer preferences

AI can analyze vast consumer data, including purchase history, market trends, and social media feedback, to understand consumer preferences and needs. This data can help designers make more informed decisions when designing new models.

Generating design sketches

Deep learning-based image generation technologies (such as GANs) can produce numerous design sketches, helping designers explore different design options quickly. This allows the design team to gain more creativity and inspiration in the early stages.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

Combined with VR and AR technologies, AI can create virtual car models for designers and customers to view and interact with in a virtual environment. This saves the cost of manufacturing physical prototypes and accelerates the design review and modification process.

Optimizing the design process

AI can optimize various stages of the design process, from material selection to aerodynamic analysis. AI algorithms can quickly simulate and evaluate the performance of different design options, helping designers make more efficient and accurate decisions.

User personalization

AI can also be used for personalized customization services, providing tailored design solutions and configuration options based on users’ specific needs and preferences. This not only improves user satisfaction but also enhances the brand’s competitiveness.

Toyota applies generative AI technology to automotive design

The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has introduced generative AI technology to enhance the capabilities of automotive designers. This technology combines Toyota’s engineering strengths with the advanced functionalities of modern generative AI, allowing designers to reduce the number of iterations based on initial design sketches and engineering constraints. This technology not only inspires designers but also integrates practical engineering and safety considerations into the design process.

1. Incorporating engineering constraints into the design process

TRI’s new technology incorporates precise engineering constraints into the design process, such as aerodynamic drag and chassis dimensions. Drag impacts fuel efficiency, while chassis dimensions (like ride height and cabin size) affect handling, ergonomics, and safety. These engineering constraints can now be implicitly included in the generative AI process, enabling designers to optimize performance metrics while considering stylistic attributes.

2. Enhancing designers’ creative capabilities

The new generative AI technology allows designers to request a set of designs based on initial prototype sketches through text prompts, with specific stylistic attributes such as “stylish,” “SUV-like,” and “modern,” while also optimizing quantitative performance metrics. By reducing the number of iterations needed to align design and engineering considerations, this technology helps designers complete designs faster and more efficiently.

3. Improving electric vehicle design efficiency

By directly incorporating engineering constraints into the design process, TRI’s new tools help Toyota design electric vehicles faster and more efficiently. Takero Kato, President of Toyota’s BEV Factory, stated, “Reducing drag is crucial for improving the aerodynamic performance of BEVs and maximizing their range.” This technology enhances the range and overall design efficiency of electric vehicles by optimizing aerodynamic performance.

GAC’s breakthroughs and innovations in AI automotive design

1. AI-driven design optimization

GAC Group has made significant breakthroughs in AI automotive design, particularly in design optimization. By utilizing artificial intelligence technology, GAC can quickly generate and evaluate multiple design options. This not only accelerates the design process but also ensures that each design achieves optimal aesthetics and functionality. AI models can analyze vast amounts of data to predict market trends and consumer preferences, helping designers make more informed decisions.

2. Intelligent design assistance system

GAC has developed an intelligent design assistance system that combines machine learning and computer vision technology. Designers need only input basic parameters and design requirements, and the system can generate multiple design sketches that meet these criteria. These sketches not only include exterior designs but also consider factors such as aerodynamics, material usage, and manufacturing costs. This intelligent assistance system greatly improves design efficiency and quality.

3. Application of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies

To further enhance the design experience, GAC has also integrated virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies into the design process. Designers can view and modify car designs in a virtual environment, and customers can preview customized models through AR technology. This immersive experience not only enhances the intuitiveness of the design but also speeds up the design review and modification process, giving GAC an advantage in a highly competitive market.

In conclusion, the integration of AI in car design is ushering in a new era of innovation and efficiency. By leveraging machine learning models, automakers can predict consumer preferences and generate aesthetically pleasing designs more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional methods. These advancements not only enhance creative capabilities but also optimize design efficiency, ensuring that new models meet both aesthetic and functional standards. As AI continues to evolve, its role in automotive design will likely expand, enabling automakers to produce cutting-edge vehicles that resonate with consumers and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Baidu recently launched an AI digital human social app called Wen Xiao Yan, which is based on the ERNIE Bot. It is an AI application service for “real-time communication, interaction, and establishing emotional connections” with AI virtual characters. According to the official statement, Wen Xiao Yan uses a simulated digital human as an “AI social object” with a vivid personality, making interactions “more realistic.” 

TechNode has trialed the app; the below is our review.

Interface and features

The interface of the app is straightforward, mainly divided into two sections: “Chat” and “Discover”. Users can swipe up and down in the “Discover” section to find their favorite digital human chat partners. Each digital human has its own avatar, nickname, and profile, and users can choose according to their interests and hobbies. You can enter the chat interface after clicking on the digital human’s avatar.

The app provides a variety of digital humans for users to interact with, and their nicknames are mostly named in the form of profession, personality or characteristics with names such as “an uncle who loves fishing,” “a psychological counselor,” “a love strategist,” “a fitness coach,” “a TV drama fan,” and so on. 

It is currently unclear whether new digital humans will be periodically added for users to experience.

In the chat interface, users can interact with the digital humans in three forms: text, voice, and pictures. The digital human will reply in the form of voice and text. The expressions and demeanor of these digital humans are a bit “unnatural” however, for example occasionally shaking their heads left and right, which is a bit scary.

User experience

We asked the series of questions in the app and the digital humans all gave relatively satisfactory answers. However, when uploading a picture and asking which channels the item can be purchased via, the digital human only replied with generic rhetoric and did not provide a purchase link or product example (in contrast, uploading a picture of an object on Taobao can directly open a product link with an item of the same or similar appearance). 

When the digital human reads its answers, their mouth shape does not correspond strictly to the words being spoken, and it feels very abrupt when you look closely.

The feeling of communicating with a digital human in the chat interface is still quite different from making a video call with a real person at this stage.

Similarly, the answers provided by the digital human are sometimes too mechanical, lack flexibility, and the voice sounds very “robotic.”

Summary

At present, Wen Xiao Yan is an AI digital human app worth experiencing for a few minutes. It can meet a small part of your social needs. The advantages include a fresh and fun experience, with the AI acting as a life assistant similar to a real person, providing helpful interactions. 

However, there are also disadvantages: it can become boring once the initial novelty wears off, the expressions and demeanor of the digital human can feel unnatural, and there is no support for creating a personalized digital human.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Evan Huang and translated by Zinan Zhang.

In the dynamic AI era, venture capital is increasingly attuned to the transformative potential of this technology. As generative AI advances in creating text, images, and videos, a plethora of opportunities and challenges are emerging. This article explores the pivotal role of the Scaling Law, the emergence of super apps, and the promising future of AI-driven innovations. Highlighting insights from industry leaders, it underscores the potential for AI to revolutionize various sectors and entrepreneurial ventures, providing valuable directions for future venture capital investments.

The utility of the Scaling Law

The training and inference stages of large models demand substantial computational resources. The Scaling Law suggests that significant advancements in intelligence are achieved through consistent investment in vast amounts of data and powerful computing, provided the algorithmic architecture remains stable.

OpenAI, a strong proponent of the Scaling Law, has showcased the potential of generative AI across various fields by leveraging transformer architecture, extensive training data, and considerable computational resources.

Recently, Kevin Scott, Microsoft CTO, mentioned in an interview with Pat Grady and Bill Coughran of Sequoia Capital that they have yet to observe diminishing returns from scaling. He announced that the next generation of OpenAI models would soon be available, offering cheaper, more powerful solutions capable of tackling more complex problems. “This is the story with each generation of models as we scale up,” he remarked.

On May 18, Yang Zhilin, founder of Moonshot AI, discussed the computational aspects of the Scaling Law. He noted that initial improvements in model performance are driven by enhanced computational power and efficiency. However, further advancements require increased computational investment and ensuring that this investment effectively translates into intelligence. “This involves two issues: sustaining computational investment and maximizing the intelligence output of each computation unit,” he explained.

In an interview with TechNode, Wu Yunsheng, vice-president of Tencent Cloud, shared his perspective. “Currently, there are different viewpoints, including realistic and idealistic views. Some believe the Scaling Law has reached a plateau, where continued investment yields diminishing returns. Others argue it is still in a phase of rapid development.” He emphasized that the Scaling Law remains significant, citing rapid progress in multimodal research over the past year. “In this field, various capabilities improve significantly with added data or computing power. We will continue to explore and observe its development and changes across different scenarios and technologies,” he added.

The super app is on the way

As of March 28, 2024, there are 117 large models registered with the Cyberspace Administration of China, including Baidu’s ERNIE Bot, Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen, and the open-source ChatGLM. The rapid development of AI large models is becoming a key driver of innovation and breakthroughs in super applications. 

As these large model technologies mature and improve, they are gradually permeating various industries, sparking a range of entrepreneurial opportunities. From healthcare to fintech, from smart manufacturing to cultural creativity, the application potential of AI is limitless. 

Zhou Zhifeng, Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, pointed out at the  World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai that compared to the timeline of application deployment during the internet wave, he predicts that the explosion of applications in the current AI wave will occur significantly earlier. Currently, generative AI is gaining substantial user favor in three “C fields” — Copilot, Creativity, and Companionship — showing a development trajectory similar to internet applications and transitioning from efficiency-enhancing applications to those aimed at providing enjoyment. He noted that the internet reduced the marginal cost of information distribution to almost zero, while the core of generative AI is to reduce the marginal cost of digital content creation to nearly zero, indicating that AI technology is bound to release enormous value.

When discussing the future of AI-driven super apps, Zhang Fan, COO of Zhipu AI, expressed optimism, arguing that although creating super apps is not easy, the AI era will see many unimaginable applications emerge. This process requires advancements in computing power, networks, hardware levels, and user habits, following the principle of gradual development from small-scale applications. Zhang emphasizes that by embracing and utilizing existing AI technologies to gradually transform current applications and products, the future will undoubtedly usher in super apps in the AI era.

Regarding the challenges of implementing generative AI applications, Zhou Zhifeng believes that reducing the cost of model usage necessary for the widespread adoption of generative AI, improving the effectiveness of large models, and enhancing user retention rates of generative AI applications are crucial. Since the growth period from zero to one for generative AI application companies is longer than in other fields, they need to overcome both TPF (Technology-Product Fit) and PMF (Product-Market Fit) challenges simultaneously. Therefore, the founding team needs greater patience, determination, and understanding of the technology, the product, and the world.

Embodied intelligence, infinite imagination

There were 45 intelligent robots, including 25 humanoid robots, showcased at WAIC this year. A video of a humanoid robot walking on the Great Wall was repeatedly played at the event. The humanoid robot L2 in the video has successfully conquered the steep slopes of the famous structure, achieving steady walking on it.

At the recent Huawei Developer Conference 2024, Zhang Ping’an, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei Cloud, unveiled the Pangu Model 5.0. During the introduction of the Pangu model for embodied AI, he showcased the broad potential of the KUAVO humanoid robot, equipped with the Pangu model, in both industrial and household scenarios, attracting widespread attention.

Chen Jianyu, an assistant professor at Tsinghua University and founder of the humanoid robot company Robot Era, believes that humanoid robots will be the ultimate form of general-purpose robots. This is not only because the pure humanoid form with two legs and two arms is more compatible with existing environments, but also because it’s easier to transfer training data from the human world. Technically, an end-to-end integration of the brain and cerebellum will be a crucial research direction in the future. Using human language as the interface between the brain and cerebellum is limited, and it is better to borrow from the end-to-end joint training process of autonomous driving, where physical layer data is directly fed back to the text and image models, significantly enhancing overall model performance.

Last week, Tencent, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, released the Top Ten Trends of Large Models 2024: Entering the Era of ‘Machine External Brain’ report, which pointed out that the combination of robot technology and large models provides a “body” for the machine’s external brain. In the future, humanoid robots will not only be able to perform physical tasks but also interact with humans more naturally and intuitively, endowing physical products with intelligent “brains”.

The report states that the development of humanoid robots relies on two major technical pillars: motion control and task training. The application of large models has greatly improved the robots’ learning efficiency and ability to execute complex tasks. The integration of these technologies not only drives technological innovation in humanoid robots but also opens possibilities for their widespread deployment in practical applications. This also heralds a future of human-machine symbiosis, where humanoid robots will play increasingly important roles in various industries, from household services to high-risk industrial operations, showcasing their efficiency and safety. Through continuous technological innovation and application expansion, humanoid robots will play a key role in improving the quality of life and work efficiency, further integrating into human daily life as indispensable assistants and the ultimate carriers of artificial intelligence.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the era of AI is not just a technological revolution but a transformative force that is redefining the landscape of innovation and investment. As we look to the future, the challenges of implementing generative AI applications remain significant.      The need to reduce costs, improve effectiveness, and enhance user retention rates is crucial for the widespread adoption of these technologies. However, the potential rewards are immense, offering a glimpse into a world where AI is not just a tool but an integral part of our daily lives, from household services to high-risk industrial operations.

In summary, the dynamic AI era presents a wealth of opportunities for venture capital and entrepreneurial ventures. As we continue to explore and invest in AI-driven innovations, the future holds huge promise for transforming industries, enhancing human-machine interactions, and ultimately, improving the quality of life for all.

In 2024, BEYOND Expo centered on the theme “Embracing the Uncertainties,” guiding attendees to explore unknown territories in technology and other areas. BEYOND Expo encouraged participants to take proactive actions, through continuous innovation, creative thinking, and exploration of new paths to face unknown challenges and turn potential risks into opportunities for progress and growth.

Building on this concept, the BEYOND Expo Organizing Committee is pleased to announce that BEYOND Expo 2025 will be held from May 21 to 24, 2025, at the Venetian Macao Cotai Expo in Macao, under the theme “Unveiling Possibilities”. The event aims to transform uncertainties into infinite possibilities and opportunities, offering participants an unprecedented experience:

• Three Major Independent Exhibition Areas: ConsumerTech, ClimateTech, and Healthcare
• Opening/Closing Ceremonies and Industry Summits: Key events include the ConsumerTech Summit, ClimateTech Summit, Healthcare Summit, and Global Investment Summit. Additionally, the event will expand its global perspective by providing opportunities for international market exploration, with forums such as the Asia-Latam Tech Forum, Asia-Euro Tech Forum, and Middle East Tech Forum, as well as specialized summits such as the BEYOND Wealth Summit, SheTech Summit, and Founder Forum.
• FUND AT FIRST PITCH: A platform for efficient connection between global capital and outstanding startups.
• BEYOND Awards: Prestigious technology awards across four categories, highlighting future-leading innovations.
• TFC (The Fun Continues) Series Activities: A blend of technology, culture, and sports for a celebratory experience.

BEYOND Expo will provide a venue for participants to exchange ideas, build connections, and discover new opportunities. BEYOND Expo 2025 anticipates attracting over 1,200 exhibiting companies, more than 30,000 technology innovation enthusiasts, 300 global top innovation leaders, 300 global media representatives, and numerous international innovators. BEYOND Expo encourages participants to go beyond tradition, explore the unknown, and use technological innovation to address global challenges, promoting sustainable social and economic development.

BEYOND Expo cordially invites all innovative companies, startups, and individuals to join BEYOND Expo 2025 to explore the limitless possibilities of technology and create a better future together.

• Reserve Early Bird booth for BEYOND Expo 2025 here
• To register Super Early Bird passes for BEYOND Expo 2025, click here
• For business collaboration, contact: BD@beyondexpo.com

Further Details about BEYOND Expo 2025:

Over the past four years, BEYOND Expo has focused on three sub-brands: ConsumerTech, ClimateTech, and Healthcare. BEYOND Expo 2024 set new records with over 820 participating companies, 40% of which were international exhibitors. The event saw more than 20,000 attendees, with over 35% being international visitors and over 30% being women. More than 160 forums were held, featuring over 250 speakers, half of whom were from overseas. Additionally, 200 media outlets from around the world participated, achieving comprehensive internationalization.

Three Core Exhibition Areas: Experiencing Cutting-Edge Technology and Innovation

BEYOND Expo 2025 will continue to focus on the three sub-brands. The event is expected to attract over 1,200 technology companies from around the globe, with international companies making up 40% of exhibitors. Participants will have the chance to experience the latest technological products up close, from smart wearables and medical health innovations to sustainable energy solutions. The exhibition areas at BEYOND Expo 2025 will serve as a springboard for companies to expand into global markets, seizing globalization opportunities and enhancing their brand influence worldwide.

Opening and Closing Ceremonies, on top of BEYOND’s legendary Summits

The opening ceremony, featuring distinguished guests and deep industry insights, is a major event in the tech world. BEYOND Expo 2025, themed “What’s Next,” will gather influential industry leaders to analyze how technology drives industry transformation and innovation. The closing ceremony, a grand event blending technology, culture, sports, and entertainment, will include the FUND AT FIRST PITCH finals, the BEYOND AWARDS ceremony, and keynote talks. The four major summits include the ConsumerTech Summit, ClimateTech Summit, Healthcare Summit, and Global Investment Summit, designed to provoke insightful discussions and catalyze groundbreaking innovations.

Series of Multidimensional Summit Forums Covering Different Regions and Themes

Within the wider series of forums, the Asia-Latam Tech Forum, Asia-Euro Tech Forum, and ORIGIN: Asia Tech Forum will spotlight regional tech ecosystems. BEYOND SheTech will showcase global female innovation power, while the BEYOND Wealth Summit will delve into cutting-edge trends in global wealth management. The Founder Forum will feature narratives from Asian tech entrepreneurs, offering participants opportunities to broaden their global perspectives and explore international markets.

FUND AT FIRST PITCH: Igniting Innovation Passion, Efficient Capital and Startup Matching

FUND AT FIRST PITCH is a professional platform designed for entrepreneurs and investors, providing an efficient and strategic communication bridge. Entrepreneurs can showcase their business plans, technological advantages, and market potential, while investors can discover emerging market investment opportunities. BEYOND Expo 2024’s FUND AT FIRST PITCH attracted over 150 companies and 100 investment institutions, resulting in over 50 successful matches. BEYOND Expo 2025 aims to expand this platform’s scale and influence, attracting more enterprises and investors.

BEYOND Awards: Pinnacle of Technological Innovation, Leading Future Forces

The BEYOND Awards feature four major honors: ConsumerTech Innovation Award, ClimateTech Innovation Award, Healthcare Innovation Award, and Impact Award. These awards, evaluated by the BEYOND Awards Committee, recognize global innovation technologies and companies across multiple dimensions. The award ceremony will take place at the closing ceremony, celebrating the achievements of the winners and showcasing the unlimited potential of technological innovation.

The Fun Continues: A Symphony of Technology, Culture, and Sports

BEYOND Expo 2025 is not just a tech feast but a celebration of the fusion of technology and culture. In BEYOND Expo 2024, participants enjoyed a variety of activities, including food market, yoga session, gala dinner, charity poker night, pool party, NBA 3V3 tournament, and more. BEYOND Expo 2025 will bring even more innovative parties and activities, allowing participants to experience the unique charm of Macao while enjoying an international carnival.

As a key hub for Asian technological innovation, BEYOND Expo 2025 aims to drive regional cooperation and mutual benefit. Leveraging Macao’s geographical advantages and cultural appeal, BEYOND Expo 2025 will connect innovative forces from different countries and regions, providing a platform to explore the unlimited potential of Asian technological innovation and achieve broader influence.

See you in Macao in May 2025!

For more information about BEYOND Expo 2025, please visit www.beyondexpo.com.

TechNode is thrilled to announce the BEYOND Expo x TechNode Networking Night: Thailand Edition will be held on August 7, 2024, at Medinii Sky Restaurant & Bar, 35th Floor, Bangkok. This casual event, organized by TNGlobal and supported by Techsauce Global Summit, promises an evening of networking, knowledge sharing, and innovation to bring together tech enthusiasts, industry experts, entrepreneurs, and innovators from across Thailand and beyond.

This event aims to strengthen Thailand’s tech community by fostering relationships and collaborations that drive innovation forward. Jason Ho, Co-Founder of BEYOND Expo, and Dr. Gang Lu, CEO & Founder of TechNode.com & Co-Founder of BEYOND Expo, will join us to share unique insights and perspectives on the latest trends and developments in the tech ecosystem, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia. You’ll have the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals, potential collaborators, and industry leaders in a relaxed and informal setting.

Your Presence Will Make the Difference:

Whether you are a seasoned professional or just beginning your journey in the tech world, this meet-up is the perfect opportunity to expand your network, gain fresh perspectives, and be inspired by the vibrant tech community.

Other Event Details:

Time: August 7, 2024, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Address: 35th Floor, 413 Sukhumvit Klongtoey Nua, Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand (located at The Continent Hotel Sukhumvit / Asok BTS Bangkok by Compass Hospitality)
Food and Drinks: Provided
Networking Tip: Don’t forget your business card!

How to Join the Movement:

Limited slots are available. Secure your spot now by clicking here to register. You will receive a reminder and confirmation 3 days prior to the event once your registration has been confirmed. Follow our social media for the latest news and announcements.

We look forward to seeing you there! Join us for an unforgettable night of inspiration, collaboration, and innovation. Don’t miss the chance to be part of a community that’s shaping the future of technology in Southeast Asia.

On Thursday, global investment leaders gathered at BEYOND EXPO’s Global Investment Summit in Macao, offering a comprehensive exploration of pivotal themes, shaping the future of investment amid the current complex and evolving financial landscape.

Artificial Intelligence is undoubtedly the star of this summit. Investors shared how the buzz around the promising technology is revolutionizing investment paradigms, and how geopolitical tensions are impacting the expansion of AI companies and global data governance.

David Beckham, Sands Global Ambassador, also joined the Summit to share his business insights. “I’ve always thought that the best businesses that we have are the authentic ones,” he said, adding that he would never get into something that he didn’t believe in.

Attract users with market-fit AI products

Creating a product that fits the market is the ultimate goal that any entrepreneur or company must achieve, and this also applies to companies focused on building a sustainable AI business.

When talking about the shift in investment strategies in the AI era, Harry Man from Matrix Partners China, and Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund both mentioned that while they acknowledge mergers and acquisitions as a viable exit strategy, they still aim to invest in companies with unicorn potential to achieve greater returns through IPOs.

“I guess all of us are early stage venture capitalists, right? We all like to shoot for the moon. We want to invest in the biggest idea that eventually goes on to an IPO. And that’s how we make money,” said Harry.

However, many AI application companies are currently being overvalued amid the hype, which was the consensus among guests at the Summit.

De-risking or global collaboration? 

There’s no doubt that geopolitical tensions are exacerbating the technology decoupling between China and the US markets. However, most startups remain focused on the local market, limiting the impact of these geopolitical issues.

The US is in the process of restricting China’s access to American companies’ AI cloud services from overseas and advanced chips. But according to Esther Wong, the founder and CIO of 3Capital, while China may lag behind the US in cutting-edge AI models and algorithms, it can leverage its market size for operational excellence.

Panelists agreed that AI startups aiming for the global market may need to choose between the Chinese and US markets in the future.

Despite tensions, global collaboration is still ongoing in areas like open-source AI models and data governance. “Regulation of data and data flow is beyond the control of any single entity. Tt requires global collaboration to implement proper data control and regulation,” Wong noted.

What to evaluate when investing in emerging markets?

Investing in emerging markets was also a hot topic on Thursday’s panels. Betting on these markets requires multifaceted considerations, as factors such as political stability, regulations, and investor protections are crucial risks to evaluate.

“So there are actually factors that are more at a political and regulatory level. And then there are also more local cultural practices,” said Akio Tanaka, a Partner at the global venture capital firm Headline.

Roderick Purwana, who serves as a Managing Partner at East Ventures, mentioned during the Summit that Indonesia is set to have a new president in October. “I think the government has been relatively supportive, I guess, of the tech ecosystem in Indonesia, making it easier to anticipate their plans and actions.”

Meanwhile, investment organizations are increasingly focusing on ESG issues. However, emerging markets often lack strict environmental regulations. William Mimassi Pedroso, a Partner at Latin America’s Monashees, emphasized that gender diversity and data protection, including personal data protection, are important and substantial elements, because if these are not addressed, investors will raise questions later in the growth phase.

Overall, based on investors’ experiences and views, a nuanced approach balancing risks and opportunities is needed for investing successfully in emerging markets.

For the first time, BEYOND EXPO organizers hosted the SheTech Summit this year to celebrate the dynamism of women in technology. The panel brought together women leaders, showcased groundbreaking tech innovations, and prompted conversations on gender diversity in the tech industry.

We highlight key takeaways from three panel discussions where successful female leaders shared their insights and experiences.

Panel 1: The advantages of women leadership in tech and innovative companies

Michelle Chen, co-founder and CEO of Biosyngen, leads the company’s operational oversight, strategic direction, process optimization, government interactions, financial strategy, and investment discussions. With extensive expertise in corporate management, finance, and biopharmaceutical negotiations, Chen has co-established two prominent biotech ventures and amassed 17 years of leadership in Fortune 500 enterprises.

“As for advantages of female traits in the workplace, it’s important to categorize different aspects of rationality,” Chen said. “For instance, when it comes to self-motivation and the desire to engage in meaningful pursuits, women may have a broader focus, especially in the context of running a company. They tend to be more empathetic and attuned to the feelings of their employees.” 

Chen said that showing empathy and sensitivity toward employees has contributed to minimal turnover in her tech-driven pharmaceutical company and fostered loyalty and long-term commitment. She added that a predominantly female executive team has allowed Biosyngen to enhance the collective ability to observe and interpret subtle cues involving employee well-being, ensuring sustained success, and organizational vitality. 

“Let’s not overly emphasize gender equality or favoritism — everyone deserves equal opportunities,” Chen said. “Whether in AI, technology, or life sciences, passion drives individuals to pursue meaningful endeavors. Women, like everyone else, aspire to contribute meaningfully. It’s about embracing opportunities in industries one is passionate about and applying learned skills. Simplify your approach, adapt to circumstances, and seize opportunities as they come.”

Panel 2: Gender Lens Investing: How Women Shape the Future of the World?

Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund, is a Silicon Valley investor and alumna of Stanford University School of Engineering. With expertise in AI in healthcare, enterprise AI/networks, edge computing, and data privacy, she has built a distinguished ecosystem. 

Before Fusion Fund, Zhang was a serial entrepreneur and materials science researcher. She has been bestowed with various recognitions, including Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, Silicon Valley Women of Influence, and Forbes 30 under 30 VC honoree.

Zhang said that Asian cultures usually stereotype girls as being “obedient and likable.” However, she said that leadership roles entail making tough decisions, inevitably leading to some disapproval.

“Women must embrace this reality: is it more crucial to be liked or respected? As an entrepreneur and leader, earning respect is paramount,” Zhang said. “Ultimately, admiration and even reverence will follow, creating a powerful force.” 

During the session, Zhang mentioned an intriguing perspective on the subconscious advantages of women. She said that a woman’s strong intuition “stems from potent subconscious information processing.”  

“Over 90% of decisions are subconscious, yet we struggle to rationalize how it captures and computes data,” she said. “Besides computational power, women’s heightened awareness, driven by deep-seated insecurities, leads to heightened data capture. For instance, when walking alone at 2 a.m., women are more alert, consciously collecting data on their surroundings. Conversely, men might overlook potential dangers due to a perceived sense of safety.” 

Tina Tao, president and partner at Sinovation Ventures, oversees daily operations and professional services, including fundraising, finance, and business development. With previous work experience at Microsoft, IBM, and Google, she manages the incubation function at the Al Institute of Sinovation Ventures. 

Founded in 2009 by Kai-Fu Lee, Sinovation Ventures manages over $2 billion in Assets Under Management across various technology sectors. 

“Thirty years ago, we started with only a few female students, and now we’ve reached a significant proportion,” Tao said. “Reflecting on the presence of female university students, which has existed for just over a century, it’s remarkable how women have become a dominant force in education. In the past hundred years, from the first female university student to today, women have nearly become half the student population. Compared to the thousands of years of human civilization history, this rate of progress is incredibly rapid, even remarkably fast.” 

Dialogue with Olympian DENG Yaping

Table tennis icon Deng Yaping has clinched 18 world championships, including four Olympic golds, in her stellar 14-year career. With a record for the longest reigning top-ranked female table tennis player in the world, spanning eight years from 1991, her dominance in the sport is unmatched. 

Post-retirement, Deng pursued academic excellence, earning undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees from Tsinghua University, the University of Nottingham, and the University of Cambridge, respectively.

During the conversation, Deng reflected on the perception gap between her public and private persona. While renowned for her athletic prowess and post-career contributions to sports development, she said she is approachable and gentle, contrary to the fierce demeanor often perceived on the table tennis court. 

Deng attributes her success to early challenges and perseverance, highlighting the crucial role of her father’s encouragement amid initial setbacks. She said that failure — including losing a critical match — taught her invaluable lessons in preparation and resilience. 

Speaking on the investment in the sports industry, Deng emphasized China’s sports marketing landscape was evolving and she seeks to promote Chinese brands globally through events like the Beijing Olympics. 

Deng said one of the most common questions she receives is: “Why are Chinese female athletes so strong?”

“Traditional Chinese culture plays a significant role,” Deng said. “Despite centuries of restrictions and oppression, it instilled resilience in women. Through the teachings of grandmothers and mothers, Chinese women learn to endure hardship and persevere, both at home and in society. Talent aside, the key factor in athletic success is grit. Chinese female athletes exhibit remarkable training intensity and exceptional endurance, reflecting their formidable willpower.” 

Business leaders at the Middle East Oasis Forum of BEYOND EXPO 2024 shared valuable insights on combining creativity and strategic confidence, highlighting their experiences in accelerating sustainable development and robust economic progress in the region. 

The panelists at the “Confidence with Imagination” included host Andre Kwok, founder of Good City Foundation and chief of staff at Tsangs Group, along with Jackson Zhang, the assistant to the chairman and manager of International Affairs at DeepRock Group and Biosphere 3, and Yamin Xu, dean of Tomorrow.City Institute at the Smart City Expo World Congress.

Navigating Middle Eastern markets with confidence and humility

There has been a significant shift in mindset among Chinese entrepreneurs over the years, Xu said.

Historically, Chinese business leaders admired Western companies and focused primarily on American and European markets. However, with China’s rise and the success of its infrastructure development strategies like the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese entrepreneurs have found new confidence in doing business globally. 

Xu noted that while this confidence is beneficial, it sometimes borders on arrogance. He said entrepreneurs need to adopt a “more mature and balanced worldview, recognizing the importance of understanding local histories, cultures, and economic contexts when expanding into new markets.”

Xu also expressed optimism about the younger generation of Chinese entrepreneurs, adding that they are better equipped to navigate the complexities of the global business landscape due to their broader experiences and open-mindedness. 

However, he cautioned other entrepreneurs to be alert to global changes and avoid harboring outdated mindsets. Xu concluded that a successful global expansion not just requires confidence but also understanding and respecting diverse markets and cultures. 

“In the journey of Middle East expansion, humility and respect are our guiding lights,” Xu said. “With a balanced worldview and openness to diverse cultures, we forge connections that transcend borders, ensuring enduring success and mutual prosperity.” 

Embracing confidence for Middle Eastern ventures

Zhang said Chinese companies expanding globally should strategize integrating resources to form corporate communities for better handling challenges in foreign markets. He highlighted that DeepRock Group leverages its experience in green building and energy management to upgrade and transform local regions.

Zhang added that Chinese enterprises venturing into international markets must be confident in their global expansion, adding that companies should thoroughly prepare and understand their target market’s cultural nuances and business environment. 

To illustrate his point, Zhang shared examples, including DeepRock Group’s involvement in the Masdar City project in the United Arab Emirates. He said he has noticed the evolving mindset of Chinese entrepreneurs and the shift toward a more global outlook.

However, Zhang also urged investors to be wary of the socio-political events of countries in the region — while Egypt is currently under military rule and faces political challenges, Libya, endowed with abundant oil resources and high per capita income, flourished during the era of Gaddafi, and Iran, a densely populated country with a high level of education, has high unemployment rates. 

“Although my understanding of these three countries is limited, I believe Iran maintains a positive attitude toward investment from China,” he said.

Zhang reiterated that as investors embark on their Middle East ventures, they should “harness the power of confidence tempered with cultural sensitivity.”

“By understanding local nuances and embracing diversity, we pave the way for meaningful collaboration and sustainable growth in international markets,” Zhang said.

Cross-border e-commerce has emerged as a catalyst for economic growth while offering consumers a smooth shopping experience. This consumption model has granted access to China-manufactured products for people globally. 

BEYOND EXPO’s cross-border e-commerce summit panel discussion provided insightful perspectives from industry leaders on the growth trends and opportunities in the global e-commerce landscape for 2024 and beyond.

The cross-border ecosystem is far more complex than sellers in China shipping to buyers abroad after receiving an order. It encompasses various elements, including cross-border platforms, payment systems, investors, and data service providers.

Chinese sellers new to cross-border transactions are grappled with a crucial question: how and where to start? 

Deena Ghazarian, chairwoman of the Consumer Technology Association’s executive board and founder and CEO of Austere, said partnering with established brands and service-based companies leverages e-commerce platforms including Amazon.

Xiaohongshu, a popular lifestyle-sharing platform that has expanded to the e-commerce business, is seeking to emerge as a service provider to leverage its content and targeted advertising capabilities to drive cross-border e-commerce growth, according to Ning Guang, the company’s business manager.

When asked about the perception of Chinese brands in the American market, Ghazarian said “regionalizing and rebranding” would help appeal to diverse consumer bases. 

“We took assets, got a more diverse background, it came across as a diverse brand,” Ghazarian said,” said. “Once we did that, you had no idea it was a Chinese brand.” 

Cheryl Tang, APAC sales director of Indiegogo, however, argued that consumers gravitate toward a brand with a “bright spot.” 

“We have also seen Chinese brands following Chinese brands going overseas and transforming into U.S. local brands successfully,” she said. 

The cross-border e-commerce industry may adopt AI technologies faster than other sectors due to factors like time zone differences, round-the-clock operations, and the desire to leverage AI for cross-cultural challenges, the panelists said. 

On Friday, BEYOND EXPO organizers invited a group of distinguished entrepreneurs for the Asia-Latam Tech Forum, aiming to explore opportunities for collaboration in business and technology, while promoting cultural exchange and understanding between Asia and Latin America.

The Asia-Latam Tech Forum featured discussions on trade, investment, innovation, and ideas, providing a platform for stakeholders from both continents to explore avenues for growth and prosperity. 

Below are key insights from the three discussion panels held during the forum. 

Panel 1: Latam: The next hotbed of venture capital investments

William Mimassi Pedroso is a partner at Monashees, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he has worked since 2020 and manages relations with the company’s limited partners globally. Pedroso has worked in various capacities, from law to CFO roles, in Brazil and China. He holds a law degree with honors from the University of São Paulo, with proficiency in multiple languages. 

Founded in 2005, Monashees is a renowned early-stage venture capital firm in Latin America. The company invests in innovative startups across various sectors, providing crucial support and resources for their growth and success. With a strong track record, Monashees is a leading player in the region’s vibrant startup ecosystem.

Pedroso expressed optimism about Latin America’s potential for growth in the venture capital sector, given the region’s favorable regulatory environment and increasing digitalization. He highlighted areas such as fintech and clean tech as particularly promising, noting the region’s natural resources and innovative potential. However, he acknowledged that the need for technical talent and English proficiency among developers remains a challenge. 

Pedroso said he sees Latin America as a burgeoning market with ample room for expansion, especially with the right investments and support.

Panel 2: Latam’s innovation ecosystem and collaboration opportunities with Asia

Ingrid Barth is a seasoned economist and entrepreneur with a background in finance, technology, and advocacy. Formerly with JPMorgan and Santander, she founded Linker, a pioneering digital bank for businesses, later acquired by Omie. Additionally, she holds influential roles in fintech regulation and startup development, including representing Brazil in G20 initiatives.

During the panel discussion, Barth spoke about effective communication methods in changing perceptions about Brazil’s business landscape. She advocated for highlighting Brazil’s strengths, such as its innovative potential and natural resources, to attract foreign investors and foster collaboration. 

Barth stressed the need for confidence in Brazil’s capabilities and encouraged entrepreneurs to seek the right local partners when entering the Brazilian market. She also underscored the significance of understanding cultural nuances and navigating regulatory frameworks. 

Barth admitted the role of public policies in shaping business environments and suggested learning from China’s dynamic ecosystem and strategic initiatives. Meanwhile, she called for a proactive approach to showcasing Brazil’s opportunities and fostering international partnerships for mutual growth.

Panel 3: Rising unicorns and IPOs in Latam

Eduardo L’Hotelier, a Brazilian computer engineering graduate, founded GetNinjas in 2011, growing it into Latin America’s largest service marketplace. He led multiple successful fundraising rounds with renowned firms like Monashees Capital and Tiger Global. In 2021, L’Hotelier took GetNinjas public on the Brazilian stock exchange (NINJ3) but sold his stake in the company in January 2023.

GetNinjas is a Brazilian online platform connecting clients with freelance professionals in various fields, including home services, events, classes, and more. The company has revolutionized how people find and hire services, simplifying the lives of millions of users in Brazil.

L’Hotelier attributed Latin America’s booming market to being fueled by its young demographic and tech adoption. He said Brazil’s robust social media usage offers ample opportunities for startups, adding businesses need to understand local laws and culture, while partnerships help to navigate the market. 

L’Hotelier also noted the growing interest from Asian investors in Latin American startups, particularly in Brazil. He said that Brazilian entrepreneurs demonstrate resilience despite bureaucratic hurdles, adding that there is a shift toward a global mindset with more startups eyeing international expansion.

L’Hotelier said the company wishes to help their global partners achieve similar results by leveraging their expertise and technological advancements.

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and robotics are transforming our daily lives and work environments. These cutting-edge technologies are poised to unlock innovative digital experiences and redefine our interaction with the world.

At the BEYOND EXPO’s ConsumerTech Summit on Friday, industry leaders gathered to explore the potential and challenges of these burgeoning technologies through a series of insightful panels.

The integration of artificial intelligence into personal devices has been a hot topic in recent months, with companies vying to harness this powerful technology to enhance user experiences. The idea of personalized AI is rapidly moving from science fiction to reality.

Jingkang Liu, the CEO and founder of 360-degree camera maker Insta360, described his vision as a future where individuals have a digital personal assistant by their side, constantly learning from their interactions, understanding their preferences, and providing tailored solutions.

However, the path to this AI-driven utopia has its challenges. One of the primary concerns raised was the issue of privacy and data security. As Carl Pei, co-founder of Nothing Technology, noted “The core of security is truth.” 

“The core of privacy is to make uses transparent to users, that is, what data we collect, they can choose whether to give us this data or not,” Pei continued. “We must fully communicate the benefits of sharing their data — what advantages they will gain and what enhanced services we can provide. Our goal is to ensure that the product allows them to truly experience the value of these services.”

The panelists in the morning session also explored the interplay between cooperation and competition within the industry. While acknowledging the inherent human tendency towards competition, they advocated for a balanced approach that encourages collaboration and mutual growth. 

Specifically, industry players should strive for a healthy ecosystem where competition is driven by deeper insights into customer needs, innovative research, and differentiated offerings, rather than by engaging in detrimental price wars, the panel suggested.

The realm of augmented reality has also captured the imaginations of entrepreneurs and consumers alike due to developments such as the metaverse and the AI boom, but the uniqueness of different use cases makes the scaling of AR particularly difficult.

Xu Chi, founder and CEO of AR brand XREAL, shared that he feels it’s a pity that we haven’t seen the emergence of a definitive AR app for this era, in the same way that Angry Birds was a flag-bearer for the initial iPhone era. That situation motivates XREAL to actively experiment with forward-looking scenarios and collaborate with partner developers, Xu stated.

Entrepreneurs are the driving force behind innovation, growth, and shaping the industry. Their role is paramount in building a startup bigger from day one, as unique perspectives and entrepreneurial spirit are key factors driving the vibrant growth of new enterprises. On Friday, five leading entrepreneurs spoke at BEYOND EXPO about how they have succeeded in their careers, sharing valuable experiences and insights into entrepreneurship.

Below are highlights from the renowned entrepreneurs in conversation with Phoenix TV anchor Richard Ren at the expo’s Founder Forum session. Their comments have been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Justin Gong, Co-founder & Senior Vice President of XAG

Our goal is to make agricultural production more efficient, producing more with less. It’s an ongoing project, and in the short term, we want to introduce drones and autonomous technology to farmers, so they don’t need to worry about hiring people amid labor shortage.

In the long term, we want to utilize AI technology and robotics to help farmers manage uncertainties like climate environmental changes.

China is still a growing economy, and we have already proven to the world that we can produce world-class companies and startup companies.

For young entrepreneurs, my advice is to find a really good partner. Don’t trust yourself too much because you can sometimes be too positive or too negative. Find the right partner, but don’t trust them easily at the very beginning. For me, it took 10 years of working together with my partner to build a strong partnership. Now we are both best friends and partners.

David Lee, CEO & Co-founder of NEX

To start something, you always need to quit something. It’s always about making sacrifices and tough choices. Some are big choices. Leaving Apple was a pretty big choice for me as well, but it’s also about the lifestyle that you choose, it is your own personal pursuit of something that you really want to do.

I’m a very optimistic person, sometimes overly optimistic. I believe that I can change the world, do something really great, and solve significant problems. I have immense  confidence in what my team and I can achieve. However, I am also paranoid enough to avoid making critical mistakes. That’s why we have a company. That’s why for the past seven years, we have survived the pandemic, weathered economic downturns, and we’re still going strong.

We can use the funding to crystallize our vision into simple hardware that delivers the best possible experience for the mass market. Once we release the product, it is loved by users. We send samples to all major retail stores, and they all want to carry the product. Eventually, what attracted investors was having a product that users love, which basically demonstrates market fit. With a proven market fit, every conversation [with potential investors] becomes a little bit easier.

Carl Wu, Co-Founder and CEO of New Frontier Group

I think we were at the right place at the right time because China was aging quickly, and home care was a lot cheaper. The cost of home care is perhaps about a tenth of that in senior living facilities. That’s what Chinese families wanted, and it aligned with what the government wanted, which is  more than 90% of the people should age at home.

So, we were in the right place at the right time. We went from zero to providing 100,000 visits a day to homes. Today, we run the one of largest home health companies in China, offering everything from basic care and nursing care to managing diseases at home. We took the simple idea of addressing China’s aging population and built a home health service in a relatively short period of time.

Eric Cheng, CEO & Founder of Carsome

I think we have achieved a lot of success, especially in creating transparency in the region. Southeast Asia is not just one country, right? It comprises multiple countries like Indonesia with 600 million people, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, each with very different markets. However, you will find one common issue when it comes to looking for a used car and selling it; the whole market is fragmented and inefficient, partly because most of the trading process is offline. When we first set out to solve this problem, we focused on the customers’ pain points. 

For example, if you want to sell a car today, where would you go and what kind of pricing would you expect? We wanted to create a platform that could assess a car’s condition and match it to demand across the entire country. To do that, you really need to be able to develop digital tools to facilitate this matching process. We started very simple with one service – helping consumers sell their cars quickly. Everything could be done within an hour. We saw strong traction, for example, when we started operations in 2015, we sold 30 cars in the first month. 

Now we are selling about 15,000 cars per month, showcasing our ability to scale and grow, year upon year, from strength to strength. I think a lot of this success is due to our ability to understand the original technology, to build digital tools in between the whole process of trading and layer on top of it, which is something that has not been done before in many parts of the world. 

Chi Xu, Founder and CEO of XREAL

I don’t know what is a better fit for this industry. But to me, it feels like we’re in a brand-new industry, we need some other company. If you really want to stand out, you need to be disruptive, and that means all the technology isn’t there yet. That’s why having somebody who really knows the boundaries of different technologies is crucial, because this is a combination of optics, software algorithm, AI and hardware in general.

That’s why if you look at any AR company, you probably won’t find a single technology officer who knows all the different kinds of boundaries. Being an expert in most of these areas is definitely a plus because building hardware is really challenging, especially knowing the boundaries. And sometimes you need to push the boundary a little bit. This is the part where, I think, if you’re an expert, you really have a huge plus.

I think an entrepreneur is not trained. From my personal experience, I don’t want to be the CEO from day one, because I don’t think I’d ever be an entrepreneur. It would have been nice for me maybe to learn alongside someone but not lead from the start. An entrepreneur is always very lonely. Sometimes even if you have co-founders, you still feel lonely because you can’t tell them everything and you don’t expect them to share the same kind of workload and barrier as you do, so you have to be vision driven, you have to be very dedicated, you have to be very aggressive, and you have to have a very big heart and all of that. I don’t think one can ever be trained for it.

Founders from some of the most promising unicorn companies in Asia on Thursday shared their experiences and insights about dealing with challenges and achieving success at BEYOND EXPO 2024, one of the largest tech events in the region.

Below are highlights from the pioneering entrepreneurs in conversation with CGTN anchor Zheng Junfeng at the expo’s Founder Forum session. The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

1. Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing Technology 

We started a new company called Nothing about three and a half years ago. We felt that the consumer tech industry got boring, and we needed to do something different. We saw an opportunity to focus on a specific target user segment. 

Our new product is called Nothing Phone 2a. The main difference is the industrial design of the hardware, as well as the software. Many people feel that Android is a bit ugly and difficult to use. So we wanted to elevate that experience.

This might sound naive, but I believe we have a chance to challenge Apple and Samsung. Based on where we are today and where we can go, there is much more we can do.

The most exciting part is that we all sit on the dawn of the new tech era: AI is coming. When we were younger, Nokia and Blackberry were the biggest brands. Then the smartphones came and they gradually shuffled away. Now AI is here, so there will be a lot of reshuffling and changes in the industry. 

Although we do not have as many resources as the bigger companies, this move has been replayed in the past. When the new tech cycle comes, the more innovative, smaller companies will come on top.

2.  Burt Guo, CEO and chief scientist of Aerofugia Technology

We are a startup making electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). It is battery-powered and less noisy compared with traditional helicopters while getting more redundancy for emergencies in the sky. 

There will be three to five years to commercialize this technology as we will have two things to do. The first thing is to get the type certification for our products from the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) and secondly, we should prepare for operations.

I believe the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will probably be the first region in China where we can put our products into the market because many passengers need new forms of public transportation. For example, a taxi from here [Macao] to Shenzhen will take one to two hours, but an eVTOl will take only around 15 minutes.

3. Wen Shuhao, co-founder and chairman of XtalPi

XtalPi was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015. It is an innovative research and development platform based on quantum physics, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and driven by robotics. 

XtalPi’s goal is to accelerate drug discovery and market entry using AI technology.

In drug development, AI plays a crucial role through powerful computational capabilities and algorithms. While traditional medicinal chemists might only imagine a few hundred molecular structures, AI can explore possibilities in chemical space up to 10^60, a number greater than the stars in the universe. AI enables rapid and extensive molecular design and screening, surpassing human capabilities.

XtalPi can now analyze protein structures in just a few months, a task that used to take 10 to 20 years in the past. The combination of AI design capabilities and robotic automation significantly shortens the drug discovery process for molecular compounds. Additionally, AI application during clinical trials also helps reduce the time required from 5-10 years to 2-3 years.

4.  Reeve Kwan, co-founder of GogoX

We started the company 11 years ago in Hong Kong with five co-founders and then expanded to Singapore, Korea, Vietnam, and 300 cities in mainland China. Since we operate in so many different countries, the challenges vary in each market, but we create value by providing simple logistics services to users powered by information technologies.

Usually, we build a custom software system for small and medium-sized companies — our main clients — allowing them to fully leverage our supply of transport services, ranging from motorcyclists to container trucks.

In some cities, you can use drones to deliver (goods). We have explored indoor robots, but the bottom line is to improve the efficiency on the delivery side. For example, in China, express companies and couriers have to call you and make sure you are home, and ask if they should leave it on the doorsteps or anywhere. These problems apply everywhere. By implementing these robots, we hope to reduce time wastage for the couriers.

5.  Kamarul A Muhamed, founder and Group CEO of Aerodyne

We are based in Malaysia and have operations in many countries. We solve industrial problems with drones, ranging from dangerous problems to labor issues. One of the main issues we are dealing with is logistics issues. Since much of the work for gas companies is offshore, using our drone could save more than 60% of the cost than using helicopters.

Integrating advanced sensors into drones also allows us to see and predict problems with agriculture in particular seasons. Meanwhile, it took three to five years to complete inspection activities for mining, but now we can do that with drones as quickly as five minutes.

6. Fredrik Hjelm, CEO and co-founder of Voi

In six years we have around 110,000 e-scooters and e-bikes in more than 100 cities in Europe, and we are profitable. Our technology is quite similar to aircraft technology, but we have a smaller vehicle on the ground. 

We develop our IoT (Internet of Things) technologies in the eastern Chinese city of Changzhou, neighboring Shanghai, and we do many things with our bikes, including data analytics and machine learning.

We have swappable batteries in our bikes and scooters, as well as people driving around for swapping the batteries. With battery technologies making progress now, they can run three to four days before we swap them. We aim to expand our fleet to 1 million, which may take a few years, but I am confident we will get there.

Jason Ho, the Co-founder of BEYOND Expo, invited Jon Creyts, the CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), to discuss the urgent need for global cooperation, investment, and innovative technology to address climate change on Wednesday at the BEYOND Expo 2024 opening ceremony.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Jon Creyts. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

1. Jason: Looking ahead, what key policy changes or initiatives do you believe are essential for driving technology and the adoption of different solutions globally?

Jon: When we think about climate change, it impacts more than just the environment. This is about health, livelihoods, and thriving communities. When we think about SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), they’re all interconnected. We have to address climate change in ways that enhance all aspects of society and tackle all the SDGs simultaneously.

We’ve talked a lot about EVs here. Certainly, when you look at a place like Delhi, the current health issues related to pollution are largely the result of vehicular traffic. Today, in Delhi, driving an EV costs only 1/4th of what it does to operate an internal combustion engine vehicle. However, the system isn’t set up to support that right now. You actually pay three times the interest rate on an electric vehicle compared to an internal combustion engine vehicle. However, if we make this transition, we can actually save significant amounts of money, minimizing local air pollution, and creating new economies and abilities to grow.

This is true not just in India but throughout the global South, like in Nigeria. If you switch to two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles, you wind up saving about $1,000 for one person over the eight-year lifetime of that vehicle. That’s a massive boost, almost half a year’s worth of pay in Nigeria that you’re saving, by shifting and embracing some of these new technologies.

2. Jason: How can we ensure climate tech innovations are accessible and affordable for people in need in these developing countries?

Jon: This is not just a challenge, this is an opportunity. When we think about it, the scale of the investment that is required here is approximately $100 trillion over the next 25 years. Right now, that investment is massively skewed when we look at the overall geography. For instance, the United States, as a country, invests about 60 times more than Africa as a continent. We have to rectify that, we have to shift and introduce some strategic interventions that effectively redirect capital flow within the system. 

That capital has to accomplish three major objectives. Firstly, there are carbon-intensive assets out there that cannot run to the end of their life cycle. We have to shut them down before they become economically viable as we can’t afford to release all that carbon into the atmosphere. We need to create mechanisms like carbon trading and other supportive measures to help support that transition. Initiatives like the Just Energy Transition partnerships in regions like Indonesia and Vietnam are currently helping to create some of the funds and financing mechanisms to support these countries in their transition efforts. 

We have to do two other things. We have to accelerate innovation, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement, aluminum, heavy freight, shipping, etc. These ideas are going to come from all over the world, and we need to ensure that there is alignment between venture capital, equity investment, and bank financing to support these innovations. 

Thirdly, we have to scale existing solutions. This is the area where significant reform needs to happen so that we can mitigate the risk associated with project pipelines, throughout the global south, where projects are necessary to enable leapfrogging, as Siddharth mentioned earlier, to achieve new economic paradigms. That has to be done through coordinated multilateral bank support to de-risk projects alongside private capital investment. This ensures initiatives like mini-grids, microgrids, solar energy, and electric vehicles are rapidly deployed in  the places that need them the most, which are the fastest-growing areas of the world requiring that support.

3. Jason: What role do you see for public and private partnerships in scaling up investment and developing climate tech solutions?

Jon: Public-private partnerships are at the core of how this whole energy transition needs to happen. When we think about scaling, I was here yesterday at the Southern China Hydrogen Energy Association, a group in Guangzhou, that is focused specifically on how to bring a hydrogen economy into being. For that to happen, you have to align research, you have to align capital, and you have to ultimately get whole sets of infrastructure to jump at the same time to a wholly different cost space. When you start doing that as a system, you end up actually creating the conditions for something new to thrive, grow, and compete.

That doesn’t happen on its own. It requires an independent nonprofit or a collaboration between the government, for-profit and civil society institutions to align all the different stakeholders. That’s true for hydrogen, that’s true if you want to realign the global aviation industry, and that’s true if you want to deal with global shipping. You need to get the industry, the customers, the financiers, and the policymakers together to build the ratchet mechanism that then allows everything to move just a little bit differently. And then, ultimately, you’re able to transform.

We’re seeing that happen in aviation and some of the leadership related to staffing. We’re seeing that happen in shipping and in some of the new work that the IMO is doing to move toward zero-carbon fuels. Going forward, we will be seeing that happen in steel. where you will see buyers aligning on different aspects of what exactly constitutes low carbon steel and how to certify it, track it, and trace it. These are all necessary impacts, but they are made easier when you actually have some coordination, and entities like the UN, and the South China Hydrogen Energy Association, are working to help bring about change in the whole system.

4. Jason: If you could have any superpower to combat climate change, what would it be?

Jon: Fossil fuels have gotten us to where we are today. But I wish I could just snap my fingers and have everybody forget and stop believing that they are the source of safety and security in the world. Because the truth is, when we look at where we are today, the conflicts, the concentration of wealth, the air pollution, the climate pollution that we’re seeing, fossil fuels are not serving us well anymore. In fact, when we look at renewable sources, wind and solar are the cheapest new forms of energy for 95% of the people on the planet.

When you start combining that with some of the innovations that are happening in batteries that we heard Robin (CATL CEO) talk about earlier, we can see our pathway to a much cleaner, more sustainable, and secure energy future. We can just let ourselves believe that it can happen and drive toward it, rather than believe that we have to constantly go back to  trusting that fossil fuels are more secure.

As emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence to renewable energy, show potential to tackle global challenges, they are also shaping the vision of the world’s largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer. 

Robin Zeng, founder, chairman, and CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, shared his vision at the BEYOND EXPO 2024 opening ceremony, one of Asia’s largest tech events.

His remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity. 

I am happy to visit Macao, again, and attend the BEYOND EXPO. 

CATL has been the No.1 [battery maker] in the world over the last seven years. Still, something important to us is how far battery technology innovations can go beyond passenger cars, commercial trucks, and airplanes. We are thinking about how to make airplanes electrified.

There are three uncertainties that matter to me and CATL. 

One thing is the uncertainty in the future. There are a lot of things taking place on the technology side. For example, AI is coming. I just talked to colleagues about what AI can do, what AI for science can do, and how much they [AI for science] can improve the efficiency of innovations. Can we make some revolutionary innovations from AI? That is where we are technology-wise, and that is why we put a lot of research and resources there, looking for the future. 

Secondly, to be economically wise. We are in a time of transition from the traditional economy into the new economy. We call it a technology-driven economy. 

Then, there are geopolitical issues.

Innovation is the key word for everyone, especially in the technology industry. For example, today when you drive an EV, there is the problem of range, the problem of charging, and the problem of low-temperature performance. You may think: ‘Can I have one charge and then drive my car for 1,000 kilometers?’ So that is why we keep innovating new technologies, which can ease the concerns of our consumers at the end of the day. We have to do that to differentiate ourselves and satisfy consumers’ needs with their EVs. 

We have invested around $10 billion in research and development in the last 10 years. We have used the most advanced materials to make the battery electrochemical systems more optimized for their needs. We also have a lot of innovations in battery structure, such as CTP (Cell-to-Pack). Why put a cell into a module and then into a pack and not just put a cell directly into a pack? Why do we need a pack? We can put the cells into the vehicle chassis, which can dramatically reduce the components of the whole pack and, therefore, be very energy efficient.

Also, we are looking for very fast charging, and that is what we provide with our Shenxing batteries. You can charge it for 10 minutes and then go 400 kilometers. It is similar to a gasoline engine car already. Next step, we are going to have what we call the “6C charging,” which will be down to six minutes. So quicker and quicker. Faster and better.

Another thing I want to emphasize is the cycle life and the storage life of the battery. Today people still do not fully explore the battery’s function. 

So you bought a car. Every day, the driving range might be only 50 kilometers. But this is a 600-kilometer-range car, so you have a 550-kilometer equivalent battery that is wasted and sleeping. Why not put this battery (power back) into the grid? The battery is there the whole day. They can help the grid.

Energy storage is so important. Today, because of energy storage, we can store energy in the morning and use it in the afternoon and night. We can even store energy for the whole year. That is why there is more freedom for energy use, which can create a lot of new businesses and that is the reason we want to get into this. 

On the other hand, renewable energy is not stable because of climate change. There needs to be ways to stabilize them and create electricity, which can help the industries. That is another reason why we are stepping into this.

We recently unveiled TENER — the world’s first mass-producible 6.25 MWh energy storage system with zero degradation in the first five years of use, which would make a zero-carbon society easier. We already have five zero-carbon factories, and we want to extend our capabilities into more industries and society. 

As the world’s temperature continues to increase, we need to react faster — not only to ease the concerns about climate change but also to adapt our economies to this new trend.

Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, said that technology, innovation, and big data can help overcome some of the critical challenges among 70 ongoing conflicts worldwide. He made the remarks while addressing the opening ceremony of the BEYOND EXPO 2024 on Wednesday.

Below is the transcript of Chatterjee’s conversation with Jason Ho, co-founder of BEYOND EXPO. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

Jason Ho: UNSDG is the sustainable development goals proposed in 2012. Looking ahead, what key policy changes or initiatives do you believe are essential for driving technology and the adoption of different solutions globally? 

Siddharth Chatterjee: I think we have gotten completely off track with the UNSDG. In the last three years with COVID-19, where the UN secretary-general was calling about rescuing SDG, what is clear is that for the first time post-Second World War, we are seeing an interlocking crisis. We have seen a crisis of health with the COVID pandemic, which has shown the fragility of human health and health systems. 

The second is a crisis of the climate, which is hanging like a sword over humanity — whether it was the hurricane in Florida, which upended lives and livelihoods, or the floods we have seen in Europe and China, and today in Pakistan, 60% of the country was under water. So it is a major challenge. 

Then we have ongoing conflicts. It’s not just Ukraine and Gaza. We have 70 ongoing conflicts. It is really a polycrisis. 

But quite clearly, climate affects everybody. Therefore, we have to look at avenues where technology, innovation, and big data can help us overcome some of the critical challenges. How do we make sure that we stay faithful to the Paris Agreement? 

Therefore, to me, events like BEYOND EXPO — and big credit to you for doing that — are how we harness new partnerships. 

We have been talking about green tech, EV, where China already has 60% electric vehicles across its cities. I think what we need to do now is find a new multilateral space for bringing nation-states — and not just nation-states — but public-private partnerships to give velocity to the climate agenda because quite clearly that 1.5 degrees Celsius rise may become completely unachievable unless we get together to deal with it. We are going to see extreme temperatures. 

The secretary-general has already warned that we have gone from global warming to global boiling. So that is something we have to remain mindful of.

Jason Ho: You often talk about multilateralism from the UN’s standpoint or your perspective. How can we further global development?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Back in 2022, I wrote a piece that if the U.S. and China collaborate, they can save the world when it comes to the current planetary crisis we are witnessing. I was very happy that much more exchanges have happened in 2023. The key point is we will need the leadership of China, and it will need the leadership of the United States. We will need the leadership of the European Union. It is because together they have the bandwidth, the intellectual capital, and the resources to be able to make a leapfrog moment. 

We need a leapfrog moment, which means that countries have to remain faithful toward the commitment. In particular, developed countries have to remain faithful to their commitment to putting in that $100 billion a year for climate change adaptation. We are happy to see the Loss and Damage Fund is coming. I am much more optimistic now than I was in 2022 because then, ultimately, the U.S. and China did get together in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. It was a reasonably good result. So I think I am seeing progress there. 

We have to put our politics aside when it comes to the climate because everybody is affected. 

And here is something very interesting about why the multilateral space is so crucial. Previously when Beijing used to get sandstorms, it used to come from Inner Mongolia. I would encourage a lot of people to go visit the Kubuqi Desert, the seventh-largest desert in China. It is an agricultural wonderland. It produced 3.2 gigabytes of electricity from solar and wind. The solar panels and the wind panels are so high that they have utilized the real estate below these panels, and it is a complete convergence of technology and innovation. 

That place has a per capita GDP higher than the national average. Now, this is the kind of knowledge of combating desertification with the advent of technology and innovation that we can bring to bear in places like sub-Saharan Africa. If you do not have the sandstorms stopped in Inner Mongolia, you will continue to get sandstorms in Beijing. 

So the key is you have to have a multilateral space in the climate agenda — air pollution. Now Beijing has cleared up its air. I run half marathons every month in Beijing. It has perhaps one of the best AQI levels. But what happens when the climatic conditions or pollutants from other parts of China come into Beijing’s space?  

We will have to look at the whole and therefore the community of nations has to come together. The secretary-general has been faithful to his call to action that we have to deal with the climate agenda. 

And here, again, I want to commend President Xi for the clearest articulation on the climate agenda, when he said China will go for carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Now the UN is working with the Chinese government to look at what kind of innovation and big data and technology can be used. But at the same time, what I am urging the government to do — and working with my counterparts in other countries — is what kind of knowledge can we share with them from this experience. 

Jason Ho: How can we ensure the climate tech innovations are accessible and also affordable for people in need in these. I this is not just a challenge. This is an opportunity, right?

Siddharth Chatterjee: How did China make this leapfrog within itself with per capita GDP at $180 in 1979? It was about scale and volume and achieving economies of scale. This is precisely why we need high technology to get very cheap, but consumption will be huge. Now, that is the opportunity that opens up.

I have served half my life in Africa. Africa needs a leapfrogging into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It does not necessarily have to go through the typical rise of Europe, China, and the rest of the world. They can jump into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

I tell this to many partners in Beijing: I say that by 2050, Africa will have 2.5 billion people, and they will have 900 million young people. They will be the future of consumption and production. If you invest now, you will have a huge return on investment in the future. 

This is one area where China can define a way forward in this climate transition that is there because of the amount of innovation, the amount of knowledge that is, the place where the world has to come together to look at how we become more efficient at carbon capture. Now, that is one place where we are way behind. 

And while technology is moving forward, we have not been able to diagnose that space. Can you imagine if we could look at an entire continent like Africa for carbon capture? It could be a solution to many of the challenges that we are already confronted with. 

So I think this would need, again, the resurrection of multiculturalism. And that is why the secretary-general is hosting the summit of the future. It is a once-in-a-generation, a lifetime opportunity to look at how we reposition multilateralism so that at least we can converge around the issues that challenge us in health, climate conflicts, inequalities, and economic disruptions. 

These are the places where people can come together because the aspirations of an African parent are no different from the aspirations of a Chinese parent or that of an American parent. The future is really to make sure that the climate impact is now sustained because one thing is clear — it is impacting food security, it is impacting health. Today, 800 million people are going to bed hungry every night because of droughts, famine, and instability. 

TNGlobal is excited to announce the ORIGIN: Asia Tech Conference, themed “Unleashing Potential, Reimagine Future” to be held on May 23, 2024, at The Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, Florence Meeting Room . This landmark event signifies a significant expansion into the dynamic landscape of Asia, forming an integral part of BEYOND Week’s prestigious lineup of events. 

ORIGIN: Asia Tech Conference serves as a pivotal gathering, bringing together industry luminaries, investors, and trailblazers to delve into the vibrant tech ecosystem of Asia. With a diverse array of keynote speeches, panel discussions, the conference promises to deliver invaluable insights into the region’s most promising industries and emerging opportunities. As the conference expands its focus into Asia, it aims to embrace the opportunity to engage with the vibrant tech ecosystem in the region, forging new connections and uncovering untapped potential. 

Notable participants set to grace the event include exemplary venture capital firms, multinational corporations, unicorns, and innovative companies such as ATM Capital, Gobi Partners, East Ventures, Sunway Group, Genting Ventures, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (MAVCAP), FuturePlay, Kairous Capital, RHL Ventures, Hyundai Cradle, iFlytek, Carsome, Carousell, among others.

Distinguished lineup of guest speakers includes:

• Tony Qu, Founder of ATM Capital
• Matt van Leeuwen, Chief Innovation Officer of Sunway Group
• Angela Toy, Partner and COO of Golden Gate Ventures
• Quek Siu Rui, Co-Founder of Carousell
• Matt van Leeuwen, Chief Innovation Officer of Sunway Group
• William Zhou, Vice President, President Overseas Business of iFLYTEK open platform
• Edwin Loh, Founder of Imagine AI
• Jung-hee Ryu, Partner & CEO of FuturePlay
• Kamarul A Muhamed, Founder and CEO of Aerodyne

The conference features an array of compelling topics including:

• Southeast Asia – The Bright Spot for VC Investing Amidst Global Uncertainties?
• Outsiders’ Insights: Capturing the Southeast Asian Tech Wave
• Beyond Unicorns: Building Sustainable Growth
• Corporate Venture Capital: Navigating Innovation and Strategic Partnerships in the Digital Era
• How AI Is Sparking Disruptions & Innovations in Asia’s Various Industries

Who Should Attend?

Entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and policymakers are cordially invited to join ORIGIN: Asia Tech Conference and unlock the full potential of Southeast Asia’s burgeoning tech landscape.

Join us and register now at https://www.beyondexpo.com/registration/ to secure your place at the forefront of Asia’s tech revolution: https://technode.global/

About Macau Greater Bay Area Technology Exchange Association

Macau Greater Bay Area Technology Exchange Association is an organization dedicated to promoting the development and innovation of science and technology. Since its establishment, the association has been committed to organizing various activities, including seminars, lectures, and training courses, to facilitate the dissemination and exchange of scientific and technological knowledge and skills. The association hopes to further foster the development of the tech industry and support entrepreneurial innovation, playing an important role in the advancement of technology in society.

About TNGlobal

TNGlobal is a Pan-Asia tech platform offering premium tech news, industry insights, events, and tailor-made marketing solutions for startups, VCs, corporates, and other industry pioneers. With a vast network of partners in global innovation and entrepreneurship, TNGlobal facilitates cross-border partnerships and businesses. TNGlobal is a spin-off of TechNode, China’s leading innovation and entrepreneurship platform.

About BEYOND Expo

The BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo (BEYOND Expo) is Asia’s leading annual technology event. Serving as a dynamic platform since 2021, BEYOND Expo not only showcases global technological innovations but also provides a unique opportunity to foster innovation upgrades across diverse industries and regions. BEYOND Expo has attracted participation from Asia’s Fortune 500 companies, multinational corporations, unicorn companies, and emerging startups. Through a multifaceted approach involving expos, summits, and various activities, BEYOND Expo has successfully cultivated an innovative ecosystem, propelling collective development in the Asia-Pacific region and the global technology innovation industry.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Penghui Li and translated by Zinan Zhang.

The global humanoid robot market is expected to reach a peak of $154 billion by 2035. Much like the emergence of generative AI, this rise of robots – not to mention the combination of these two fields – may well pose several questions and spark considerable debate beyond mere tech circles. 

Unitree Robotics, which started with quadruped robots and quickly became a global leader in the humanoid robot industry through its general humanoid robot H1, undoubtedly has plenty to say on this.

Here, Chen Li, co-founder of Unitree Robotics,  offers a range of insights into the rapidly developing robotics industry.

1. How has the explosive growth in generative AI impacted the robotics field?

Unitree’s development of humanoid robots can be seen as seizing the opportunity. General artificial intelligence (AGI) has made significant progress and breakthroughs. AGI now needs the most suitable carrier to take it forward, and general robots are bound to be one of the future development directions, with humanoid robots being the most straightforward candidate to become general robots. Therefore, we firmly believe that once general artificial intelligence and general humanoid robots are combined, robots can truly enter daily life in the future.

2. What are the biggest challenges in the development of quadruped and biped robots?

Hardware reliability, self-developed complete machines, motion control, sensors of quadruped or humanoid robots, and how to integrate the data obtained from sensors into motion control — such as combining perception and terrain to dynamically adjust leg height in real-time, and then swiftly and stably traversing unstructured terrain… these are all challenges.

As Unitree has a good relevant accumulation of knowledge in quadruped robots, our progress in humanoid robots is relatively faster than others. We started the project on February 23 [2023], and then on August 15, we developed and released the humanoid robot (H1), which took about half a year.

We can make humanoid robots at any time because the core components of Unitree’’s quadruped robots are self-developed. Transferring the relevant technology of quadruped robots to humanoid robots is relatively straightforward for Unitree.

The joint motors, electronic control technology, control algorithms, and other aspects of our humanoid robots are inherited from Unitree’s previous accumulated technology in quadruped robots. Then, in terms of control algorithms, we also draw from the control technology of quadruped robots, using model predictive control.

3. How is Unitree responding to the increasingly complex and dynamic external environment?

The biggest difference between Unitree now and before is the areas we are currently focusing on. Robotics has always been our focus, and it remains our most important direction. However, at the same time, we are also paying more attention to directions related to general artificial intelligence models, considering how to integrate these latest artificial intelligence technologies with robotics to take robot functionality to the next level more effectively. To face a more complex and dynamic external environment, what Unitree needs to do is to keep doing its current job first, and then, driven by research and development, to deliver excellent products and serve our customers well.

4. Some experts have suggested that with the gradual heating up of the robotics race in recent years, the year 2024 will be the “inaugural year” for the robotics industry, especially humanoid robots. How do you view this statement? 

If we look solely from the perspective of societal attention to the product, the year 2024  is indeed the inaugural year of the robotics industry. However, 20 or 30 years ago, humanoid robots had already appeared overseas — including in Japan and the United States. We need to look at it from two perspectives.

Of course, I prefer to say that 2024 could be the Year of Humanoid Robots. But this milestone is not policy-driven. In 2023, there were significant breakthroughs and developments in large-scale models and AGI. General artificial intelligence could be applied in various scenarios in the future. In such a scenario, general artificial intelligence would require a carrier. Based on this, humanoid robots have started to gain traction.

Then, what are the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Year of Quadruped and Humanoid Robots? I think, on the one hand, it is the empowerment of AI, and on the other hand, it is the stability, reliability, cost-effectiveness, consistency in production, and the maturity of software and hardware technologies of the products themselves. 

5. Unitree also has several quadruped robot products listed on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, making futuristic products accessible. Could you discuss some observations you have on the domestic quadruped robot market?

Yes, we have listed some quadruped robots on e-commerce platforms, and people can find two consumer-grade quadruped robot products, Go2 AIR and Go2 Pro. Whether it’s in terms of product performance, cost-effectiveness, reliability, or playability, I believe the features and functionalities of Go2 are very relevant to daily life.

Currently, the consumer-grade quadruped robot market hasn’t fully opened up for several reasons. The first reason is the price, which is still relatively high. With leading companies like Unitree, our current market price for products is around RMB 10,000. However, there is hope to lower the price to a few thousand yuan in the future.

The second reason is interaction. When facing individual consumers, we need to consider how to make quadruped robots have more functions to increase user stickiness. This is something Unitree has been investing in for the long term. If it’s just a remote-controlled robot or robot dog, consumers may lose interest after playing with it for a few days. So we need to give the robot dog more features — such as interaction, interactive AI dialogue, etc. Only in this way can we turn the robot dog into a true electronic pet.

6. Apart from the price difference, what are the most obvious distinctions between Unitree’s consumer-grade and industry-grade robot products? 

The most obvious distinction between our consumer-grade and industry-grade robots lies in their performance or functionality. For example, the Go2 AIR and Pro versions of our quadruped robots are consumer-grade. In comparison to our industry-grade B2 robot, the difference lies in their functionality — such as payload capacity. The B2 can handle up to 50 kilograms, while the Go2 AIR is approximately five to eight kilograms, resulting in a significant gap.

The second difference lies in the protection level. The highest protection level for the B2 can reach IP68, which is the highest level of waterproof and dustproof protection, allowing it to be immersed in water for a long time. However, the Go2 is not waterproof. The third difference is in their mobility or obstacle traversal capabilities. Due to the smaller size of the Go2, compared to the B2, their leg lengths differ, affecting their obstacle traversal performance. For example, the B2 can climb up to 1.2 meters of stairs, while the Go2 can currently only climb 16 centimeters, which is a significant difference.

The fourth difference lies in their battery life. The Go2, with its long-life battery version, can walk continuously for about two hours. However, the B2 can walk continuously for over five hours. Of course, there are also other differences in software and hardware, so the distinction is quite significant.

In terms of application scenarios, consumer-grade robots mainly lean toward home use, including performances, interactive entertainment, and family companionship. The industry-grade B2 is geared towards work. For example, it can be used for inspections, patrols, emergencies, and rescues in industries such as energy, electricity, oil, chemicals, and coal, as well as for police, firefighting, and various arduous, labor-intensive, dangerous, and repetitive tasks that can be replaced by industry-grade robots.

7. What are some unexpected use cases that you’ve come across for these products?

Since many of our Unitree employees have backgrounds in robotics or artificial intelligence, users come from various industries and often propose application scenarios based on the characteristics of our robots, many of which we hadn’t previously considered. I think this is a very positive thing — it broadens Unitree’s product capabilities, and we also work closely with users to develop solutions for these scenarios.

For example, the application of robot dogs in firefighting emergencies is something we hadn’t thought of before. This scenario was suggested by firefighting and rescue personnel. They mentioned that these robot dogs are quite capable — they can climb stairs, traverse mountains, and handle rugged terrain without much difficulty. In their firefighting emergency scenarios, which often involve high-rise rescues — such as in many of China’s tall buildings — when a fire breaks out, elevators are typically shut down, leaving only staircases. However, entering from the staircase can be quite dangerous for firefighters. In such situations, they proposed the idea of sending in robot dogs first to gather relevant data using various sensors. After assessing the situation, firefighters could then proceed with the rescue operation, thereby reducing casualties.

8. Unitree has expanded its business into the fitness equipment field based on its robotics technology. What made you leap into that sector?

The idea of the fitness pump product was conceived in 2018, but at that time, most of our time and resources were dedicated to robotics, so we didn’t pursue it actively until recent years. We’ve always been contemplating whether we could utilize these related technologies to create new products that cater to a broader consumer base. This idea has always been there, so we decided to develop the fitness pump.

Unitree’s core competitiveness lies in the complete self-research and development of our products. The core components and motion control algorithms are all developed in-house. This is our most fundamental competitive advantage.

9. You initially launched the fitness pump on Amazon and Unitree’s overseas business accounts for about 50% of its total revenue. What factors contributed to your confidence in going global? 

Yes, around 50% of our business comes from overseas. I think there are several reasons. Firstly, before starting this venture, I worked in a hard-tech company handling overseas markets. So, I had some insights and perspectives on overseas markets. Secondly, products like robots or humanoid robot products, especially consumer-level robot dogs, have a broader customer base overseas. Especially in developed countries like the United States and Europe, purchasing power is stronger and profits are better. Thirdly, some of our research clients purchase our robots for secondary development. Many of these research clients are from universities, and many of these universities are in Europe and the United States. Of course, many excellent schools in China are also developing projects very well based on our robot dogs or humanoid robots.

As for the inspiration these successes brought to Unitree’s progress in the domestic market, I think firstly, on the market side, it is crucial to prioritize the market, to quickly prepare and promote the market. Then, the sales business should follow up quickly, distribute goods rapidly, and provide excellent customer service, allowing customers to receive our products as soon as possible. Thirdly, service must keep up — both pre-delivery and post-delivery technical support are crucial tasks, where they continuously provide pre-sale, during-sale, and after-sale training and support to customers. Once such a chain is formed, whether in the domestic or overseas market, companies will have a very solid development foundation.

10. What challenges did you face when going into foreign markets?

It is not easy to expand into overseas markets – there are marketing expenses and communication costs on the business end, and you have to deal with time zone differences and cultural aspects. As for the right choices made by Unitree, I believe the first one is the first-mover advantage. During the initial phase of establishing brand influence, it’s crucial to act swiftly with strategies tailored to robot dogs or humanoid robot products. For customers, it’s challenging to judge product functionalities without physically interacting with them. In such cases, it’s essential to rapidly launch the product and then establish brand or product awareness in the minds of consumers. Additionally, it’s not enough just to launch; there must be subsequent promotions. For example, our product was featured in the 2023 Super Bowl in the United States, and various influencers both domestically and internationally reviewed our robot dogs. These efforts greatly benefitted Unitree’s brand promotion.

The most challenging aspect, I believe lies in the gap that exists between marketing promotions and subsequent customer engagement during business transactions. There may be disparities in product performance, pricing, and applicable scenarios, which require continuous customer nurturing and communication to manage their expectations effectively.

Another challenge might be localization. Currently, Unitree doesn’t have a dedicated overseas team for localization; instead, it’s managed through business trips abroad. Additionally, in terms of team building, I believe that selecting suitable individuals is paramount. A suitable colleague can be more valuable than having 10 or even 20 employees with average abilities.

11. In a recent B2 round of financing totaling nearly 1 billion yuan completed by Unitree, you mentioned that in the coming years, the company will continue to break through technology barriers and promote the integration of AI with general-purpose robots. How should we understand the integration of “AI+ general-purpose robots”? 

At the beginning of our entrepreneurship journey, Unitree was a relatively traditional robotics company, but now we are gradually transforming into a company that integrates “AI+ general-purpose robots”. In between, we have done a lot of strategic thinking. Taking the household scenario as an example, it was quite challenging for robots to enter households, especially general-purpose ones. There are already some robots in households, such as vacuum robots. However, overall, their functionality is relatively limited, either serving specific purposes or performing single functions. In the future, we hope to create general-purpose household robots that can assist homeowners in various tasks such as washing dishes, cleaning floors, making beds, and cooking.

To accomplish these diverse tasks, single-function robots are insufficient; they must be empowered with general artificial intelligence. This empowerment can be done through end-to-end approaches, cloud-based methods, or training methods. The approach is not limited, but I believe the only viable path is to establish a “strong bond” between general artificial intelligence and robots so that robots can enter millions of households.

12. What can you tell us about Unitree’s future plans?

We firmly believe that innovation is the cornerstone of enterprise development. Unitree continuously enriches its product line, improves product performance, and continues to advance the construction and improvement of existing production lines. We deeply cultivated the quadruped robot track in both the B2B and B2C markets, and through a multidimensional growth journey, we have expanded from quadruped robots to the intelligent fitness track and then to the general humanoid robot track, making people’s work and life more convenient, comfortable, and efficient.

Unitree has always believed in becoming a leader in a segmented industry, driving the entire industry and high-quality development of the Chinese economy. We look forward to embarking on a new journey of “technology changing the world” together with everyone, using the power of the collective. 

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Penghui Li and translated by Zinan Zhang and Jake Newby.

Attempting to summarize the current state of the international tech industry is a tricky business. On the one hand, venture capital is down and layoffs are considerably up; on the other, there is huge excitement within the industry at the potential of new technologies such as generative AI.

According to data from Crunchbase, during 2023, total global venture capital is expected to reach its lowest level in five years at $285 billion, a 38% decrease from the $462 billion seen in 2022. Meanwhile, layoffs are also occurring more widely. Statistics show that the number of redundancies at global tech companies increased by 59% in 2023 compared to the previous year, affecting 262,700 people.

Yet with the rise of artificial intelligence technology represented by ChatGPT, the industry is also awash with unbridled excitement in certain quarters. Data indicates that the total financing amount for global artificial intelligence startups reached nearly $50 billion in 2023, a 9% increase over the previous year. Among them, just three companies – OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection AI – raised $18 billion.

It’s not only artificial intelligence. In industries such as augmented reality, brain-machine integration, and quantum computing, the technology field is also showing significant progress. From this perspective, as a home to global cutting-edge industries and an important springboard for corporate globalization, London has become a key focal point for tech companies.

London: A new hotspot for technology and climate innovation

Despite a particularly challenging period for the tech sector, London is still full of bright spots, according to Zhao Bingbing, Chief Representative of Greater China at London & Partners.

Zhao points to the GenAI boom as an example of the UK capital’s status. In recent years, investment in generative artificial intelligence companies in London has exploded. In 2023, the total financing of GenAI startups headquartered in London reached $232 million, 20 times the total financing amount in 2020. Among them, AI video company Synthesia and AI decision-making company Quantexa have joined the unicorn camp.

At the same time, established companies in the artificial intelligence field are also turning their attention to London. In June of last year, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, chose London as the location for its first overseas office. OpenAI emphasized that the British city has a “vibrant technology ecosystem” and “outstanding talent.” CEO of Open AI, Sam Altman, further highlighted, “We see this expansion as an opportunity to attract world-class talent and drive innovation in AGI development and policy.”

Beyond AI, climate technology has become another highlight of London’s technology industry. Zhao states that London has always been an advocate and leader in the sustainability field. The UK capital set a goal a few years ago to become a zero-carbon city by 2030 and a zero-waste city by 2050. With strong policy support, “London has become the ideal ‘experimental field’ for international scientific and technological innovation companies in the sustainable technology field,” Zhao says.

London’s climate technology companies raised a total of $3.5 billion in 2023, a significant increase from the $2.2 billion amassed in 2022. Zhao emphasized that last year, London & Partners helped 100 scientific and technological innovation companies from around the world land in London, of which 23% were in the climate technology field, doubling the number who they helped bed in 2022. These companies created nearly 1,000 job opportunities, a 200% increase compared to the previous year. The firms included BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, which also chose London as its UK headquarters.

From garnering attention to leading change

London’s attractiveness as a tech hub has seen funds pour into the city from around the world.

London startups raised over $12.9 billion in venture capital in 2023, the highest of any European city and almost equivalent to the total of the following three European cities (Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin). This was part of a trend that has seen London’s VC investors raise more than $24 billion in the past three years, accounting for over 30% of the total VC funds in Europe over that period. In addition, London continues to welcome the entry of many influential investment funds including A16z, Antler, BDA Partners, as well as Sustainable Ventures, Octopus Ventures, and 2150, while global venture capital companies such as Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia have recently set up important institutions or new funds in the city.

Zhao says that London Tech Week, held annually in June, has played an important role in building the UK capital’s technology ecosystem. The event brings together leading companies, founders, investors, government agencies, and future talents from around the world to discuss the most urgent issues facing business and society.

Zhao’s firm, London & Partners, has long provided diverse community activities for companies registered in London, helping companies – especially small and medium-sized scientific and technological innovation companies – better integrate into the city’s mature business ecosystem and connect with broader resources. Zhao emphasizes that London is increasingly becoming a gathering center for major companies and institutions.

London & Partners have organized community activities like “Meet the Investor” and “Meet the Corporate” to connect scientific and technological innovation companies seeking financing with investment opportunities, or to provide platforms for companies to connect with institutions and large enterprises. Recently, the firm has organized an opportunity for financial technology companies to exchange ideas with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in London. Zhao notes that “In London, our community activities also emphasize internationalization. In addition to our Grow London Global program to support the internationalization of enterprises, the London Tech Week in 2023 attracted participants from 168 countries and regions, as well as many national pavilions — such as from the Netherlands, Germany, Dubai, Poland, and Pakistan — showcasing the development of their respective scientific and technological ecosystems.”

Since its founding in 2014, London Tech Week has helped the UK capital’s technology ecosystem develop into an important center for nurturing startups and growing companies. According to data from Dealroom, the value of London’s technology ecosystem has grown enormously over the past decade, from $70 billion in 2014 to $621.5 billion in 2023. At the same time, since the founding of London Tech Week, London’s technology companies have raised a total of $107 billion.

Helping Chinese companies continue to tell good stories on the international stage

From high-tech products such as robots, EVs, and drones to new overseas territories represented by Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, from the sweeping presence of Shein in the global fashion retail landscape to the rise of MIXUE Ice Cream & Tea in Southeast Asia, there’s a new wave of companies looking to go overseas.

In this context, it is not hard to see the importance of London as a global springboard for companies that have already joined this journey or are considering including overseas markets in their future expansion plans.

Zhao states that in the past year, London & Partners has helped 20 science and technology enterprises of different scales from the Greater China region to settle in London. In addition to BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, the agency has provided assistance and support for PingPong Payments, a financial technology enterprise headquartered in Hangzhou, to expand its UK business. From an industrial perspective, these Chinese enterprises come from different industries. London & Partners have also worked with firms from the creative technology, industrial digitalization solutions, and biopharmaceutical industries.

“2023 was a fruitful year for the Greater China region,” says Zhao. “In 2024, we hope to continue to assist more Chinese enterprises planning to go global, enabling them to better integrate into the science and technology ecosystem of the UK and London, benefit from London’s mature and well-established international business ecosystem, smoothly settle in London for development, and expand internationally from London as a starting point. At the same time, we will continue to seek suitable platforms for Chinese enterprises, such as London Tech Week, the GROW Summit, and other technology or industry-related events, to help Chinese enterprises tell their stories on international platforms.”

Note: The article was first published on TNGlobal written by Yimie Yong.

The 2nd China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit kicked off in MRANTI Park, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (March 6) with the theme “Fostering Collaborative Innovation, Building the Future Together”.

The two-day summit is one of the key commemorative initiatives for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.

The summit focuses on showcasing and discussing technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI), agricultural technology, and biomedicine. The event also features a series of presentations, panel discussions, and TechInnoStar Pitching sessions.

The opening ceremony on Wednesday morning saw government officials, executives, and leaders from various technology industries and the corporate world gathering at MRANTI Park, where they discussed the role of technology in empowering various industries in the future.

Here are some key takeaways from the opening ceremony speakers:

1. Minister of Economy of Malaysia Rafizi Ramli

The shared future of Malaysia and China must lie in a third vertical: the flow of ideas through innovation and technological transfer, according to Rafizi.
“As we enter 2024, the year of the dragon, it marks 50 years since our second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, established diplomatic ties with Premier Zhou Enlai. Whilst Malaysia became the first of all ASEAN countries to do so in 1974, it would be myopic to ignore our relationship in the hundred years prior,” he said.

“Ours is a shared past. Historically, one that stretches back to the envoys of the Ming dynasty arriving at the ports of Malacca to establish their trade base. Little did those Chinese merchants know that our trading relationship would blossom to the extent of today.”

“For almost 15 years now, China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner, one that is valued at over MYR487 billion ($102.92 billion). This is only one of many facets that underpin our partnership,” he said.

Investment-wise, in 2023, Malaysia has secured over MYR189 billion ($39.94 billion) in investments and memorandum of understanding from Chinese companies.

“Just as ours is a shared past, ours too is a community with a shared future. With already established flows of capital and people, the search for the next vertical to deepen our relations is of utmost priority. I argue that the third vertical must lie in the flow of ideas,” he said, adding that ideas are in the form of disruptive innovation and technological transfer.

“For example, Malaysia is an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) powerhouse, with about 13 percent global market share,” he said.

With such a wide, backend base, Malaysia is the ideal test bed for high-end Chinese technology. It is an industry poised for commercial expansion in the form of advancements in integrated circuit design, Rafizi added.

“If Malaysia’s industries – from agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare – can start playing in the realms of frontier science and tech, our economy will be able to move up the value chain and simultaneously break free from the chains of the middle-income trap. This can only have a positive cascading effect on Malaysia and China’s relationship,” he said.

2. Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing

Innovation prospers a country with inexhaustible drive, and ‘Science and technology is the primary productive force, according to Ouyang. Keenly aware of this, the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of science, technology, and innovation (STI).

In his speech, Ouyang said China will continue to implement the Belt and Road STI Cooperation Action Plan, by setting up more joint laboratories with other parties, scheduled to reach 100 in the next five years, and supporting more young foreign scientists to work in China on short-term programs, Ouyang added.

According to him, China and Malaysia have agreed to hold the 3rd China-Malaysia Intergovernmental Joint Committee Meeting on STI this year, which will further expand people-to-people exchanges in science and technology and R&D cooperation of common interest.

“Friendship between China and Malaysia dates back to a long time ago, which has withstood tests and hardships. This year marks the 50th anniversary of China and Malaysia establishing diplomatic relations,” he said in his speech.

“President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anwar (Ibrahim) have reached an important consensus on jointly building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, opening a new chapter for our bilateral relations. China and Malaysia have made impressive achievements in jointly implementing the Belt and Road Initiative,” he added.

3. Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology & Innovation (MRANTI) CEO Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff

Rais announced the Science and Technology Park Twinning initiative between MRANTI Park and Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing.

“Our recent initiatives have positioned MRANTI Park as a Global 4IR Hub, poised to unlock next-generation innovation,” he said.

“Inspired by my trip to China, where I had the privilege of exploring the Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing, one of the world’s largest science parks, boasting over 200 research & development centers, 90 higher learning institutions, and 400 research institutes. Now, I am delighted to take this opportunity to share with you the fruitful outcome of my team’s recent visit to Z-Park,” he said.

“One of the key highlights of our visit was the initiation of the Science and Technology Park Twinning initiative,” Rais said.

“The initiative seeks to enhance collaboration between MRANTI and Z-Park, promoting the adoption of best practices, knowledge sharing, and institutional excellence. It includes program-level partnerships to facilitate the exchange of tech companies between the two countries that will significantly influence the future of technology and innovation in both nations,” he added.

4.TusStar Holdings President, TusStar Chairman Zhang Jinsheng

TusStar came to Malaysia in 2018, establishing its first overseas incubation base in Southeast Asia, Zhang said.

“With a focus on incubating tech enterprises, TusStar has successfully incubated over 300 companies in the past five years, 80 percent of which are Malaysian companies,” he noted.
TusStar is committed to promoting the exchange of ideas and collaborations in technology between China and Malaysia. Every year, it facilitates at least 1,000 companies between Malaysia and China.

In the past five years, TusStar (Malaysia) has organized over 400 mid to large-scale events, including the China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit, among others. These events have extensively connected resources from higher institutions, corporations, investment institutions, and other sectors.

“Standing at the new historical starting point of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia, under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, TusStar will continue to work hard and cultivate a thriving technology and innovation ecosystem in Malaysia,” he said.

TusStar will strive to nurture tech startups with innovative and internationally competitive capabilities, and explore the construction of “two countries, two parks” to inject new impetus into the development of tech enterprises in China and Malaysia and regional innovation, he said.

Co-hosted by TusStar and MRANTI, the 2nd China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit is also integrated into the series of activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia.

During the Web Summit in Doha, Dr. Gang Lu explores the factors driving China’s rapid tech industry growth in the past decade with Harry Man, Partner at Matrix Partners China, and Cindy Chow, Executive Director & CEO at Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Funding. Their thought-provoking discussion centered on “The Industries Driving China’s Growth”.  

This brief synopsis encapsulates the key insights and standout moments from their dialogue. The full video interview is readily accessible below. The conversation also delves into the trend of Chinese companies going overseas, the challenges for business models in China, and other tech-related questions. 

Panel Insights Summarize

Dr. Gang Lu: Can you share with us what you think of the past 10 to 15 years? What kind of key factor drove China’s tech industry so fast? 

Harry Man: First of all, people are getting richer to understand they have a lot of money that they can spend. Then, the internet penetration has been up to scale that everybody will get access to fast internet and the third thing is the creation and the penetration of smartphones. These three things create the golden 10 years that we’ve been experiencing from 2008 to 2018. China is very lucky to be in the market. We are rich enough. We have spare time. We can spend and then have the right engineers in the market to create all these apps that create the entire market booming.

Cindy Chow: We also see a similar trend. The takeoff is initially very slow but with the efforts from VC and also the efforts from the government inputting in a lot of money to kick start the ecosystem, we see the growth is gaining a lot of steam in the last few years. 

Dr. Gang Lu: If you look at the next 10 to 15 years, do you think there will be a lot of changes in China? 

Harry Man: I think one of the most important things is the economy is changing and growing and the needs for the government and the entrepreneurs at the same time for the users and users have been changing moving alone with the growth of the economy. I wouldn’t always say that geopolitical is putting a stop or a barrier sometimes it is encouraging and giving out new opportunities to entrepreneurs to start their businesses and to be a little bit more active. Now, the world has been changing. Chinese national strategy is mainly encouraging a lot of deep tech and AI because we want an ecosystem to be self-sufficient. 

Cindy Chow: The industries we see a shift and then geographically we also see a shift that used to be in Beijing, or Shanghai Yangtze River Region. But I’m pretty confident with the prospect of the Greater Bay Area which is close to Hong Kong. 

Dr. Gang Lu: We see more and more Chinese companies, especially tech companies, they are going out of China. Do you think that will be the new opportunities for investors?  

Harry Man: This could be the next wave of potential Chinese companies to go overseas. Nowadays, things have been changed. Many of these companies wanted to start fresh to be international from day one. There are a lot of deep tech companies going overseas as well. 

Cindy Chow: We have a term called sea turtle, Chinese some who study or live abroad and then return to China to start their own business. But right now we are seeing that sea turtle who used to have relocated back to China trying to go overseas. 

Dr. Gang Lu: We always see we invest in a Chinese company to help them to go overseas. But do you think that’s another trend we invest in overseas startups and then bring them to China? 

Cindy Chow: I guess that’s possible and perhaps the Greater Bay Area could be one of the opportunities. 

Dr. Gang Lu: Which particular sector of AI are you looking at and the most interested in right now? 
Harry Man: The business model of OpenAI does not work in China and enterprise services are tough. On the other hand, there is another angle that works in China which is using the fundamental foundation models to create use cases and applications in the Chinese market. 

Amidst the dynamic landscape of the Web Summit Qatar, Dr. Gang Lu engaged in a thought-provoking interview with Bill Deng, the Founder and CEO of XTransfer with the theme “AI at the helm: accelerate B2B growth in 2024”.  

In this summary, we encapsulate the key insights and highlights from their discussion. For those eager to delve deeper, watch the full video interview below to provide an immersive exploration into the future of AI-led business acceleration.

Panel Insights Summarize

Dr. Gang Lu: When we talk about cross-border B2B e-commerce, there should be lots of changes before the pandemic or after the pandemic. So can you show us what change you saw in the past? Tell us what’s changed right now. 

Bill Deng: In B2B, the trade tack is happening anywhere after the pandemic. The regulators are introducing technology platforms. So everybody is introducing the digital solution. But still, for B2B, it’s so scattered, that we don’t see a comprehensive digital platform that aggregates everything. Just like, everyone is talking about the platform the B2B version of Amazon will appear. But it is still missing right now. 

Dr. Gang Lu: On the payment side, what is the difference between B2B and B2C?

Bill Deng: B2C payment from all the platforms like Visa, master card, or Paypal, payment companies have been playing dominating roles in B2C payment but for B2B there are banks traditionally. Actually, like underground money services, they kind of became mainstream in some countries. So on top of banks, we don’t see payment companies or payment platforms playing a very important role, unlike B2C…So we create an AI-driven infrastructure to deal with all these AML challenges facing importers or exporters. 

By leveraging AI technology, we can not only help fight against the underground banking system, which enables banks to serve SMEs easily, but also offer streamlined processes and enhance compliance measures within our platform. It’s a triple-win situation.

Dr. Gang Lu: Talking about the adoption of AI. As you said, now XTransfer is using AI to help customers open the bank. How do you see extract for maybe the next five to ten years by AI technology? What’s the perfect solution for the customer?  

Bill Deng: We believe AI would change every corner of this business operation so we are monitoring the breaking point of AI. It could replace human beings, to replace manual work. We believe this could happen. So we are keeping sensitive about the change. We’re flexible and ready to introduce all these solutions that are ready to provide their value to our platform.  

Dr. Gang Lu: I’m sure now lots of customers come from China, you’re helping the Chinese to go overseas to sell products overseas. Do you have any plans to help global clients to sell stuff anywhere in the world? 

Bill Deng: XTransfer serves importers and exporters around the world and it makes the supply chain in global trade much easier. 

Dr. Gang Lu: How do you see as a founder to build an international company

Bill Deng: Regulation could be very complicated in cross-border trade. But we still believe this is the right strategy to go with. I think there are just two things to do: dare to do, dare to go globally. The second thing is we must adapt to cautiously implement everything. 

Dr. Gang Lu: How do you see the trends in the future like transporter e-commerce?

Bill Deng: E-commerce is happening in the B2C area but we believe that eventually it will be brought into B2B. All these technology-digitized solutions are so scattered but eventually, they will be linked together. 

Dr. Gang Lu: What’s your opinion of OpenAI for startups? Is it good to adopt OpenAI or deal with something on their own?  

Bill Deng: On the one hand, we are utilizing the large language model but we will not only use the OpenAI solution. On the other hand, we are trying our model. It’s a small language model that focuses on trade settlement-related topics.

Note: The article was written by Icebin and translated by Zinan Zhang.

As China’s domestic smart manufacturing industry enters a new stage of development, the demand for robots continues to rise. YOUIBOT, as a highly influential participant in the production of industrial mobile robots, is having a considerable impact on the normalization of the use of robots across the entire Chinese manufacturing industry. A pioneer in China, the company is also looking at international expansion, with the exploration of markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the US. 

As part of our Next China series, TechNode conducted a special interview with Zhang Chaohui, the founder and CEO of YOUIBOT, to discuss his firm’s products, the challenges of international expansion, and the future of robotics. 

1. YOUIBOT is already a pioneer in the field of industrial robotics. Tell us a little about your company’s journey to date. 

YOUIBOT applies high-precision Slam navigation mobile robots and application software systems to provide advanced manufacturing with upgraded in-house logistics solutions and intelligent inspection and operation solutions for the energy industry.

In the industrial logistics sector, YOUIBOT focuses on in-house logistics for advanced manufacturing, achieving a closed-loop of material flow and data flow throughout the facility’s entire lifecycle. YOUIBOT has committed to the semiconductor industry, covering the entire production process from upstream wafer fabrication, chip packaging and testing, to downstream assembly. It is the largest mobile robot enterprise in terms of shipments in the semiconductor field. Additionally, YOUIBOT continues to explore the new energy sector with lithium battery production at its core and is a partner to many well-known semiconductor and lithium battery manufacturing companies both domestically and internationally.

YOUIBOT has dedicated itself to the energy industry’s inspection and maintenance field. By utilizing robot motion control technology, AI vision algorithm technology, multi-machine scheduling, and online monitoring technology, YOUIBOT provides customers with a comprehensive intelligent inspection solution and assists energy industry clients in creating smart power plants, intelligent power grids, and other new intelligent management systems, offering intensive, intelligent, and unmanned advanced inspection and maintenance capabilities.

YOUIBOT focuses on advanced manufacturing logistics in China, primarily targeting the semiconductor and lithium battery fields, as well as providing intelligent inspection and maintenance solutions in the fields of electricity, new energy, and petrochemicals. Since 2021, YOUIBOT has actively expanded into overseas markets, with products shipped to over 30 countries and regions, and the establishment of more than 60 network sales channels.

In the global wave of industrial intelligence upgrades, autonomous mobile robots, as an advanced and mature productivity tool, play a significant role across various industries. In the field of mobile robots, China’s robot technology is on par with international standards, with the broadest market potential. 

2. The new energy industry, semiconductor industry, and 3C industry are currently highly dynamic sectors, both domestically and overseas. How has YOUIBOT adapted to this opportunity? 

We have a systematic process for industry analysis and selection, focusing on ‘advanced manufacturing and advanced capacity.’ In these fields, there is a pressing need for expansion and efficiency improvement, making the introduction of mobile robots for logistics automation in factories both necessary and urgent.

With this logic, industries such as semiconductors and lithium batteries become our primary focus. We concentrate on the production and manufacturing processes of these scenarios, developing integrated solutions for mobile robots. This ensures automated logistics on the production line as well as seamless data connectivity and helps factories achieve a closed loop of material and data flows throughout the entire production cycle, contributing to the goal of improving quality and efficiency.

However, it is not easy to achieve depth in the industry. Taking semiconductors as an example, wafer production is the most precise and demanding area in the electronics manufacturing process, requiring high standards for mobile robot equipment. For instance, to achieve class 100 cleanliness, the slightest vibration during handling will affect the yield of the lobes. We spent nearly two years in the early stages understanding the industry, and constantly refining product performance through interactions with factories and research centers. In 2021, we launched a composite mobile robot specifically for wafer production, and market feedback indicates that our early technical efforts have yielded excellent results. In industry technical performance tests, we often top the rankings, earning customer recognition and trust.

Facing the overseas market, we introduced the ‘Integrated’ strategy in 2022, expecting overseas business to account for over 30% of our activity within three years. We deeply integrate our rich and scalable landing experience in the Chinese semiconductor and lithium battery industries, along with the efficient integration capabilities and long-term customer service experience of local partners. This creates friendly and comprehensive service support, forming an overseas business layout centered on customers and supported by local partners.

Since officially entering the Japanese market in 2022, YOUIBOT has completed a comprehensive channel roll-out and established strong cooperative relationships with powerful players. This year, we will also establish a subsidiary in Japan, providing 24/7 responsive sales, technical support, and after-sales service capabilities. Thanks to the rapid development of Chinese manufacturing, Chinese industrial mobile robot brands have accumulated extensive project experience in improving manufacturing efficiency, automating upgrades, and landing high-end capacity over the past few years.

The foundation of industrial automation in the European market stems more from the accumulation of the past 20-30 years. YOUIBOT has a more mature experience compared to local European brands in the rapid deployment and application experience of new technologies. In the process of landing projects in the Chinese market, our products have undergone more stringent requirements, are constantly refined, and have superior performance including navigation accuracy, battery life, and fixed integrated interfaces. Simultaneously, experience from multiple project landings allows YOUIBOT to have a more complete understanding of end-user applications, providing more comprehensive solutions to customers and addressing their on-site needs and issues quickly. In addition to product performance advantages and solution capabilities, YOUIBOT provides more cost-effective products compared to European and American brands.

3. What are some of the challenges that Chinese companies face when they go global?

We said that every step in the global roll-out is a new beginning. Economic, political, industrial, and cultural factors vary greatly across different countries and regions. We first need to clarify the underlying logic of product demand, then tailor solutions that adapt to the corresponding needs based on different application scenarios.

• Products: Upgrade standard products running domestically to meet overseas standards, and refine them according to the requirements of overseas customers.
• Services: Provide comprehensive training and support to the channel network, offer 24/7 online services for key regions, and gradually establish local teams to enhance service efficiency.
• Sales: Layout and coverage of the channel network.

4. Robots are becoming increasingly crucial in the era of intelligent manufacturing, with some big name players such as ByteDance and Tesla entering the sector. How does YOUIBOT view the competition brought to the industry by these tech giants? 

The unveiling of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot in 2023 generated a lot of discussion among the public and led to sustained attention in the entire field of robotics. Robotics is an extensive field encompassing various types of service robots, special-purpose robots, and industrial robots like ours used in industrial settings. On a macro level, we hope more industry giants join the robotics market, introducing additional technology and resources to accelerate the iteration and evolution of the robotics industry. However, in the specific field of industrial mobile robots where we operate, unlike the consumer market, industrial scenarios are intricately segmented. Understanding customer points within these complex scenarios and providing professional solutions impose high demands on AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) vendors. One needs to comprehend both the scenarios and robot technology. Therefore, the entry barriers in this field are relatively high. 

Our technological foundation is quite solid, with over 50% of our team dedicated to research and development. We have established a modular and configurable product architecture tailored to diverse scenarios, enabling us to rapidly develop and deploy solutions to meet various market demands. Simultaneously, we collaborate with experts, educational institutions, and enterprises to create innovation labs, tackle research projects, and maintain exploration at the forefront of technology. In March 2023, we took the lead in a national key research and development project in semiconductors, aiming to fill the gap in industrial software for semiconductor production.

5. The rise of generative AI has led to some concerns over the technology in wider society. Are there similar issues regarding robotics? Where do you see the future of the sector?

We believe that mobile robots are a mature and advanced productivity tool. In the future, they will have various roles and positions similar to humans, participating in social production activities alongside humans. They will supplement human labor, free human hands, coexist harmoniously with humans, and contribute to creating a more harmonious world.

I don’t have much say on humanoid robots; I prefer to focus on the field of industrial mobile robots that I am engaged in. Currently, mobile robots, much like the early days of the internet, are gradually infiltrating various industries, bringing about a transformation in traditional production methods. It can be anticipated that as the scale of mobile robots grows, they will, in the future, develop their ecosystem, much like the automotive industry, with dedicated sales and service centers, charging stations, and cleaning facilities, forming their ecological industry.

Note: The article was written by Miziko Li and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Miziko Li, Social Media Editor at TechNode. Miziko Mainly focuses on ConsumerTech and Dynamics of Major internet companies.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

At the end of Nov, Pinduoduo saw its market value surpass Alibaba’s, becoming the largest Chinese company in terms of market capitalization on the U.S. stock market, marking a historic moment. As someone who loves shopping online, I usually buy daily necessities on Pinduoduo, which can essentially meet my therapeutic consumption needs (Not because I can’t afford anything on Taobao or Tmall, but because buying products on Pinduoduo has better value for money). Whether the price is low or high, Pinduoduo supports free shipping, and compared to other platforms, its return and refund services are the most user-friendly. From cross-border e-commerce to user innovation, I have transitioned from questioning Pinduoduo to understanding it and ultimately loving to use the platform. 

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

Huawei. Despite facing various external pressures, Huawei has released numerous new products this year, spanning from wearable devices to smart homes and even automobiles. Huawei is actively building an intelligent world of interconnected devices. With the release of Huawei ADS 2.0, the new M5 model, a collaboration with SERES, entered the scene, and the subsequent release of the new M7 model led to a significant increase in SERES’s sales. Having experienced the vehicle, I also find the new M7 quite appealing! At the end of December, the launch of the M9, as the flagship product under the HarmonyOS Smart Travel division, is set to lead a new journey in driving. While Huawei doesn’t manufacture cars independently, it plays a crucial role in helping car manufacturers produce and sell high-quality vehicles.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Zhihui Jun. I’ve been a fan of watching Zhihui Jun’s videos on Bilibili. In February 2023, Zhihui Jun established his startup, AGIBOT, transitioning from a well-known tech influencer to a tech entrepreneur. The founding team managed to create and launch their first product within six months. In less than a year since its establishment, AGIBOT has completed five rounds of financing. In the A+++ round of financing completed in December, the funding amount exceeded 600 million yuan. It is reported that AGIBOT is currently undergoing a new round of financing, with a pre-investment valuation reaching 7 billion yuan. I believe he is someone with clear goals and extraordinary initiative. In his spare time, he can immerse himself in researching advanced hardcore technology for three to four months. The passion he demonstrates in his field is not only admirable but also unparalleled. He is undoubtedly a role model for us all. 

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

OpenAI experiences a major movement in leadership. In just five days, CEO Sam Altman was ousted by the board, and President Greg Brockman announced his resignation as the board chairman. Subsequently, both swiftly joined Microsoft’s new artificial intelligence research lab. Eventually, an agreement was tentatively reached between OpenAI and Sam Altman, leading to Sam Altman’s return as CEO of OpenAI. He is set to form a new board, and Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, gains a non-voting board seat. Amid the excitement of 5G developments, concerns about AI safety continue to grow, reflecting the rapid evolution of AI technology.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

Brand crossovers. At the end of the year, Xiaomi held a highly anticipated Xiaomi Car Technology Conference, unveiling the Xiaomi SU7. Huawei collaborated with SERES and Chery to create two models, while NIO launched the NIO Phone. In 2023, many internet giants have successfully ventured into new fields, marking a trend of diversification.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Certainly, it’s AIGC. The year 2023 is a year of AI breakthroughs. From the emergence of ChatGPT to the present, AIGC has become the hottest topic in the tech world. For instance, Google recently introduced its largest and most powerful LLM, Gemini, along with the Imagen 2 model. HeyGen launched an AI voice-changing product, enabling figures like Guo Degang to perform traditional Chinese stand-up comedy in English and Zhao Benshan to deliver skits in English, with voice and lip-sync matching so convincingly that it’s almost indistinguishable from reality. While providing entertainment, it has also raised concerns about technology and privacy.

For me, on a daily basis, I use ChatGPT to assist in office tasks, ranging from optimizing text, checking spelling errors, translating articles to providing solutions and content ideas. The advent of AIGC has significantly improved my work efficiency and quality.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

Nei Juan. ChatGPT is surging in popularity, leading to a “battle of a thousand models” as capital, industry giants, and startups all rush to enter the big model arena. Despite a sluggish demand on the consumer end in the smartphone market, major manufacturers are striving to bring forth new innovations. Professor Zhang Xuefeng even remarked at an event that the smartphone industry is more competitive than preparing for postgraduate exams or civil service exams. The electric vehicle (EV) market is also fiercely competitive, with China’s global leadership in EV. Independent brands are rising, and an influx of new models intensifies price wars. Despite the severity of internal competition, we also witness more innovations. Only through continuous innovation can we address more pain points and meet the ever-increasing demands of consumers.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

Humanoid robots. As humanoid robot technology continues to develop, its application scenarios are becoming increasingly widespread, and it is expected to have profound implications in various fields in the future. 

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

Currently, AI does not pose a threat to human. However, the threats posed by AI to humanity go beyond survival and encompass potential risks such as employment, legal issues, privacy, and security. With the rapid development of AI, an increasing number of countries and governmental organizations have established AI regulations or implemented stricter regulatory frameworks. While humans enjoy the convenience brought by artificial intelligence, it is crucial to avoid these potential threats. Many tech leaders have been warning us consistently that humanity will face risks from the development of AI. As AI evolves to become more autonomous and less constrained, there is a possibility that it could pose a threat to human survival in the future.

Note: The article was written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Steven Lee, Editor at TechNode. Steven is an editor who focuses on Apple, Google, Microsoft and other big company dynamics.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

This year, the most impressive company for me is OpenAI. ChatGPT is the most eye-catching product of the year, sparking a trend in AI. This generative AI has influenced various fields, including creativity, design, media, etc. Tech giants in China and the U.S. are competing to develop and launch similar products.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

TikTok Shop being shut down in Indonesia by the government was unexpected. The Indonesian government believed that TikTok Shop’s business model would impact the livelihood of local small businesses, leading to the shutdown order. Later, TikTok announced a $1.5 billion investment in the Indonesian e-commerce platform Tokopedia. The developments of these two companies will continue to be watched closely.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT. After being removed from the CEO position, Microsoft announced his hiring along with co-founder Greg Brockman. In a surprising turn of events, with the support of core employees and investors, Altman and Brockman returned to the company, highlighting their influence and status.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT, was unexpectedly removed from the CEO position by the OpenAI board. Later, Microsoft announced his inclusion, and he returned to OpenAI in a strong comeback.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

NVIDIA’s collaboration with Malaysia’s YTL Group to build a $4.3 billion AI data center in Malaysia. The development of NVIDIA in Malaysia is anticipated, and there are hopes that it will drive the growth of AI in the country. Due to the popularity of ChatGPT, AI has become a focal point, making NVIDIA the best-performing listed company on the S&P 500 index last year. The founder, Jensen Huang, created a buzz with his whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, at the end of last year.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Artificial Intelligence (AI), ChatGPT.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

AI field: Rapid advancement, intense competition. With the significant success of ChatGPT, major tech giants and startups are competing to launch AI-related products, leading to a rapid advancement of AI.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

I’m very excited about the developments in the Electric Vehicle (EV) sector. Huawei and Xiaomi have recently launched their EV models, and I’m eager to see the impact and changes they will bring to the overall EV industry. Additionally, the Chinese EV brands BYD and NIO have surpassed Tesla in global sales, and I’m looking forward to the plans and developments of BYD, especially its introduction of products in Indonesia in January.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

I believe AI may affect some jobs, but currently rather than replacing people’s jobs, I tend to believe that AI is helping people enhance efficiency and solve problems such as quick data collection.Furthermore, I have confidence that humans will find ways to control or balance the threats posed by AI and use AI more effectively to enhance efficiency and solve various problems.

Note: The article was written by Yimie and translated by Zinan.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Yimie Yong, Reporter at TNGlobal. Yimie is a reporter who focuses on EV, AI, FinTech, and InsurTech.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

This year, the most impressive company for me is OpenAI. ChatGPT is the most eye-catching product of the year, sparking a trend in AI. This generative AI has influenced various fields, including creativity, design, media, etc. Tech giants in China and the U.S. are competing to develop and launch similar products.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

TikTok Shop being shut down in Indonesia by the government was unexpected. The Indonesian government believed that TikTok Shop’s business model would impact the livelihood of local small businesses, leading to the shutdown order. Later, TikTok announced a $1.5 billion investment in the Indonesian e-commerce platform Tokopedia. The developments of these two companies will continue to be watched closely.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT. After being removed from the CEO position, Microsoft announced his hiring along with co-founder Greg Brockman. In a surprising turn of events, with the support of core employees and investors, Altman and Brockman returned to the company, highlighting their influence and status.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT, was unexpectedly removed from the CEO position by the OpenAI board. Later, Microsoft announced his inclusion, and he returned to OpenAI in a strong comeback.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

NVIDIA’s collaboration with Malaysia’s YTL Group to build a $4.3 billion AI data center in Malaysia. The development of NVIDIA in Malaysia is anticipated, and there are hopes that it will drive the growth of AI in the country. Due to the popularity of ChatGPT, AI has become a focal point, making NVIDIA the best-performing listed company on the S&P 500 index last year. The founder, Jensen Huang, created a buzz with his whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, at the end of last year.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Artificial Intelligence (AI), ChatGPT.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

AI field: Rapid advancement, intense competition. With the significant success of ChatGPT, major tech giants and startups are competing to launch AI-related products, leading to a rapid advancement of AI.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

I’m very excited about the developments in the Electric Vehicle (EV) sector. Huawei and Xiaomi have recently launched their EV models, and I’m eager to see the impact and changes they will bring to the overall EV industry. Additionally, the Chinese EV brands BYD and NIO have surpassed Tesla in global sales, and I’m looking forward to the plans and developments of BYD, especially its introduction of products in Indonesia in January.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

I believe AI may affect some jobs, but currently rather than replacing people’s jobs, I tend to believe that AI is helping people enhance efficiency and solve problems such as quick data collection. Furthermore, I have confidence that humans will find ways to control or balance the threats posed by AI and use AI more effectively to enhance efficiency and solve various problems.

Note: The article was written by Angelo.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Angelo, Editor at TNGlobal. Angelo is an editor who focuses on SEA Tech News.

1. Which technology has impressed you the most in 2023?

Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence is the hottest topic in recent years, and OpenAI has been at the forefront of this industry. It’s not necessarily for its advancements in technology, because other companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, etc., have also been building upon their own capabilities. Many of these are under-the-radar, but OpenAI accelerated the time-to-market for AI-driven products, for better or worse. More importantly, the management “drama” that unfolded toward the end of 2023 highlighted the importance of governance and accountability in this emerging technology, especially given its potential impact on humanity.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

Frankly, Microsoft is the single company that has surprised me this year. While many would view Microsoft as a bland company that now lacks the sexiness and edge that other giants like Apple and Google have, it does have significant investments in products and technologies that can potentially be gamechangers, particularly AI. It is also making significant inroads into community-driven technologies such as open-source projects, which is one of the things I am deeply interested in.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

OpenAI’s Sam Altman made an impression on me not only because of AI, but rather because of his interest in survivalism and prepping. Altman reportedly has a bunker in New Zealand, same as many other billionaires who can afford the infrastructure, supplies, personnel, and training involved in prepping for disasters in the long-haul. I am mostly interested in prepping for more localized ones, such as those brought about by natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, storms, etc.). But given Altman’s involvement in AI, does he know something we don’t? Will AI eventually lead to humanity’s ruin?

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

I am particularly interested in exploring the unknown and pushing human capabilities and technologies to the extremes. For this reason, I have two events from 2023 that are quite memorable to me. One is India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon, which is perhaps one of the factors that will rekindle renewed interest in moon missions and exploration, not to mention the other activities by NASA, SpaceX, CNSA, ESA, and other organizations in advancing space-exploration technologies.

Another is the OceanGate disaster, which involves another area of exploration–the deep oceans. With its loss of its Titan and crew, it also underscores the importance of establishing a balance between achieving innovations and developing standards for safety.

We’ve achieved so much in these areas in the past century alone. I’m excited for what we can achieve in the 21st century onwards.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

There’s always talk about how electric vehicles will enhance the sustainability of our transportation systems. For me, however, what’s more interesting is the deep technology behind these industries, particularly alternative power sources. Electric vehicles may simply be shifting the carbon footprint from fossil fuels to other sources of energy. But what about new breakthroughs that can potentially be cleaner and safer, such as the use of hydrogen and other materials? And this might not only be for terrestrial travel. How about propulsion or space-going vessels?

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

AI, of course, and its related buzzwords, had been the most popular in 2023. Other contenders would be “The Great Resignation” in the context of work-from-home and return-to-office trends, as well as “Open Source Intelligence” in the context of data management.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

“Anxious but excited,” is the phrase that best summarizes my view especially in tech-driven industries across the globe. On one hand, we are having significant advancements in artificial intelligence, which means we can come at innovations and efficiencies at a scale previously not achievable. However, this also means potential disruption to a lot of industries. Some might get left behind if we are not able to get ahead of the wave.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

We have been exploring space for decades. With recent advancements in reusable materials and propulsion technologies, we might just achieve significant developments in the next years to come that will make space travel more accessible and viable than ever.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

I think humanity poses a threat to humanity. AI will just be something that accelerates it if left unchecked. We therefore need better governance mechanisms that will ensure AI is not utilized for harmful applications and that AI itself will not have the means to do such on its own.

Note: The article was written by icebin and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from icebin, reporter at TechNode. icebin is a tech reporter based in Shanghai who focuses on Sustainability, EV, VR/AR, IoT, and New Material.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

It’s BYD. This company has transitioned from one era to another. After years of dedicated efforts, BYD has become a leader in China’s EV market, with 1557 patent applications making it the company with the highest number of pure EV-related patent applications among the top four EV manufacturers in China. Leveraging their accumulated technology and patents in the battery field, coupled with the expansion of product categories, they achieved a remarkable annual sales figure of 3,024,417 vehicles, a year-on-year growth of 61.9%. With this impressive data, BYD not only fulfilled its goal of selling 3 million vehicles set at the beginning of the year but also secured the top spot in China’s annual automotive sales, claiming the global crown in new energy vehicle sales. The 3 million mark also set a new record for annual car sales in China.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

The most surprising company for me is Huawei. Before the launch of the Apple 15 series, Huawei preemptively released and sold the new Mate 60 series, especially considering the chip restrictions. Additionally, Huawei has made a strong product layout in the automotive market, exerting significant competitive pressure on other car manufacturers.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

The entrepreneur who has left a deep impression on me is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The products he has led have ushered in a new era of AI. The revolutionary AI chatbot, ChatGPT, introduced by OpenAI, connects extensive corpora to train the model, achieving conversations in chat scenarios almost similar to real human interaction. In the future, as intelligent applications in areas such as customer service, education, healthcare, and search engines continue to be implemented, ChatGPT, integrated with various industry applications, is set to witness the establishment of more paid business models.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

The overseas event that left the deepest impression on me this year is the continuous surge in NVIDIA’s stock price. This also signifies the industry’s recognition of its key role in AI sector. In the AI frenzy, NVIDIA has emerged as the biggest winner, surpassing a trillion-dollar market cap. The sudden popularity of ChatGPT has triggered a global AI race between major tech companies and startups, all eager to acquire NVIDIA’s H100 product. Jensen Huang referred to it as “the world’s first computer [chip] designed for generative AI”.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

The industry trend that I’d like to highlight is Microsoft’s strategic layout in the field of AI. With Microsoft’s involvement in AI and its integration with the Windows and PC ecosystem, AI can now bring significant innovation in both software and hardware ecosystems.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Without a doubt, the hottest trend is AI. This term has made an impact across various industries, with almost every sector leveraging AI for innovation and breakthroughs. It can be foreseen that this trend will continue in the coming years.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

It can be described as “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend”. Whether in the field of AI, new energy vehicles, or consumer electronics, with the collaborative efforts of AI and related hardware and chips, the pace and diversity of changes in the world have become even more rapid.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

Next year, what I am most looking forward to is the integration of AI in consumer electronics and personal digital products, breakthroughs in the MR/AR field, technological innovations in the new energy vehicle sector, and the refinement of technology in the field of intelligent driving. This includes leading enterprises both domestically and internationally. Of course, the actions of companies led by Musk next year are also worth paying attention to, as he always manages to bring unconventional breakthroughs and innovations.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

From a technological perspective, AI, when used friendly, will undoubtedly significantly improve human work and life. However, technology can also be exploited by malicious actors, and what we need to do is take preventive measures. In the current trend, AI will not pose a threat to humanity; it will only assist humanity in entering a new era of development, resolving more conflicts.

Note: The article was written by Penghui Li and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Penghui Li, reporter at TechNode. Penghui is a tech reporter who focuses on the Southeast Asian VC Ecosystem and Companies Going Overseas.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

Whether from the perspective of a netizen or a content creator, the generative AI craze sparked by ChatGPT over the whole year has frequently appeared in my daily life. I have gradually accepted and actively started using such tools to enhance my work efficiency. I look forward to more surprises from this type of technology.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

It’s amazing that VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle company, actually delivered its first EV in 2023. This company was founded in 2017, and the company announced its transition from fuel vehicles to electric vehicle manufacturing in 2021. In the second half of 2022, I always saw related news about the delivery of its first car on Christmas Day that year but it was still delayed. 

Before this, I have always had doubts about VinFast. Although I have seen too much news about car manufacturing, it is difficult for me to believe whether this young car company can produce cars as its pricing is benchmarked against Tesla, and its primary target market is also North America. In addition, the industry has always referred to it as the “Vietnamese Tesla.” The combination of these accolades and repeated delays makes it hard for people not to feel that it is a script. However, VinFast has indeed been produced.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Sam Altman. Before the recent conflicts within ChatGPT and OpenAI this year, as I have a slight interest in tokusatsu, “Ultraman” would more specifically refer to Tsuburaya’s Ultraman series in my memories (Altman and Ultraman have a similar translation in China) However, after the ChatGPT and OpenAI controversies, the various Chinese translations of Altman’s name. I hope that he can have a consistent Chinese translation of his name.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

The upheaval in TikTok’s Indonesian e-commerce business. What stands out to me is that, on the one hand, as a company, TikTok’s impact extends far beyond our conventional understanding of a business. On the other hand, looking at it from the perspective of a company going global, there have been significant changes compared to simply introducing products and services to overseas markets in the past.

However, in my opinion, when a startup gradually continues to mature and becomes a presence that industry insiders pay attention to and even influence the development of the industry, the things it undertakes will gradually surpass everyone’s imagination. At this point, interpreting these things purely from the perspective of right or wrong, or good or bad, becomes quite complex. From the standpoint of a content creator, this can make me feel an intangible pressure.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

Cross-border Payment Linkage among Southeast Asian countries and between Southeast Asia and other regions. More specifically, this movement is made up of a series of specific events over 23 years, particularly cross-border payments and cross-border transfers.

Before the pandemic, there were large groups of tourists and travelers traveling between Southeast Asian countries every year. And as the effects of the pandemic have gradually passed, these movements have begun to return. The ease of payment will further promote the transactional activities in these cross-border behaviors. Almost every Southeast Asian country will have its QR code payment platform. If one account/one phone can be used in all countries, I believe more people will also start this kind of transaction behavior.

From my perspective, I would recommend that we focus on the impact of this process of increasing integration. When we mention Southeast Asia, it’s not hard to realize that the region is made up of many countries with different development paths and processes.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Funding Winter. Intuitively, our readers might notice that the funding reports I’ve written in 2023 have been significantly decreasing compared to the previous two years.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

“Back to the reasonable range” for the tech VC in Southeast Asia.

I’ve heard this from Southeast Asia-focused investors over the past year. The Southeast Asian VC community was experiencing a boom in 2021 and the first half of 2022. In comparison, Southeast Asia is currently undergoing a “financing winter.” Despite being an “underrated region”, their performance in the past few years does not seem to be a sustainable condition in the long term. On the journey of Southeast Asia’s “digital decade”, it has only completed one-third of the road.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

Electric Vehicle/EV industry (both two and four-wheeled). On the one hand, it comes from Southeast Asia’s ambition to become a regional hub for EVs. On the other hand, the Southeast Asia area is also hosting a boom in EVs going overseas in China. 

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

Yes. My understanding of the threat is to have a harmful effect. AI may currently refer specifically to AIGC, and the main reason that makes me feel threatened is the increasing presence of AI voices including harassing phone calls and video content AI reading voice. AI content, such as the articles that are becoming more commonly produced by AI, usually seems to be well-written but is actually uninformed or even wrong in its opinions. There are quite a few people who use AI assistants to discuss issues with me.

I’m not saying that AI answers are wrong, but in terms of accuracy, AI-generated content can easily be misleading.

I also realize that AI is essentially a tool, and the value it can add depends on the perspective of the people who use it. What I’m worried about has existed before AIGC was created, though they’re likely to become more numerous and difficult to discern in the future.

Anyway, before more specific regulations and policies are finalized, this buzzword will bring more room for imagination and development value to the world, and at the same time, it will also produce negative impacts that cannot be ignored. As for the concern of AI occupying human jobs, I don’t think that’s what I can explore alone, and at least not in the short term for my job, it doesn’t have that possibility.

 The article was first published on LinkedIn written by Jimmy NG and edited by Jake Newby and Zinan Zhang.

2023 was a tough year for early-stage founders and VC funds around the globe, and Hong Kong was no exception. Hong Kong has been in an even trickier position than other cities, given its highly outward-facing economy and connectivity with China, meaning it was naturally impacted by the sentiment of global investment around China turning so sharply after the huge bull runs in the country for the past 20-plus years. While the fundamentals of Hong Kong have shaken and shifted, 2023 was a year where much of the foundational work of building an innovation scene was done.

Here are my two cents on what to expect in Hong Kong for 2024 in the early-stage startup scene, organized by opportunities and challenges:

Opportunities

1. RAISe+ Scheme – first batch of innovative university startups to be unveiled

A HK government-led program with an allocation of HKD 10 billion, the RAISe+ scheme will, on a matching basis, fund 100 high-potential research teams in eight universities. Each team can get up to HKD 100 million in non-dilutive funding. This is the biggest funding scheme available for university-originated startups in HK. The scheme was a core focus for many knowledge transfer offices in HK universities in 2023, where professors and their fellow researchers/project leads were busy writing proposals, while university staff jiggled with all the letters of intent from investors/industry partners and requirements set forth by the Innovation and Technology Commission. The first batch of recipients is expected to be announced within Q1 2024 after screening.

We met some of these projects with interesting underlying IPs. How the universities, professors, project leads, and investors handle the rest of the difficult parts of starting a venture – hiring, fundraising, productization, fundraising, and more – is the next set of questions to be answered.

2. HK remains the go-to hub for Greater Bay Area (GBA) startups going global

We spent quite some time in 2023 meeting China-based early-stage startups related to advanced manufacturing (semiconductors, new materials, ESG materials), industry 4.0 (robotics, automation, innovations in traditional industries), and cross-border e-commerce. Chinese founders shared their firsthand experience facing the lowered spending power of local corporates and consumers. As a result, many of them have taken their products abroad, selling at a higher price point than what they could ask for in China. Over time, China has built up top-of-class manufacturing and operating know-how and trained skilled labor that is irreplaceable by other geographies. 

China startups that possess unique R&D and manufacturing know-how and operate in non-sensitive industries will still utilize Hong Kong as the hub for initial funding and landing their first batch of overseas customers.

3. Lots of dry powder waiting to deploy in HK

In 2023, local and global GPs secured fresh funding to be deployed specifically to companies with a Hong Kong nexus, thanks to the setup of the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio. Last year, many of them were setting up their teams and understanding the ecosystem in HK. On the other side, CVCs and universities are increasingly active in either direct investment or fund investment in HK as well. There is pressure to deploy for these investors, which should help to drive more deal activity in 2024.

Having said all this, the HK startup ecosystem is faced with the following fundamental challenges.

Challenges

1. Opex – cost of operating, and funding gap between Seed to Series B

While GPs are loaded with cash, there is a lack of startups with a valuation range of $200 million – $500 million that can digest a round of $20 million – $100 million in HK. On the other side, there has been a funding gap that remains unfilled for startups looking for Series A/+ lead investors.

Rent and labor costs continue to be the two biggest headaches for HK-based startups.

2. Talent — lack of startup operators, and operator-turned-founders

While there has been strong growth in the number of startups in HK over the past decade, the ecosystem of operators who are willing to take the risk and be the first 10 employees of a fresh HK startup is still nascent. We are still building the flywheel where early employees of successful startups become founders or operators for another early-stage venture. Not to mention the challenge of the tech brain drain in the city since 2020.

3. Exit pathway – billion-dollar question for both VC and startups

With many corporates cutting their spending, the incentive for larger players to acquire startups has decreased, especially when M&A activity is already low in the region. Coupled with a stagnant IPO market, HK startups are faced with an even tougher market compared to other comparable startups in other regions.

Revolutionary Event Unveils Global Short Video Trends and Business Opportunities

FastMoss, a leading TikTok data analytics platform, is thrilled to announce the FastMoss Global Short Video Conference & Expo (FGVCon), a revolutionary two-day event set to take place from January 18th to January 19th, 2024, at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

FGVCon transcends borders and platforms, assembling industry leaders, top influencers, brands, sellers, agencies, and platform officials in the dynamic world of short-form video content. The conference not only highlights TikTok but also explores emerging opportunities on platforms such as Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, Amazon, Kwai, and more. Confirmed guests include Xiaobin LIU (VP & CMO of Miniso), Grace YANG (Founder & CEO of NextWave), Chris Pereira (Founder & CEO of iMPact), and renowned brands like Anker, F-Commerce, MeToo, among others. International guests from the US, Europe, Vietnam, Thailand, and more will converge in Shenzhen, China, to share their knowledge and secrets, collectively propelling the global short video and live streaming industry forward.

Top TikTok Influencers to Share Success Secrets at FGVCon

FGVCon marks the first Chinese conference of short video and live streaming industry to invite overseas top influencers and innovatively introduces China’s first “FGVCon”. The event features leading figures such as “Vietnam Viya,” top American TikTok influencers Jeremy Pugh and Janey, TikTok headliner Venny Albert (with 12.1 million followers), and Akash Ellahi (with 14.9 million followers), making their Chinese show.

In addition to confirmed influencers, the event will showcase other outstanding domestic and international talents from TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels and more.

First Collaboration and engagement with multiple Official platforms at once

FGVCon pioneers’ collaboration with multiple platforms, including TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, Kwai, Shopee, Lazada, TEMU, Amazon, and more. Confirmed guests include Yuki Yuan (Google’s YouTube Shorts), Vivian (Shopee), Liu Na (Kwai for Business) and more. These platform representatives will delve into market trends and consumer demands in Southeast Asian countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Indonesia, and Thailand. More mystery guests and platform representatives are confirmed, with detailed information to be gradually revealed.

The FastMoss Global Short Video Conference & Expo (FGVCon) emerges as a beacon of innovation and collaboration in the dynamic realm of the short video and live streaming industry. Assembled at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center from January 18th to January 19th, 2024, FGVCon promises an immersive experience, offering a deeper understanding of market trends and consumer demands from around the world.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Evan Huang and translated by Zinan Zhang and Jake Newby.

On Dec. 5, 2023, Pete Lau, the founder of OnePlus (now Senior Vice President at Oppo), held a press conference to mark the Chinese mobile phone brand’s tenth anniversary where he answered a series of screened questions from netizens, posted on the social media platform Weibo. These questions led Lau to offer a retrospective on OnePlus’s entrepreneurial history, discuss its brand positioning, and evaluate some of its classic products from the last decade. 

OnePlus was founded on Dec. 17, 2013, and released its first product, the OnePlus One, in Beijing five months later. Time magazine later praised the phone as a “Phone of Dreams” in an article that made OnePlus the first Chinese smartphone brand to be reviewed by the outlet. Yet in recent years the brand has struggled to differentiate itself from Oppo, with whom it shares a large amount of investment, leading to several restructurings in the relationship between the two firms.

Understandably, the tenth anniversary milestone found Lau in a reflective mood, but he also laid out some of his ambitions for the brand’s future and repeatedly emphasized that OnePlus’ has its place in a crowded mobile phone market.

Material innovation

One area in which Lau feels the brand has excelled – and differentiated itself – in the last ten years is in the materials it has used.

As early as 2014, with the OnePlus One, OnePlus introduced two innovative materials: “baby skin” and bamboo. The baby skin white variant, featured a three-layer evenly brushed back cover, with a delicate and smooth texture due to its spray-on material extracted from natural cashew nuts that didn’t retain sweat stains. The bamboo version, using the grass as its back cover material, provided a warm and smooth feel.

With the OnePlus 3 series protective cases, OnePlus introduced another new material: ebony wood. This is a scarce wood with a tight structure, hardness, and corrosion resistance, showcasing distinct wood grains.

With the OnePlus 5T, OnePlus once again challenged traditional material usage and craftsmanship modes, using a new spray-on material and process on the white back cover. Through four new high-precision spray processes, sandstone white and metal materials were organically fused to provide outstanding tactility.

AG glass, widely used in current phones, gained its popularity from OnePlus. On the OnePlus 6T, AG etching was used to create AG glass, providing an impressive matte feel. Today, OnePlus has adopted the fifth-generation AG glass technology, achieving a haze of the glass surface to 72%, and delivering a matte texture resistant to fingerprints and sweat stains.

OnePlus’ pursuit of material innovation extends beyond this. In the spring of this year, OnePlus launched the OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited Edition, using 3D microcrystalline rock, a material that has never been used before in the industry.

OS issues: From independence to adoption

OnePlus phones were originally equipped with an in-house developed operating system, HydrogenOS. HydrogenOS was known for its simplicity. The “smoothness” of HydrogenOS was highly praised by many early users and was considered a competitive advantage for OnePlus.

As other domestic smartphone systems became more localized, however, HydrogenOS, which leant more towards Android systems, began to see that competitive advantage significantly reduced. 

ColorOS, developed by Oppo, is a more comprehensive operating system compared to HydrogenOS, offering rich and stable functionality. Therefore, with the OnePlus 9 series in 2021, OnePlus directly adopted ColorOS, aiming to gradually replace its HydrogenOS with a higher caliber system. On Nov. 13, Oppo announced that ColorOS’s global monthly active users exceeded 600 million. 

The recently released OnePlus 12 comes equipped with ColorOS 14, debuting the all-new AndesGPT model and integrating deeply with the PANTANAL system to break down barriers between data and services.

OnePlus and Oppo integration

Due to Pete Lau’s connections with Oppo, OnePlus has always had a close relationship with the mobile phone giant. In 2021, OnePlus and Oppo fully integrated, with the former becoming an independent sub-brand under Oppo. 

Lau has always been keen to emphasize that OnePlus and Oppo are two completely independent companies, with overlapping relationships only in terms of investment. However, OnePlus has benefited from the support and resources provided by Oppo in areas such as product development, technology, supply chain, and channels. To seize new opportunities and promote the healthy and long-term growth of OnePlus, collaboration with Oppo is needed to enhance the former company’s brand strength, while also bringing positive synergies to both sides, Lau said.

In recent years, OnePlus has opened up a new Ace series product line, as part of an attempt to differentiate its brand from Oppo. The Ace series is intended to enable more people to gain access to what Lau terms “premium flagship” products but with lower price points. 

After the release of the Ace series, OnePlus achieved a year-on-year growth of 9.6% in total domestic sales in the third quarter of last year, with a month-on-month growth of 44.3%. In the first half of 2023, OnePlus’ smartphone sales increased by 335% year-on-year, making it the fastest-growing mobile phone brand in the industry during the same period. Therefore, Lau jokingly remarked that competitors should be grateful that OnePlus has yet to venture into products priced below RMB 2,000.

Thinking globally

At the OnePlus tenth anniversary event, Lau repeatedly emphasized the mantra of “making good products”. Yet he also stressed that for OnePlus, this philosophy doesn’t mean that they excessively emphasize the differences between countries. Whether in design style or product experience, there is no deliberate effort to create different products based on regional distinctions. He believes that “internationalization is a false proposition.” Truly good products are universal and have no borders, he said – as long as the product is good enough, it will be accepted by users both domestically and internationally.

Looking back over the past decade, Lau admitted that OnePlus has many dreams yet to be realized. In the future, Lau said, the company will continue to persist in making good products, continually pursue higher performance, and bring users more quality products and experiences.

TechNode, as the first independent English-language media focusing on China’s technology and innovation, has become an important window into China’s technology in the international technology arena over the past decade. TechNode’s reader base has expanded to 150 countries worldwide, and its independent and fair reporting is quoted by many international media including Fortune, The Economist, etc. Through media, events, and other channels, it has brought many Chinese technology companies and innovations into the global view.

Over the past 15 years, the world and China’s technology sector have greatly changed. Chinese technology sector has made a complete change from the copy to China model, to the unique innovation model and the rapid development of technological capabilities in certain areas. From BAT being in the spotlight to the global blossoming of big Chinese companies, tech unicorns, and startups, more and more Chinese innovations urgently needed to be recognized and acknowledged by the world.

Therefore, TechNode will launch “NextChina”, a series of interviews focusing on the latest industry tracks and the most promising innovative companies, with its resources in English and Chinese as well as its global media partners, aiming to promote more outstanding Chinese companies to the international stage.

The first series: Rise of Robotics

Exploring one of today’s trending subjects, robotics takes the forefront in our coverage. Currently, robotic technology is gaining prominence across various sectors, including industry, healthcare, services, households, etc. Beyond being the future of technology, robotics has seamlessly integrated into everyday life. Our focus will be on showcasing the stories and innovative spirit of the most promising companies in China’s robotics sector.

Stay tuned in early January for ‘NextChina’ to explore the tech insights in China! If your company is interested in being part of this series interview, or if you have a recommendation for a company, don’t hesitate to contact us at zinan.zhang@technode.com

Don’t miss this valuable opportunity to show your company’s power in the world!

Rhea Vendors Group, an Italian manufacturer of tailor-made coffee and vending machines, today unveiled its Barista On-Demand vehicle in collaboration with Chinese robo-delivery firm Neolix. Showcased at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, the new product combines a vending machine with self-driving tech as China’s coffee market expands rapidly. 

The vehicle “transforms the typical coffee consumption from a go-to-shop activity into shop-come-to-customers,” a press release accompanying the launch said Featuring a Rhea BL Doppio & Cup coffee machine, the vehicle allows users to order coffee with one click on a mobile application, with their desired drink delivered by the unmanned coffee vehicle, the companies said. Rhea and Neolix want to “ensure a vision for a more automated and sustainable future,” the press release added. The vehicle is powered by renewable energy sources.

Rhea Vendors Group, founded in 1960, is one of the largest producers of customized vending machines in the world. Beijing-headquartered Neolix describes itself as “the world’s leading autonomous vehicle maker that specializes in Robo-Delivery” and has collaborated on automated delivery vehicles for the likes of JD and FedEx, deploying over 1,000 vehicles worldwide in more than 12 countries.

“In today’s rapidly advancing world, we see the pace of daily routines accelerate at an unprecedented rate, calling for adaptive solutions to meet instant demand. This project responds to the shift and offers a new perspective on smart mobility in new retail. Instead of people moving to access coffee services, we can leverage our technology to mobilize coffee shops to reach consumers,” said Yu Enyuan, founder and CEO of Neolix Technologies. “Having been at the forefront of global mobility solutions, our aim isn’t merely to enhance mobility but also empower traditional sectors, ensuring, for example, that coffee lovers receive a frictionless experience on the go.”

The Chinese coffee market holds great potential, as coffee consumption is growing at a rate of more than 30 percent per year, according to Rhea and Neolix. 

“We are very proud of our collaboration with Neolix. The birth of Barista On-Demand is a symbolic outcome of Italian and Chinese business cooperation towards innovation and a new way of experiencing hospitality. Together, we harness Italy’s design legacy and our 60 years of coffee expertise, with Chinese tech advances to stay ahead of the age and provide a seamless coffee experience to our customers all over the world,” Andrea Pozzolini, CEO of Rhea Vendors Group, said. “The unmanned coffee vehicle showcases Rhea’s unwavering commitment to pioneering innovative solutions in the vending world. We’ll initiate this groundbreaking venture in its birthplace, already ready to understand that the coffee machine is only one part of the broader consumer experience.”

This article is provided by Rhea Vendors Group and NEOLIX.

Since its inception in 2011, the CHINABANG Awards has been dedicated to identifying and nurturing the power of innovation in China. Over the last decade, we have witnessed many innovative enterprises such as DiDi, Momo, DJI, Mobvoi, Ele. me, WeChat, and the Little Red Book evolved from humble beginnings to iconic symbols of China’s innovation landscape. At the same time, we have uncovered many exceptional individuals, most of whom have ascended to become highly regarded trailblazers in their respective industries.

Now, the CHINABANG Awards 2023 is officially underway! Since its inaugural launch in 2011, the list has undergone more than ten years of refinement and enhancement, marked by the continuous evolution of our selection process. This year, we have made another breakthrough by setting up the CHINABANG Awards -China’s Overseas New Power List. The list is dedicated to recognizing overseas innovation teams with strong ties to China, identifying the most promising and valuable overseas projects, and striving to create the most open and credible annual overseas accolade in the industry.

The CHINABANG Awards China’s Overseas New Power List aspires to spotlight innovative companies that have achieved breakthroughs in international emerging markets, as well as the innovative organizations and individuals who have played a pivotal role in bolstering China’s global influence. We will recognize companies that continue to explore overseas markets, exporting China’s technological prowess and influence, as well as pioneering entities contributing to the sustainable development of local business ecosystems during the process of localization. Above all, we will acknowledge Chinese overseas entrepreneurs, innovators, and entrepreneurial teams who have exhibited unwavering dedication to innovation throughout their journeys.

China’s Overseas New Power: 4 Awards Categories 

Overseas Technology Company of the Year:

Aims to discover and recognize Chinese technology companies that have taken root and grown in overseas markets. These companies have not only achieved remarkable results in the international market but also successfully integrated into the local business ecosystem during the localization process, winning international recognition for China’s technological and innovative strength.

Overseas Investment Organization of the Year:

Aims to select investment institutions that are keen on identifying opportunities in overseas investment markets. They search for booming emerging markets in China and around the world, providing financial support and strategic guidance to innovative companies, and driving the expansion and growth of Chinese companies globally.

Overseas Service Organization of the Year:

Aims to identify and recognize service providers that can help Chinese enterprises with different needs and in different fields to realize cost reduction and efficiency, and to make goods available globally. Whether it’s in the areas of overseas brand creation, logistics management, payment systems, marketing strategies, or SaaS, these service organizations provide critical support to Chinese companies to help them become more competitive in the international market.

Overseas Pioneer of the Year:

Aims to reward the pioneers who are the first to step out of their comfort zone and expand overseas in the wave of Chinese enterprises going overseas. Their courage to take risks, innovate, and break the limitations of national borders has set a good image for Chinese innovators internationally, as well as a role model for other innovative entrepreneurs.

Award Description: Overseas Technology Company of the Year, Overseas Investment Organization of the Year, and Overseas Service Organization of the Year are enterprise awards. Overseas Pioneer of the Year is an individual award. All awards must be nominated and declared independently through the official nomination channel.

Eligibility of Enterprises Nomination

1. The applicant must be a legally registered company or a legal organization.
2. Must be a Chinese technology brand with at least 1 year of overseas business operation.
3. The submitted product/project/solution must be first marketed/published after December 1, 2022, or must be expected to be marketed before December 1, 2023, and the relevant intellectual property rights have been acquired.
4. The applicant must submit product images in .jpg format and less than 10 MB. In the case of intangible products, the applicant may submit screenshots or diagrams.

All nomination information must be submitted by 23:59 on December 31, 2023. Please complete as much information as possible for the subsequent selection, list announcement, and potential media coverage.

Description of Enterprise Selection Process

Nomination: Enterprises may nominate themselves by scanning the QR code below or clicking on the Link to access the official website’s exclusive nomination portal for submitting information.

Nomination deadline: 12/31/2023

Second Round: Select the list of enterprises/organizations/individuals who qualify for the final round.

Final Selection: The overseas lists of the year will be selected.

Selection Calendar

September – December 2023: Self-nominations;
December 31, 2023: Nominations closed;
January 2024 – Judge’s Second Road and Final Selection.

Award Entitlement

Brand Promotion

CHINABANG Awards is a brand that has accumulated prestige over more than a decade in the tech industry. Award-winning individuals and companies will receive the official certification and trophy from CHINABANG Awards.

International Stage (*within 1 year of official award announcement)

1. Award-winning individuals and companies will be recommended for inclusion in the BEYOND Awards shortlist, with the chance to secure a complimentary exhibition booth and on-stage presentation opportunity at the BEYOND International Tech Innovation Expo, where they can showcase the latest technologies and trends across various industries.
2. Award-winning individuals/companies will also be recommended for inclusion in the shortlist for the Origin Innovation Awards, hosted by TNGlobal. They will receive exclusive invitations to speak at the Origin Summit, becoming featured speakers at the event.
3. Award-winning individuals and companies will have the opportunity to participate in the “出海时刻” (Overseas Moment) dialogue program, a media brand created and produced by Dynamic Tech, where they can discuss industry development trends and share insights into the challenges and opportunities of expanding businesses internationally.

Media Exposure (*within 1 year of official award announcement)

For finalists and winners, we will conduct an extensive promotion on Technode’s English and Chinese media platforms, while national and international media networks will provide ongoing coverage. For award-winning individuals and companies, we offer the reward of five free featured interviews or press releases.

Resource Sharing (*within 1 year of official award announcement)

Through the specialized communication platform established by CHINABANG, connecting businesses, organizations, capital, and media, award-winning enterprises will enjoy convenient resource matching and sharing services.

*More benefits will be continuously updated on the official website.

In this era filled with opportunities and challenges, we look forward to exploring, recognizing, and promoting China’s overseas innovation forces alongside you. CHINABANG China’s Overseas New Power is not just an awards event; it is also an industry celebration. We cordially invite outstanding innovative companies, investment firms, experts, scholars, and media friends to join us in witnessing the brilliant moments of Chinese innovation!

About TNGlobal

TNGlobal, formerly known as TechNode Global, is a pan-Asian tech platform that delivers premium tech news, industry insights, events, and tailored marketing solutions to startups, VCs, corporates, and other industry pioneers. TNGlobal facilitates cross-border collaboration and business through its extensive network, strategic partnerships, events, and resources, bridging the gap between China and the broader Asian tech ecosystem market. The flagship events of TNGlobal include the ORIGIN Summit and the ORIGIN Innovation Awards. TNGlobal is also one of the key organizers of BEYOND Expo, Asia’s leading technology and innovation expo. TNGlobal is an overseas company of TechNode, China’s leading innovation and entrepreneurship platform.

Learn more about TNGlobal: https://technode.global

About BEYOND Expo

Established in 2020, BEYOND Expo has already successfully organized three editions, making it one of the largest and most influential international technology expos in Asia. Over the past three editions, BEYOND Expo has showcased numerous valuable technological breakthroughs and innovations, attracting over 70,000 participants, hosting more than 1,400 exhibitors, inviting over 600 business innovation leaders as conference speakers, and simultaneously holding more than 300 industry forums and over 500 networking events. This extensive track record highlights its success as an international technology exchange platform.

Themed “Embracing the Uncertainties”, BEYOND Exp 2024 is scheduled to take place from May 23rd to May 25th, 2024, at the Venetian Macao’s Cotai Expo. The event will continue to gather the latest achievements and innovative thinking from the global technology sector, providing an unprecedented technological extravaganza for industry businesses and technology enthusiasts.

Learn more about BEYOND Expo: https://beyondexpo.com

The first installment of an annual digital summit for China-focused marketing, retail, and technology leaders is coming soon. DIGITAL+ SUMMIT 2023 is dedicated to fostering consumer centricity, implementing emerging technologies, and envisioning the future of retail. 

Main Themes of the Event

The Digital+ Summit 2023 will focus on three major themes: developing customer centricity, implementing emerging technologies, and foresighting the future of retail. 

Developing customer centricity: Track the evolution of Chinese consumers and craft seamless journeys from discovery to repeat purchase.

Implementing emerging technologies: Unleash the potential of AI, XR, and OMO for enhanced customer value in marketing and retail.

Foresighting the future of retail: Shape the retail horizon, navigate the future of social commerce, and prepare for what’s next.

The summit offers diverse elements, including keynote speeches, panel discussions, technology showcases, networking opportunities, and book signings by esteemed speakers and intellectuals.

Who Should Attend?

The DIGITAL+ SUMMIT 2023 is tailored for China-focused digital leaders, with a primary focus on B2C spaces and sessions directed at B2B cases too. 

This event is a must-attend if you are:

Brand marketing and commercial teams: This is your chance to explore topics relevant to marketing, retail, e-commerce, CRM performance, consumer insights, and digital strategy.

Tech giants and social media platform teams: connect with brands, and fellow experts, and participate in collaborative learning experiences.

Consultancy and agency leaders: gain valuable insights and networking opportunities to enhance your consultancy or agency services.

Learn – Play – Apply Format

We believe that we learn better when we are engaged. Our keynotes are short and dynamic, with plenty of opportunities for breaks, games, and showcases. We aim to ensure that you leave the summit feeling energized and empowered to make real changes.

What to Expect

Feel the inspiration: Immerse yourself in a dynamic digital community and dive into inspiration, creativity, excitement, and motivation.

Think with vision: Empower yourself with thought-provoking discussions, and cutting-edge insights and foster strategic visions of digital China.

Do with innovation: Equip yourself with practical tips, bold innovations, and forward-thinking solutions to create transformative outcomes right away.

Pre-Summit Online Sessions

We’re bringing a few pre-summit sessions right to your screens on Monday and Tuesday next week. Join these free online sessions on 16-17 October, hosted by top experts. Dive into the latest actionable insights on Chinese consumers, platforms, marketing, and sales. Online sessions are free of charge, delivered live via Zoom, and participation is limited to 100 registered guests. Sign up now to secure your spot.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with the best minds in digital marketing, retail, and technology. Sign up for the DIGITAL+ SUMMIT 2023 and the pre-summit sessions today at www.chinadigitalsummit.com/online. The future of digital is here – be a part of shaping it.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Penghui Li and translated by Zinan Zhang and Jake Newby.

After the era of going global, China’s overseas expansion through mobile applications is entering a new period of development.

Take the gaming sector as an example. According to data previously released by Adjust, in 2022, the total overseas revenue of Chinese games reached $17.3 billion, which is equivalent to 60% of the country’s domestic gaming revenue, and saw Chinese firms capture a 15% share of the global mobile gaming market, which is valued at $110 billion. Furthermore, Adjust also points out that there is still significant room for growth in the overseas revenue of Chinese games, with the projection that this figure will increase to $26.5 billion by 2026. Correspondingly, nearly 80% of Chinese app developers have plans to go global.

It is not difficult to observe that although the growth rate of the mobile application market has begun to fall back to the pre-epidemic level gradually and domestic competition is increasing, both enterprises and individual developers are increasingly considering the overseas market as a necessary option.

Recently, at the 2023 Google Developers Conference, TNGlobal had the honor of having a conversation with Purnima Mehta, the Global Vice President of Partnerships at Google Play, about the recent changes in the overseas expansion of Chinese developers and the prospects of this new wave of Chinese developers going global.

Mehta was last in China four years ago. Based on her experiences in engaging with Chinese developers during this period, she noted a significant change at the developer level. Previously, Chinese developers focused on the Chinese market and gradually expanded globally. However, Chinese developers are now starting with a global perspective. She notes that Chinese developers are more ambitious, with many aiming to reach a global audience, even small companies. 

Google Play announces awards at the end of each year, selected based on different local markets. Notably, 48 Chinese applications received Best of Play awards from 23 markets and regions at the end of 2022. According to Mehta,  “This shows that Chinese developers truly understand the demands of different local markets.”

Mehta also pointed out several factors behind Chinese developers achieving such broad success in overseas markets. Firstly, the size of the Chinese domestic market is immense, so Chinese developers are accustomed to working in a market on a very large scale. Secondly, China has long emphasized overseas markets. Therefore, developers naturally have a global mindset. Thirdly, there are abundant resources. She mentioned that China has a vast talent pool, capable of building large teams.

“I’ve seen a statistic that there are 110 million developers in China with significant development capabilities. So it’s hard to imagine the scale of developer teams and talent, as well as their testing capabilities,” Mehta told us. “The export-oriented mindset and the enormous market size lead Chinese developers to consider that their applications should be adaptable to various devices from the design stage. Unlike other markets, where the audience may be smaller and limited to specific types of devices, Chinese developers do not face such constraints. Additionally, China has a strong developer community that helps each other. Many people have undergone significant training, and this community fosters a great development atmosphere.”

With the mobile app global expansion track becoming increasingly competitive, the challenges in this field are also getting tougher. Regarding this, Mehta offered several suggestions. Firstly, in any industry, you must learn from the best in that industry. All Google and Android tools are open. So, you should not attempt shortcuts or rush to market your app; instead, focus on quality. The competition in this market is fierce, so you must learn from the best.

Secondly, you must understand what users need and what kind of value proposition you can provide. If your app is just like the others on the market, it’s hard to be successful. Therefore, while you need to learn from the best, you must also have your unique qualities.

“Thirdly, always remember to prioritize user trust and security. Once trust is lost, users are lost. Also, every time someone asks ‘what is it,’ I like to emphasize ‘how it’s done.’ I think you should consider yourself a user and use all these apps. So, start by being a user yourself, download as many apps as possible, and try them out. This is the easiest and simplest way to judge what is good and what is not. In China, there is a fantastic developer community. We have a very active group called the Google Developer Community, so Chinese developers should participate in these communities to exchange and learn. There is a lot of content available, and all the tools are free. So, you must try, test, and experience.”

In an era marked by unprecedented digital transformation, digital payment tools have emerged as indispensable enablers of commerce in both the online and offline realms. The future of payment is the future of commerce.

Over the past years, digital payment tools have revolutionized the way consumers and businesses engage in the online sphere, with this transformation not only offering customers flexibility but also encouraging repeat business and fostering brand loyalty.

At the 2023 INCLUSION Conference on the Bund, Douglas Feagin, head of Alipay+ cross-border mobile payment services and senior vice president of Ant Group; Tim Huang, head of corporate banking greater China, JP Morgan; and Shaozhang Ding, vice president of digital sales DFS Group, joined Roberto Chade, CEO, and co-founder of Dotz, to discuss how digital tools are unlocking growth for future commerce.

How are digital payments evolving?

Digital payment methods have come a long way, and their evolution is nothing short of revolutionary. Take Alipay in China, which currently serves over 1 billion consumers through its comprehensive lifestyle services app. 

Alipay’s success has also inspired similar innovations worldwide, as many countries have embraced new forms of digital payments.

One exciting development is Alipay+, which offers payment and marketing solutions for digital consumers and digitally enabled merchants to reach a total of 1.4 billion consumers globally.

An example that Feagin provided during the discussion was that of Alipay+ D-store, which was unveiled last year and is currently mainly used in the food and beverage sector, offering a one-stop solution that companies can use to quickly and affordably build digital stores across multiple platforms.

Digital wallets have become a bridge, enabling not just payments but also offering marketing tools and enhanced consumer engagement.

In the global travel retail industry, represented at this discussion by DFS Group, Alipay+ has assumed a pivotal role in engaging upper-funnel customers and creating international experiences. 

Similarly, companies like Dotz in Brazil are establishing digital payments as a “second currency” in the country, while they also collect data through their loyalty program and gain deep insights into consumer behavior and preferences.

Digitalization has been further accelerated in many countries over the past years as customers worldwide increasingly demand the convenience of mobile payments and digital services. This shift has fueled the adoption of advanced digital solutions and provided fertile ground for further innovation.

The evolution of digital payment methods, exemplified by platforms like Alipay and its global counterparts, is reshaping the way businesses engage with consumers, expand their reach, and secure transactions in an increasingly digitized world.

Misconceptions exist

However, misconceptions about digital payments persist, from consumer behavior to organizational readiness, as highlighted by the four speakers during the discussion. 

Despite the abundance of data and readily available technology, many companies struggle to harness them effectively in personalized communication. 

“Data is everywhere. Technology is available. But at the end of the day, we as consumers keep receiving magnified information communication from different companies that drive payments and consumer behavior,” said Chade, adding that this could be greatly improved if companies engaged in personalized communication and messaging.

From the organizational perspective, Ding stressed that digital transformation is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time event. “We need a lot of coaching, inspiration, education, and sometimes a baby step to help employees adapt to digital changes,” he said.

Like Ant Group’s expansion and investments in digital wallets around the world, Feagin said it reminds him of the significance of recognizing that not all countries are like China, where digital enablement is widespread. 

“Many of these countries are at a much earlier stage of development, so they don’t have that kind of embedded infrastructure.” Therefore, when seeking global expansion, companies need to be aware that countries at different stages of digital development require tailored approaches.

For instance, “beginning with simple peer-to-peer transactions, such as mobile phone top-ups and ride-hailing, can gradually lead to more complex use cases like online cross-border transactions,” said Feagin, adding that building comfort and confidence domestically is the stepping stone to international markets.

What will the future of digital payments look like?

The future of digital payments is poised to bring exciting possibilities, although predicting precisely how these tools will reshape the merchant-consumer landscape in five or ten years is a challenging task, given the rapid pace of change in the digital landscape. However, some key trends are emerging.

“Consumers of the future are likely to adopt a hybrid approach, combining online and offline experiences,” according to Chade.

He emphasized that this combination could offer the “best of both worlds,” where consumers enjoy personalized promotions online, transition seamlessly to the in-store experience, and make digital payments. But he said that he hadn’t seen many companies doing that yet.

Huang shared similar thoughts with Chade during the discussion. “I think it’s more important is, people want to buy things with experience. As they enjoy, they experience something, there’s always an impulse buy moment. You need to capture as a merchant.”

For travel retail, where decision-making often happens well in advance, connecting with customers before their journey will be crucial. 

“Travelers do very extensive research against their travel and also want to leverage all the information sources that would help them understand where they shop and what they should shop,” said Ding, adding that it’s “quite important” for them to connect the upper funnel customers before they travel.

Meanwhile, the influence of social media on consumer behavior will continue to play a significant role in shaping the digital landscape. 

While a lot of social media influences the things that people are already doing to follow the same pattern, leveraging more sophisticated forms of AI will help companies understand consumers on a deeper level and deliver products and experiences that align with their lifestyles and preferences.

The path forward is not without challenges, and collaboration among digital players and businesses will be essential. As the digital payment landscape continues to evolve, Ant Group and its partners look forward to innovating and driving this transformation to create a more interconnected and prosperous future.

This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

With the theme of “Technology for a Sustainable Future,” the INCLUSION Conference on the Bund was held in Shanghai from September 7 to 9, bringing together global experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs to explore technological developments in economic industries.

On September 8, one of the events organizing committee members, Ant Group invited three overseas guests from the 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion program to the C3 Forum to share their views on the theme, “Building an inclusive digital economy with the new generation of innovators”: Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin (managing director of MADcash in Malaysia), Anbar Nawar (product manager at bKash in Bangladesh), and Opeyemi Praise (senior product manager at Sterling Bank in Nigeria). 

Underserved communities often face unique challenges when accessing and harnessing digital technologies. However, opportunities can emerge from developing the digital economy in these communities. The three guests individually presented insights into their local markets and the varied challenges involved in developing the digital economy.

10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Program Initiated by Ant Group and IFC

Before the panel discussion, the host briefly introduced the 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Program, an initiative aimed at promoting tech inclusion and bridging the digital divide in underserved communities. 

The program focuses on providing support and resources to empower individuals and communities to fully participate in the digital economy. Its mission is to nurture and inspire at least 1,000 emerging talents and tech leaders each year for the next ten years. Currently, the program connects more than 5,000 individual talents in the global digital community, representing 96 countries and regions. 

Empowering women to build their own businesses in Malaysia

Fintech, short for financial technology, refers to the use of technology and innovation to provide financial services and solutions. It encompasses a broad spectrum of digital tools, applications, and platforms designed to enhance and streamline various aspects of financial activities, including banking, payments, investments, lending, and insurance.

MADCash in Malaysia is a financial service provider that offers a range of cash loan options to individuals in Malaysia, with a particular focus on underprivileged groups including women with limited educational backgrounds. MADCash offers personal loans with flexible repayment options, aiming to provide a hassle-free loan application process with minimal documentation requirements and fast approval times. 

MADCash stands for “multiply, assist, donate cash”, Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin, the managing director of MADCash explained at the panel. “We provide small funds for female entrepreneurs in our country who do not have access to credit. They cannot get loans since they are high risks for traditional banks, but we can help them build their small business,” she said.

In many developed countries and regions, resources related to education and employment are not equally accessible to women. Therefore, women face more obstacles in building their own startups, as most traditional banks often decline their loans for investments, due to factors such as credit history, educational background, and employment experiences. MADCash looks to offer one model for bypassing these traditional barriers.

Fostering trust in the digital economy for local customers in Bangladesh

bKash is a mobile financial service in Bangladesh, offering a diverse range of financial services, including money transfers, bill payments, mobile top-ups, and more, through a mobile app or USSD code. bKash has played a significant role in promoting financial inclusion in Bangladesh, especially among the unbanked population. One of the key advantages of bKash is its convenience. Users can easily send and receive money, pay bills, and make purchases using their mobile phones, without the need for a traditional bank account. 

However, a key challenge lies in ensuring trust and security in digital technology. Like any digital financial service, there is always a risk of fraud and unauthorized access to personal information. It is crucial for both bKash and its users to prioritize security measures and educate customers about safe usage practices.

“First of all, what we really struggle with is the dependency on cash. There is a huge difference between cities and semi-urban or rural areas,” Anbar Nawar, product manager at bKash, explained “People don’t have access to a lot of technological knowledge, so they are more prone to using cash, even if we provide them with enough awareness about our apps, and our services. No matter how easy that is, they feel more comfortable with cash.”

In addition to trust issues, Anbar also elaborated on other challenges, including employment difficulties for technological talents in Bangladesh, huge differences between urban and rural areas, and the need for financial-related education for local people.

Emerging markets and opportunities in Nigeria

Sterling Bank is a leading financial institution in Nigeria, offering a wide range of financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutions. It provides various financial services, including personal banking, corporate banking, asset management, treasury services, and electronic banking solutions. 

Similar to many banks in Nigeria, Sterling Bank has embraced digital banking to provide its customers with convenient and efficient banking services. This consists of internet banking, mobile banking, and other digital channels for transactions and account management.

“Last year, the total electronic transactions reached $1.7 trillion in Nigeria. It is projected to grow by 30% this year, at least, Opeyemi Praise, senior product manager at Sterling Bank, told the conference. “The internet penetration is 95% in our country. The challenge is that we need to advocate for overseas investors to localize their digital products for the local market.” 

Another key challenge that Praise mentioned was the need for educational training in financial and technological fields for the younger generations in Nigeria. Young people under the age of 30 comprise more than 70 percent of Nigeria’s population, he added, indicating enormous potential in the digital economy for this African country.

This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

In a world of widespread economic uncertainty throughout most of 2023, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are looking for new technological solutions to accelerate their businesses in a volatile period following the sudden impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A senior executive at China’s Ant Group expected digitalization driven by innovative technologies to become a key factor during the post-pandemic recovery, especially the prosperity of SMEs, while also reducing financial exclusion and enhancing data security. 

Speaking during a panel discussion at this year’s INCLUSION·Conference on the Bund in Shanghai, Yang Peng, President of the International Business Group at Ant Group, said that digital transformation could help deepen SME merchants’ ties to consumers, and drive commerce with more growth tools. He also called for more collaborations among organizations to unleash the full potential of the digital economy.

Fragmented payment landscape

As the pandemic fueled a surge in online shopping and digital payments worldwide, almost all economies of the world have adopted payment innovations, significantly accelerating the development of e-wallets, bank apps, and super apps with a pay button.

However, technologies and support systems behind payment methods are not coordinated. In some countries, there are dozens of payment logos covering up a tiny cashier space. Because of this fragmented landscape, businesses, especially SMEs, face an incredibly complicated payment management situation. 

“SMEs do need a helping hand on the payment side,” said Yang. “They should primarily focus on their businesses and services to serve their customers without spending too much resources on payment.

In 2016, Ant Group initiated efforts to develop Alipay+, a suite of cross-border digital payment and marketing solutions. According to Yang, today Alipay+ connects over 20 payment apps from Thailand to Italy, allowing consumers to use their familiar e-wallets wherever they go. This also allows merchants to focus on improving their products and fine-tuning their services, without the need to handle the maze of payment routes.

SMEs go digital

Payment is the end of a positive consumer journey but also could be the beginning of many new ones. According to Yang, digitalization solutions derived from digital payment can do more to help businesses and the economy, and “many SMEs are hungry for growth and want to harvest the benefit from digitalization”. 

Ant Group is expanding SMEs’ access to more digital technologies, which reduces the barriers to market entry and enables them to operate more efficiently, saving them both time and resources. In November 2022, the Chinese fintech giant further strengthened these efforts with the launch of its Alipay+ D-store solution, enabling SMEs to build their all-in-one store across platforms and connect with different payment channels in just a few minutes using a suite of toolkits.

In Southeast Asia, with a large infrastructure deficit, there is still very limited access to digital and financial services for SMEs. Still, the demand is booming. According to Timothy Utama, Information Technology Director at Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s state-controlled lender, Indonesia is not as big as China, but there is a lot of water in between which becomes a demographic challenge for financial services.

“We have 3.6 million SMEs in Thailand, which accounts for roughly 44% of the country’s GDP. This can really be a contributing factor if you can make a change,” echoed Monsinee Nakapanant, Co-President of Thailand’s online payment provider Ascend Money.

Privacy computing is a key

The wider adoption of digital technologies brings an increasing demand for data collaborations, which is, however, hindered by concerns such as data security, privacy, and confidentiality.

“We believe privacy-preserving computing (PPC) is a very powerful solution to address that issue of trust and efficiency,” said Yang, “PPC processes privacy data by encryption processing, multi-party computing, and other techniques. With PPC, Company A can share insights generated from its big data with Company B, without the need to provide the raw data to Company B. In other words, data becomes available for use but not visible, which mitigates the data privacy concern and meets regulatory requirements.” 

Yang also sees the urgent need for increased collaboration among various stakeholders to promote the technology and build an ecosystem as it extends beyond the technology itself. He envisions a more connected digital economy in which each party can fully harness the potential of data in the next decade. 

“In this new technological era, collaboration is the new way to compete,” said Utama at Bank Mandiri. “People usually say data is the new ore, but I would say show me the way to extract the ore. This is difficult to monetize. We learn from our partners, work with them, and move forward together as a win-win.”

The comments come a year after Ant Group announced the open source of its privacy-preserving computing framework last July, a project that would enable data analysis for different use cases without the need for decryption of original individual data. The company released an updated version in July this year to further address the pain points in data collaborations among parties. 

Ensuring security with AI

The Asian tech and finance industry is also ramping up efforts to address some of the most pressing issues with new technologies, such as biometrics and artificial intelligence, as online fraud evolves in the region.

Ascend Money has been using biometrics and AI to detect suspicious transactions and prevent hackers’ invasions with the help of Ant Group. Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy posted losses of $1 billion from online fraud and digital attacks last year, according to Nakapanant of Ascend Money. 

Meanwhile, American Express enjoys the lowest fraud rates in the industry, as the world’s fourth largest credit card network rebuilt its platform entirely on an end-to-end, closed-loop, modern architecture. “That’s something you probably see as well on the Ant Group side,” Mohammed Badi, President of Global Network Services at American Express, said in the same panel discussion. 

Ant Group reported last December that it sends over 500,000 alerts to users on average each day via its transaction fraud detection system, which can identify potential fraud in seconds and has been deployed on its Alipay app and partners’ platforms. 

“You can’t have true innovation at scale if the platform is insecure and if you’re not compliant with the laws and regulations of the land,” Badi added.

This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Since the establishment of the BEYOND Expo in 2020 until now, we have often been asked why we decided to create BEYOND and why we chose Macao. In the past 10 years, global technological innovation has increasingly focused on Asia, not only due to the rapid development of China’s technology industry but also because of the immense market potential in Asia. According to research published in 2020 by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), Over the last decade, the region has accounted for 52% of global growth in tech-company revenues, 43% of startup funding, 51% of spending on research and development, and 87% of patents filed. Moreover, Asia is leading not only in consumer technology but also investing significant resources in technology-driven innovation in the fields of life sciences and sustainable development, from governments to industries. However, due to language and cultural barriers, the innovative forces in Asian countries have not received as much attention as those in Europe and America, and limited communication between Asian countries and the global innovation ecosystem. Therefore, we believe that Asia needs a platform that can bring together the innovation ecosystems of different countries and regions each year, to share and showcase the latest innovative ideas, products, and technologies, and to propel Asian innovation onto a larger global stage.  These innovations extend beyond consumer technology to include life sciences and sustainable development. Although Macao has a small geographical area and local market, it is backed by the vast market of the Greater Bay Area, which includes Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. With its international and neutral positioning, world-class hotel facilities and exhibition services, and vibrant open city culture, Macao serves as a gateway not only between China and the world but also between Asia and the world. Therefore, we strongly believe that BEYOND Expo will become a unique world-class technology innovation platform in Asia.

Over the past three years, despite the uncertainties brought by the pandemic, we have steadfastly pursued our goals to become an international technology innovation platform . A few days ago, BEYOND Expo 2023 had total number of attendees 15000+, with over 600 companies mostly from the world participating in the exhibition. We curated more than 150 exciting panels, invited in excess of  200 media outlets to cover the event, and received over 11,000 coverage. BEYOND Expo has reached a new level in terms of scale and international influence. Here, we would also like to express our gratitude to all our partners for their support. When we saw so many entrepreneurs, experts, government representatives, venture capitalists, and media from around the world at BEYOND Expo for the first time, whether in the exhibition area, on stage, or at various banquets and parties, your full three-day itinerary is the greatest value that we hope BEYOND Expo can bring.

The pandemic is over, and the world is in urgent need of restarting cross-regional technological cooperation. Artificial intelligence is causing unprecedented transformations in various industries, and technological advancements are leading humanity into new realms such as virtual worlds, quantum fields, and outer space, among others. In this rapidly evolving technological landscape, where new trends and disruptions are constantly emerging, coupled with unnecessary factors such as geopolitical economics. It becomes crucial for individuals or organizations to have the courage to explore the unknown and embrace innovation and change. Therefore, looking ahead to BEYOND Expo 2024, we have chosen the theme for next year: “Embracing the Uncertainties”. We anticipate a more grand and diverse BEYOND Expo and boldly expect over 1000 exhibitors and more than 30,000 attendees, among which you will find a greater number of innovative forces from Asian countries and regions. BEYOND Expo will not only be a showcase platform for innovative technologies but also a gathering of global innovation leaders. We will make every effort to promote BEYOND Week, centered around technology and incorporating various elements such as music festivals, making it an international carnival. BEYOND Expo in 2024, “Embracing the Uncertainties“, will truly be exceptional!

We extend our most sincere invitation to you and your organization. Save the date – May 23-25, 2024, and we look forward to gathering with each and every one of you in Macao.

Jason Ho & Gang Lu

Co-founders of BEYOND Expo

Deep integration of cutting-edge technology and industry, continued focus on three major sub-brands

BEYOND Expo 2024 will continue to focus on its three sub-brands: Sustainability, Healthcare, and ConsumerTech. The expo aims to promote deep integration of cutting-edge technologies and industries through exhibitions and summits. BEYOND Expo 2024 will continue to expand the scale of its exhibition area, with 100,000 square meters of dedicated expo space in Macao. Next year’s exhibition plans to attract 1,000+ domestic and international technology companies, with overseas firms expected to account for 40% of total exhibitors. BEYOND will continue to serve as a stage for technology innovation, which will connect innovators with the market and explore technological boundaries.

BEYOND Expo 2024 will have an exclusive Sustainability Pavilion that will showcase solutions based on environmental friendliness, social responsibility, and economic sustainability. We will focus on innovations in renewable energy, food technologies, sustainable agriculture and precision farming, new materials, green logistics, energy and waste management, and green city/building property technologies to achieve sustainable development goals. China Construction International Group Limited was present at BEYOND Expo 2023 as the exclusive strategic partner of the BEYOND Sustainability sub-brand. The Sustainability Pavilion at BEYOND Expo 2023 attracted Deloitte, Fujifilm, Guangdong Hengjian Investment Holding Co., Ltd., Nam Kwong Group, China Water Environment Group, China Civil Engineering, XAG, among other enterprises exhibiting low-carbon development and creating a greener and more sustainable future. We will also host relevant summits to bring together industry leaders and experts to promote communication and cooperation, facilitating the achievement of sustainable development goals.

BEYOND Healthcare will have a separate exhibition area focusing on new discoveries in the fields of medical science and health, stem cells, clinical research, traditional Chinese medicine, drug development, digital health, and medical devices, among others. China Taiping was present at BEYOND Expo 2023 as the exclusive strategic partner of the BEYOND Healthcare sub-brand. The Healthcare Pavilion at BEYOND Expo 2023 attracted including AstraZeneca, Eduard, Fosun Pharma, UniTrust, Merck, Abbott, Zaiding Pharma, and others. The companies shared cutting-edge research and contributed to accelerating the improvement of people’s healthcare needs. In 2024, we will showcase the latest research results and technology applications to contribute to improving human health and quality of life. Meanwhile, we will organize professional industry summits to discuss cutting-edge topics in life sciences to help drive innovation.

The ConsumerTech Pavilion will be an eye-catcher, showcasing the latest technology products and innovative solutions. It will include autonomous driving/electric vehicles, robotics, wearables, e-sports and sports technology, enterprise services, chips and semiconductors, travel technology/retail technology, space technology/drones, financial technology, AI/IoT Smart Life technology, and metaverse/Web3. ICBC Macao was present at BEYOND Expo 2023 as the exclusive strategic partner of the BEYOND ConsumerTech sub-brand. The ConsumerTech Pavilion attracted Alibaba Group, Macao Pass, CTM, Huawei Lenovo, NBA, Ctrip, Shangtang Technology, Xiaopeng Huitian, EVA, Bank of China Macao Branch and other exhibitors to drive industry change and meet the growing demand. We will bring together the latest achievements in consumer technology and organize professional industry summits. Industry experts and business representatives will attend the summit to discuss development trends and business opportunities in consumer technology.

For business cooperation, please contact: BD@beyondexpo.com

To learn more about BEYOND Expo 2024, please check the details on our official website: https://www.beyondexpo.com/

Opening and closing ceremony, along with industry summits to explore the frontiers of innovation

BEYOND Expo 2024 will continue the theme of “What’s Next.” The world’s leading experts, scholars, and business leaders will share their latest research results and vision of the future of technology at next year’s Expo. Renowned industry leaders will also participate to analyze the development trend of technology, share the importance of innovation, lead industry change through innovation, witness the power of technology, and explore the infinite possibilities of the future together.

Guests of Honor at BEYOND 2021-2023 Opening

The Industry Summit is the core component of BEYOND Expo. We will host high-level keynote speeches, roundtable forums, and seminars. They will be attended by global industry leaders, experts, scholars, and innovators. Together, they will discuss the development trend and future direction of the industry and explore potential opportunities and challenges. By sharing insights, participants will gain insight into industry dynamics and have the opportunity to network with industry leaders. In BEYOND Expo 2023, we joined hands with China Construction International to organize Sustainability Summit, collaborated with China Taiping to host Life Sciences Summit, and partnered with ICBC Macao for Consumer Technology Summit.

BEYOND Expo 2024 will also host four industry summits — Sustainability Summit, Healthcare Summit, ConsumerTech Summit, and Investment Summit. The Sustainability Summit will explore climate change, renewable energy, clean technology, water management, green building, green transportation, agri-food technology and other environmental issues, aiming to continuously improve people’s wellbeing. The Healthcare Summit will promote global cooperation and innovation in the life science field, explore cutting-edge scientific discoveries and technological advances, and share forward-looking thinking and ideas in this field with the global audience. Topics include but are not limited to new drug development, biotechnology, synthetic biology, gene editing technology, ecological and environmental life sciences, etc. The Consumer Technology Summit will focus on cutting-edge thinking and practical experience in the fields of smart home, Internet of Things, virtual reality, artificial intelligence technology, and financial technology, among others. The summit will promote deep integration of technology and consumer industry and leading the innovation of business models. The Investment Summit will promote global investment and financing. It will promote cooperation and exchange in the field of global investment and financing, explore innovative financing models and investment opportunities. Guests will share success stories in the field of investment, promote rapid growth of entrepreneurial projects and startups, help the sustainable development of the global economy, and provide a broad communication and cooperation platform for entrepreneurs, investors and enterprises. At BEYOND 2024, we look forward to exchanging ideas, showcasing innovation and developing the future with experts from various industries.

Showcase new products, gathering of domestic and international media

BEYOND Expo has been committed to focusing on the world’s most innovative and high-quality technology products. The special venue for New Product Launch event has become an excellent stage for companies to showcase their latest technology and design achievements. The 2023 launch event was hosted in a brightly lit venue with high-hanging LED screens, creating a luxurious top-of-the-line theater experience. Well-known companies such as China Construction International, Wofei Changkong Technology, Jiefei Technology, Shanghai Changjin Biotechnology, and KDDI presented their latest products at the BEYOND Expo 2023. Companies showed the audience their innovative ideas and strengths, allowing users to experience the superior performance of new products and technological innovation first hand. More than 200 domestic and overseas media outlets actively reported about the events in different formats, helping new products gain more exposure. The media attention enhanced the companies’ brand awareness and influence, allowing more people to understand and pay attention to these innovative products.

BEYOND 2024 will continue to set up special sessions for new product launches, creating a unique platform for companies to showcase their latest technological achievements and attract attention from industry experts and potential users. The extensive media coverage will further provide more exposure to products, bringing more business and market opportunities for enterprises. These activities not only enhance the brand image and visibility of enterprises but also promote the development of technological innovation and advance the progress of the industry.

Innovation leads, technology for good, BEYOND Awards

The BEYOND Awards, an integral part of the expo, focuses on BEYOND’s three sub-brands. The honors are awarded for innovation in Healthcare, Sustainability, and ConsumerTech, along with the BEYOND Impact Awards. These awards are judged by the BEYOND Awards Selection Committee after carefully evaluating their technology, business value, and innovation. The awards aim to honor outstanding individuals and teams that have integrated innovative thinking and practice to make breakthrough technologies and industry-leading solutions for social progress, while promoting innovation in various fields.

The BEYOND Impact Awards are based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and recognize outstanding companies that have made significant contributions and changes in nature, environment, society, economy, and technology. These companies address important issues such as carbon emissions, health, ecological protection, and poverty alleviation through technological innovation while achieving carbon neutrality. Ten winners are selected after four rounds of nomination, preliminary selection, re-election, and final selection. The final winners will be announced at a grand award ceremony in Macao. The winning companies will enjoy special benefits provided by the BEYOND organizing committee to further enhance their potential.

Unleashing the passion for innovation, gathering of vibrant Asian technology in Macao

BEYOND is committed to creating a comprehensive innovation platform that provides valuable interactive opportunities for entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders. The Innovation Roadshow session will serve as a unique platform for global technology entrepreneurs to showcase cutting-edge products and services, attract investors, and enhance visibility and market exposure. The International Capital Matchmaking Sessions will provide an in-person platform for entrepreneurs and investors to introduce and promote their projects, as well as explore business collaboration opportunities. The multiple media roadshows will showcase the most cutting-edge technology products and corporate concepts, helping to expose the brand widely. BEYOND will also host a series of nighttime events including dinners and various parties to create a networking environment for participants in a casual setting.

Macao provides unique regional character as a host to BEYOND Expo. It blends Eastern and Western cultures, tradition and modernity, providing attendees with the opportunity to explore the unlimited potential of Asia’s technology and innovation. BEYOND will be a key driver in helping flourish Asian technology innovation, promoting win-win cooperation between regions, and opening up a broader international stage for innovators.

Technology lights up the future and innovation drives development. We look forward to using technology to ignite your inner passion for technology and lead you into a future full of infinite possibilities!

BEYOND Expo 2023 Review Report Download

To learn more about BEYOND Expo 2024, please check the details on our official website: https://www.beyondexpo.com/

Using AI tools in content creation is increasingly an industry norm as the AI models behind the tools become more sophisticated. TechNode caught up with Ken Wang, founder and CEO of BOOLV, at the BEYOND Expo 2023 in mid-May. BOOLV is a Hong Kong-based SaaS startup that makes AI-powered tools to speed up content creation in marketing, catered to overseas e-commerce.

BOOLV, founded by Wang in 2021, serves new and growing e-commerce brands and platforms such as baby clothing retailer Patpat, fast fashion platform Cider, and clothing site Cozinen. Wang and his core team of technicians have previously worked at Tesla, Royal Bank of England, and ByteDance, and are adept in data handling, AI, and product management.

BOOLV has two key offerings: Video Maker, an AI tool that helps retailers make marketing clips, and Booltool, a marketing content platform that offers creation tools for copies, pictures, and videos.

Key quotes: “In the future, the majority of commercial videos will likely be generated using machine assistance (AI). Video will become the most common form of content consumption, but the accompanying challenge will be high video production costs. That’s why it is crucial to have a productivity tool to address this issue. Our company aims to assist global small and medium-sized enterprises in generating high-value videos in the most efficient manner possible.”

Below is a selected Q&A from the interview, which was conducted in Chinese, translated, condensed, and edited for clarity:

What is your company’s biggest competitive advantage?

Our understanding of short videos for e-commerce. The way we handle video clips in our product, such as video matting and background removal, is based on our own AI models. It has nothing to do with general large models.

We also help brands generate unique videos to get the best return on investment. For example, we have analyzed many video scripts to determine what tone suits specific advertising objectives and provided those suggestions as functions. We consider various factors, including transition effects and AI-generated content, such as virtual characters, to achieve the desired impact. We have developed countless scripts and some of the best-performing video formats in the market.

These offerings are not purely technical; it’s more about deconstructing videos and refining best practices for specific purposes. By sharing this knowledge with global users, we create value. This is the core of our competitiveness.

BOOLV’s products are focused on the e-commerce sector. Are you concerned that as large AI models evolve and costs decrease, tools like yours that target specific needs might be overshadowed or replaced by more generalized models?

We don’t worry about that. From a technological standpoint, the results may be similar. However, because we have done specific and targeted data training, our performance is expected to keep improving.

With some of the features, we directly use ChatGPT’s API without much adjustment. But that’s fine because we understand our users’ pain points and needs across e-commerce, and try to find application-oriented solutions. Whether we stack multiple models, use models we trained ourselves, or employ large-scale models, users ultimately care more about the end result.

Our product is all-in-one, and addresses issues throughout users’ workflow (when creating content for e-commerce). While some users could use a generalized model for some tasks, it wouldn’t suit everyone. We also offer competitive pricing for package solutions.

Are you concerned about bigger companies like Adobe and Microsoft incorporating AI into their existing tools? For example, Microsoft is turning its Office suite into Copilot. If major video creation tools like Adobe Premiere incorporated AI functions in the future, would that worry you?

We’re not really concerned about that because these bigger companies cater to a broader range of users, while we are highly focused on specific needs in e-commerce.

For example, Adobe probably wouldn’t invest in face-swapping because it’s not of generalized demand. Face swapping comes into play frequently in certain e-commerce scenarios. Let’s say I need five or six different kinds of models showing the same particular outfit. Or maybe I want to replace one model’s face with that of a person from a different ethnicity. These are highly specific and frequent requirements within the e-commerce field.  Users in other sectors may have no use of this.

And even if these larger companies decide to incorporate such features, they probably won’t be as good as what we offer. We have trained and optimized our models specifically for e-commerce, so we are not particularly worried about that aspect.

Microsoft for Startups convened a distinguished assembly of startup founders within the digital solution sphere, fostering a discourse on the latest digitization trends permeating the retail and consumer industry. This engaging dialogue emphasized the strategic utilization of a diverse array of software and hardware solutions, such as AI and computer vision technology, to further digitize the industry.

The discussion took place at the BEYOND Expo in Macao, featuring Christine Fang, Finance VP of Mars & Wrigley, China; Vin Shan, founder and CEO of iCC Grow; Keven Liu, founder and CEO of Skieer; Maggie Li, CMO of MRSTAGE; Claire Chen, founder and CEO of Clobotics; Xuan Zheng, founder and CEO of Chatail.

The conversation is the second panel of Microsoft for Startups’s AI+Retail and Consumer Tech Forum at the BEYOND Expo on May 11, focusing on digital transformation trends on retail and consumer industry. To learn more about Microsoft for Startups, click here or email at mfschina@microsoft.com.

Vin Shan, founder and CEO of iCC Grow

iCC is a company dedicated to solving brands’ traffic operation needs in private online scenarios using chat technology products. We leverage AI technology to assist brands in China in producing customized greetings and communications at scale. iCC addresses pain points by analyzing data from various scenarios, tracking user interactions and employee performance, and offering a comprehensive solution.

In chat scenarios, we know customer service teams are often busy. So, we provide intelligent chat scripts to help brands’ customer service teams communicate effectively. We have collected and organized a vast amount of chat scripts. Through copilot and AI technology, we provide them with warm and personalized chat scripts, including everyday greetings, which significantly ease their workload.

One of the notable client cases is Banu Hotpot in China. Every loyal customer who visits the chain restaurant is addressed by their specific name, such as “Mr. Zhang, welcome back! Here are the recommendations we have for you today.” These personalized chat interactions help generate additional business for an extra week, resulting in a 20% monthly revenue increase. Customers can get seamless interactions throughout the entire service chain, from pre-appointment reservations to post-visit feedback.

Keven Liu, founder and CEO of Skieer

Skieer is an application server that provides data and AI technology through our products, such as Skieer Octoparse, Skieer CEM, Skieer RPA, and Skieer data services.

It’s worth mentioning that Skieer Octoparse has stood out as one of the most widely used data collection tools worldwide. It assists brands, organizations, and even individual users in obtaining large-scale datas from the internet. As intelligent, user-friendly tools, it requires minimal technical knowledge. With only a web address, users can easily gather the desired data from the internet.

Skieer CEM is a comprehensive omnichannel customer experience management SaaS platform, which helps brands integrate and analyze customer feedback, sentiments, and opinions, compare differences between our brand and competitors to enhance customer satisfaction, improve brand reputation, and increase customer retention. It integrates self-developed NLP index sentiment analysis technology, and applies AI large models to multiple enterprise business scenarios such as product development, service optimization, and marketing.

Claire Chen, co-founder and COO of Clobotics

Clobotics uses computer vision technology and AI to provide software and hardware-integrated solutions. Our hardware component focuses on standardized data collection while leveraging cloud and analytics to deliver value to users in the wind power, and retail industries. In particular, we focus on the ESG wind energy sector and the new retail sector. Since today’s discussion primarily revolves around retail, we will delve more into our retail-related offerings.

Clobotics has conducted extensive machine vision model training for specific scenarios in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. We have developed a system that enables retailers to use smartphones to capture images of products on store shelves and receive instant feedback. Leveraging AI, our technology can accurately identify SKU quantities with an impressive precision rate of up to 95%. Additionally, we provide real-time analytics on metrics such as shelf share, out-of-stock rates, and other valuable insights.

For our fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) clients, agility is a key factor. When assessing agility, which key metrics are typically considered? One crucial metric is inventory management. Clients want to know the exact quantity of goods in the display. They need insights about their displays and promotions. Therefore, insights that help them evaluate performance become crucial.

Another critical factor is delivering a “wow moment” to retail customers, demonstrating that our offerings go beyond technology to provide comprehensive solutions. We aim to showcase a deep understanding of our customers’ business scenarios. By leveraging computer vision, we help clients to realize the potential of this technology in their operations. That’s why we focus more on solving business problems rather than offering technology alone.

Jeff Hong, founder and CEO of MRSTAGE

MRSTAGE specializes in providing real-time 3D virtual content and event services. We offer 3D livestream products and services, virtual short video production tools, and other SaaS solutions. We focus mainly on e-commerce, entertainment, online education, and corporate events.

The company leverages AI models and engages in real-time interaction, helping clients to build various virtual 3D live experiences. For example, it helped build a virtual version of Lenovo’s physical exhibition hall in Beijing, allowing users to access across borders and time zones.

Furthermore, MRSTAGE offers customized 3D digital virtual scene solutions, personalized digital avatars, and a range of consulting and scene-building services focused on mixed reality technology.

The company provides convenient and efficient tools for professional broadcasting clients like SMG and Oriental TV, as well as educational institutions and state-owned enterprises. For example, it developed a user-friendly software and hardware product that can help companies to start 3D virtual livestream in five minutes, which disrupts the traditional live broadcasting model and achieves high-quality production results with minimal investment.

Xuan Zheng, founder and CEO of Chatail

Chatail is a SaaS company that specializes in building private livesteam systems for brands, with a particular focus on high-end and luxury brands. The company helps globally renowned brands, including LVMH Group and Kering Group. Its expertise lies in providing professional solutions for private and public-to-private video live shopping, enabling brand clients to incorporate interactive and shopping videos at the core of their retail ecosystem, e-commerce platforms, customer service, and stores.

The brands we serve typically cater to well-off clients in China, and their requirements differ accordingly. Many of our clients place great emphasis on privacy and confidentiality.

We have a product called LIVE Button, which integrates with various entry points such as official websites, mini-programs, product details, nearby stores, and article content on public accounts. This allows customers to proactively schedule video and livestreaming services, offering a more immersive product detail page. For luxury items priced around RMB 20,000 or RMB 30,000 ($2,840 to $4,360), it’s challenging to effectively communicate their beauty and luxury through text and images alone. That’s why we have developed the LIVE Button to address this issue. It allows customers to independently schedule a consultation for a specific product, including the desired time and duration. Additionally, we remind customers that the brand representatives will not be able to see them online, ensuring their privacy is protected.

Christine Fang, the Finance VP of Mars & Wrigley, China, expressed her anticipation during the panel discussion for technology companies to assist users in harnessing the power of AI and ChatGPT-like tech. She highlighted that employees in traditional industries often lack the latest technical expertise, making it crucial for technology companies to help integrate AI into businesses effectively.

Fang emphasized that as a globally leading consumer goods company, particularly renowned for its chewing gum and confectionary products in China, Mars & Wrigley continually strives for digital transformation in response to the rising consumer market. Leveraging AI to empower various application scenarios is a key aspect of this transformation.

During the discussion, representatives from the aforementioned companies described how their products align with Mars & Wrigley’s digital transformation needs from a business perspective. It is evident that these companies possess excellent product portfolios to assist retail brands like Mars & Wrigley in achieving digital marketing success. The convergence of online and offline technologies is also a future trend, along with utilizing AI tools to drive cost reduction and efficiency improvement. It is essential to consider both the technological aspect and the alignment with business objectives to achieve a seamless fit for retail digital transformation.

In mid-May, Microsoft for Startups brought a portfolio of 10 exceptional startups to the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macao, discussing with founders and entrepreneurs the potential of AI and AIGC in the retail, e-commerce, and manufacturing space.

The discussion, organized by Microsoft for Startups, focused on AIGC’s impact on retail and consumer industry and featured Ling Fan, founder and CEO of Tezign; Tianlan Shao, founder and CEO of Mech-Mind Robotics; Shawn Ding, vice president of Whale Tech; Ken Wang, founder and CEO of BOOLV. The conversation below has been condensed and edited for clarity.

The conversation is the first panel of Microsoft for Startups’ AI+Retail and Consumer Tech Forum at the BEYOND Expo on May 11, focusing on AI & Generative AI technology’s impact on the retail and consumer industry. To learn more about Microsoft for Startups, click here or email mfschina@microsoft.com.

Ling Fan, founder and CEO of Tezign

Tezign provides software solutions that help businesses and brands deliver marketing content. We have built a digital infrastructure for creative content, offering global brands solutions for producing, managing, distributing, and analyzing various content. Tezign helps brands to do digital transformation by driving growth through content.

We are constantly seeking a path of growth that offers higher efficiency while offering better experiences. In the past, the process of developing and launching a product involved a lengthy content production phase. Creating the selling points, marketing, and generating interest in a product took significant time. However, Tezign’s system can now cut the timeline from months to days, or even hours.

As AI technology becomes a more ubiquitous underlying infrastructure, it will greatly impact brands and content production, creating significant changes.

Our first major change will occur in the way we interact. In the past, navigating complex systems required a series of clicks, but now we can activate them through conversations and chats. Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, 95% of data are mostly unstructured content, which was previously difficult to understand. However, now we can associate it with metadata and access these data. Thirdly, there will be immense improvements in content production scenarios, enabling more efficient and higher-quality generation of text, images, and even videos.

The fourth aspect is the ability to comprehend content, leading to various efficient ways to use content. Take the intelligent question-and-answer systems for example. Recently, we collaborated with Visa on a 300-page document that required permissions. We can easily engage in natural language conversations with the system, such as asking which benefits to use when visiting Macau with a Visa card. Furthermore, with new AI capabilities emerging every day, we constantly integrate new AI capabilities into our content ecosystem.

Tianlan Shao, founder and CEO of Mech-Mind Robotics

Mech-Mind specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D vision solutions. By combining 3D vision, deep learning, and advanced AI algorithms, the company provides cutting-edge solutions for manufacturing, logistics, automotive, and other sectors.

By integrating 3D vision, artificial intelligence algorithms, and robotics, we can create various applications. For instance, in e-commerce warehouses, AI-powered robots can assist in order fulfillment. Take the example of a tire warehouse in Japan where previously manual labor was required to handle the tires. Now, with the combination of artificial intelligence and 3D vision, robots can navigate and perform tasks in a wide range of new scenarios. This combination of AI and 3D vision is transforming robots, enabling them to operate efficiently in various industries and revolutionizing processes such as warehousing and logistics.

Our company is now expanding beyond the industrial sector. We are involved in manufacturing, logistics, including some retail operations, and even departments like hospital pharmacies. As I showcased earlier, we are also venturing into areas such as electric vehicle (EV) charging applications. The range of scenarios we cater to is continuously expanding, which aligns with the regular trend of technological development. For instance, when personal computers (PCs) were initially introduced, they were primarily used by large enterprises, then adopted by small and medium-sized businesses, and eventually became commonplace for individuals, including toddlers. Similarly, the technologies we implement in various robotic applications are progressing rapidly.

One significant transformation brought about by advancements like ChatGPT is that every company can now become a technology company. In the past, companies focused on specific areas like design, coding, or internet services. However, today, there are no excuses, and every company can harness the capabilities of AI, such as ChatGPT, to become, in some sense, a tech company. Therefore, in my view, GPT will further accelerate the permeation of technologies like robotics, AI, and automation into all industries. In the future, every company will utilize AI technology, just as everyone now uses computers. I anticipate this transformation will happen rapidly, possibly within the next 1,000 days.

Shawn Ding, vice president of Whale Tech

Whale Tech, a fast-growing provider of AI-based systems for retailers and brands that can be used across sectors such as automobile, cosmetics, and more. Its systems help brands make informed decisions and maximize profitability, transforming the retail industry through technology.

By tracking how consumers behave in stores and how salespeople are pitching products both physically and digitally, Whale’s solutions help retail businesses identify gaps that they can address to drive growth across both online and offline channels.

In recent years, particularly last year, Whale Tech has expanded its presence to Southeast Asia and Japan, opening new offices and gaining numerous new clients and case studies. The diverse development of digital channels has brought about innovative and enhanced utilization of marketing strategies. For example, the automotive industry has seen a shift away from the conventional practice of only buying cars from 4S dealerships.

Meidong Auto has seen success with its structured sales model, which begins with an online livestream session and transitions to offline experiences before retaining customers in the private chats of WeChat. This approach has resulted in 26% of their automotive sales orders being generated through livestream. Many other brands have adopted this model, recognizing its effectiveness in attracting and retaining customers.

In the field of AIGC, Whale Tech recognizes the importance of identifying the smallest achievable business case and realizing it with speed and efficiency. For B2B clients, it’s important they are embracing digitalization. Without a foundation in digitization, it becomes challenging to implement AIGC strategies effectively. By leveraging digitalization as a starting point, we assist clients in identifying their most pressing pain points and providing solutions within the shortest possible timeframe.

Ken Wang, founder and CEO of BOOLV

BOOLV provides marketing video and content production tools, and helps brands and businesses find efficient solutions for video marketing. Leveraging AI and algorithmic models, BOOLV enables users to generate various product videos targeted for e-commerce scenarios and provides tools such as face swapping, converting model images into videos, adding in virtual spokesperson explanations, and generating diverse visual materials.

In the era of smartphones, most of our visual data are actually in photos, not videos. However, in the future, the application of cross-modal technology can transform images directly into videos, allowing for more dynamic and engaging visuals. With virtualization technology, even the human subjects in the videos can be entirely virtual. This advancement significantly enhances video presentation and sales processes, making them more vibrant and captivating.

We have done extensive training to make sure products can look real on generated models, while also conducting background training to enhance material placement, regeneration, and evolution. Furthermore, we focus on layout training to address image degradation issues on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. In fact, we even offer customized solutions to help businesses shape their own unique intellectual properties (IP) and redefine their brand identity.

Unlike previous technologies, AIGC tech is more of a starter rather than a zero-to-one solution. It involves various intermediate stages where companies can make money. So it is up to companies to figure out when data integration becomes necessary, and how can users’ demands need to be met. Determining the return on investment (ROI) at each level requires user knowledge and understanding. Therefore, it is essential to focus on delivering value to users and understanding their specific needs. From the user’s perspective, they are more concerned with the outcomes you provide rather than the specific technologies or the frontend and backend experience. Ultimately, their primary concern is the impact on sales and the value you bring to their business. These are not solely technical issues but more user-centric ones.

In recent years, China has seen a growing trend of lifelong learning, with more people willing to invest in their personal and professional growth. For China’s more than 875 million labor force, their growing learning needs are diverse. Some seek to acquire new skills and knowledge to better their career prospects, while others want to learn for leisure, social interaction, and to enrich their retirement.

This growing trend compounding with the acceleration of digitization made online continuing education in China a new growth area. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan in September 2022, the market size of China’s adult learning industry has grown rapidly from RMB 383.3 billion in 2017 to RMB 566.4 billion ($56 billion to $82 billion) in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.3%. The market is expected to reach RMB 994.7 billion by 2026.

QuantaSing Group (NASDAQ: QSG), a leading Chinese company providing online adult learning courses, has developed a comprehensive and innovative platform that caters to the diverse needs of learners, who come from various ages and backgrounds. QuantaSing offers a wide range of adult learning courses, such as those that give users a basic understanding of financial concepts, to Chinese calligraphy, piano, and short video production.

To enhance learning results, QuantaSing also provides a dual-instructor learning mode, offering students both expert instructors’ courses and off-class tutor communication. QuantaSing’s sub-brands, JiangZhen and QianChi, offer personal interest courses that address China’s seismic economic and social shifts by empowering individuals to re-skill and explore hobbies. These courses are priced at a more affordable level than formal education providers, yet with a level of personalized guidance that is unavailable from free online courses. As a result, these courses have become a popular choice for working adults and retirees who are seeking to expand their knowledge and skills outside of traditional classroom settings.

Dual-instructor learning experience

One major pain point of online learning is that not all students are focused and engaged in a virtual classroom, making it difficult for teachers to target and reach those students that need more support. To address this problem, QuantaSing uses a unique dual-instructor learning system. Each course is first taught by an expert instructor in a large-class setting via livestreamed lessons and then supported by off-class tutors in the form of online study groups. The tutors provide individual guidance and daily support, such as responding to students’ inquiries, overseeing learning progress, coordinating course-related activities, assessing learners’ performance, and collecting feedback.

The benefits of a dual-instructor system primarily lie in its ability to help students achieve the best learning results. For one, the effectiveness of livestream lessons might not work to accommodate the learning needs of all students, which is why off-class tutors are essential. For example, students learning fine arts and calligraphy may need to show teachers detailed hand movements to improve, tutors can help facilitate that process more attentively than an expert instructor. Secondly, tutors can monitor learning progress at any time and respond to questions about the content of the online teacher’s classes. Both the expert instructor and the tutor must coordinate lesson planning in advance to ensure students internalize and use the learned knowledge.

In the two years of teaching millions of students across China, QuantaSing has proved that the dual-instructor system is an effective way to enhance the learning experience. For example, at QuantaSing’s Qianchi piano courses, learner Ms. Ge explored her passion for music. Ms. Ge has no prior piano experience, but under the guidance of the course and daily practice, she gradually gained confidence and developed a newfound love for music. Expert instructors and off-class tutors were crucial in her journey, providing personalized feedback and encouragement to keep her motivated.

In another instance, QuantaSing’s painting course has inspired learners like Ms. Li, a 55-year-old novice in painting from Hebei province, to discover a newfound passion for life. She registered as a user on JiangZhen and fell in love with the painting classes. Today, she proudly displays her artwork in her courtyard, which is a testament to the transformative power of the arts.

The dual-instructor system has allowed QuantaSing to provide a comprehensive learning experience that combines the expertise of top-notch experts with the personalized attention of off-class tutors, making it possible for users like Ms. Ge and Ms. Li to achieve their full potential in their chosen hobbies.

At the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macao, experts from the autonomous driving sector gathered on Friday to discuss the implementation phase of autonomous driving. Liu Nianqiu, technology partner and vice president of DeepRoute.ai, Mark Xu, co-partner and general manager of the Intelligent Driving Industry at RoboSense, Xu Hu, chief scientist, CiDi, and Wei Lei, founder and CEO of BUS ME, shared their insights on the journey from the demo phase to the productization phase of intelligent vehicles. 

Sui JianFeng, executive vice director at ADIRC, executive deputy general manager at Tusstar, and CEO of Tusholdings (GBA) moderated the panel. 

The four speakers divided intelligent driving scenarios into two main categories: those involving robotaxis and robobuses. Xu expressed confidence in RoboSense’s ability to implement both types of automated driving technology and reduce automated driving takeover in urban areas through safe technology. Wei Lei pointed out that the technology for robotaxis in cities will be more complex and require higher technology standards.

Mark Xu also predicted that the concept of automated driving will gain momentum either this year or the next year. He said he thought that full self-driving solutions will experience large-scale growth, though admitted that consumer acceptance is an important factor.

Liu Nianqiu suggested that one path toward the technology becoming more widely accepted lay in pursuing opportunities for hardware and software collaborations. He cited the example of RoboSense’s strategic partnership with DeepRoute.ai, which aims to promote the mass production of L4-level autonomous driving solutions. The two companies will focus on developing an L4 autonomous driving solution that integrates RoboSense’s intelligent solid-state lidar system with precise, comprehensive 3D environmental perception capabilities. By leveraging their respective technological advantages and industry resources, they aim to empower robotaxis with more advanced and intelligent autonomous driving solutions, enabling more consumers to enjoy safer and more intelligent travel experiences, Liu said.

According to Xu Hu and Wei Lei, there is great potential for the application of autonomous driving in various industries and scenarios, including low-speed logistics, commercial logistics, mining sites, and other closed-road industries such as industrial parks. In these closed environments, the structured description of autonomous driving is relatively clear and there is less potential interference, particularly from human factors.

Xu Hu mentioned that CiDi has integrated BeiDou high-precision positioning technology into innovative applications in digital transportation and autonomous driving fields, achieving unmanned transportation in mining areas and industrial parks. In addition, Dongfeng Liuqi and CiDi have jointly developed the Liuqi H5 intelligent logistics vehicle, an intelligent electric truck designed for mass production and used in scenarios such as factory logistics and park transportation, meeting the demands of multi-scene applications. The vehicle has multiple functions such as V2X vehicle-road coordination, 5G remote parallel driving, and cloud intelligent scheduling, which effectively reduce traffic safety risks and improve logistics transportation efficiency.

According to Wei Lei, the current challenges related to technology, policy, and cost, make it difficult for robotaxis to land, and it will still take a long time for the vehicles to become scalable. He argued that the landing of robobuses can be much faster. Baishimei, an important promoter of robobuses, is a private travel company that provides automated driving solutions for short-distance travel needs from urban subways to communities, universities, and parks, emphasizing operational capabilities using intelligent sightseeing vehicles rather than standard buses. Baishimei plans to launch L4 autonomous driving in the future. As early as September 27, 2021, Baishimei announced the completion of its first commercial order and completed 25,000 paid orders in just two months.

Sui Jianfeng also highlighted a long road ahead, saying that, “the path from demo to mass production of autonomous driving not only involves the technology itself, but also essential factors such as cost, safety, application scenarios, and consumer experience. Therefore, it is important for all entrepreneurs to jointly promote the development of this industry.”

Cutting-edge technologies are disrupting the healthcare and life science field. While recent headlines have largely focused on its content creation abilities, AI technology can also be used in drug development, anti-aging, and neuroscience.

At the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macao, Dalong Hu, SVP at XtalPi, co-founder of iCarbonX Yingrui Li, and Phoenix Peng, co-founder and CEO of NeuroXess, on Thursday discussed the cutting-edge technology now available in the fields of drug development, anti-aging, and brain science. The discussion has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Dalong Hu, SVP, XtalPi

Currently, the implementation of AI in drug development is still relatively elementary. It can largely assist human thinking but cannot completely replace human work as in the fields of autonomous driving, security, and smart transportation. XtalPi has built a “trinity” drug development innovation model: the first step is to quickly generate molecules in large quantities through intelligent computing; the second step is to have experts manually evaluate the molecules; and the third step is XtalPi’s latest automated laboratory.

There’s a four-stage cycle in drug development: Design, Make, Test, and Analysis. If the Design stage can improve efficiency and throughput through AI, the Make stage, which is the synthesis characterization stage of the compound, still uses traditional experimental methods — it’s still low in efficiency and throughput. XtalPi hopes to improve the efficiency and throughput of traditional drug experiments through an automated laboratory system, and with the help of intelligent automation technology, connect the cycles in the drug discovery process, ultimately achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

Unlike many light-asset AI companies in the market that only employ software engineers and basic drug development staff, XtalPi has now become a substantial heavy-asset company with a workforce of over 1,000 people. It’s possibly the largest AI drug development company globally, including more than 700 staff in research and development. The research and development team is diverse, including algorithm development, software development, drug development, digitization, and automation equipment departments. So far, XtalPi has participated in over 200 new drug development projects, with a real-time laboratory area of over 10,000 square meters, and more than 60 pipelines under development, including emerging models such as macromolecules, small molecules, ADC, and others. Some leading pipelines have obtained INDs in China and the United States and are about to enter clinical trials.

XtalPi’s small-molecule drug discovery system is a drug discovery platform that integrates the three essential elements of XtalPi’s smart computing, expert experience, and automated experiments. Smart computing includes two sub-platforms, the AI drug discovery platform, ID4Idea, and the high-precision computational chemistry platform, ID4Gibbs. ID4Idea has a technical advantage in molecule generation, evaluation, and screening, while leading the industry in precision, flexibility docking, and throughput.

Yingrui Li, co-founder of iCarbonX

Aging is not just about wrinkles or slower wound healing. In fact, aging has 10-20 different dimensions, each with its own causes and effects. To age better, one key technology is the quantification of human health. This means collecting enough data about a person to accurately determine their stage in life and whether each of their body systems — such as the immune, skin, and cardiovascular systems — are at the correct age, younger or older.

To achieve this, scientists need a way to gather all possible data from the body and use AI to measure the different dimensions of aging. They also need models to integrate different types of data, including lifestyle, genetics, and molecular biology, to create what’s called a “digital twin” of the body, allowing individuals to understand where they are in their life journey. This personalized approach is very different from the generalized data provided by the current healthcare system. Finally, researchers need to use various types of technology to analyze the data and identify problems, as well as provide solutions.

iCarbonX is combining healthcare services with other types of subscription or property-based businesses. In a building in Shenzhen, we are installing all possible healthcare monitoring and devices. Each apartment will have a terminal to measure people’s lifestyles and ultimately, their type. We will also try to collect health data from all residents in community healthcare centers to provide proactive medical care. Different from the past, where doctors passively waited for patients to come to them, we will enable doctors and community health services to actively interact with community residents to keep them as healthy as possible.

Aging itself is not the problem — it is the diseases that come with aging that are the problem. Our ultimate goal should be to age healthily. The key to anti-aging is to actively pursue a life beyond one’s fate, rather than passively aging and becoming ill.

Phoenix Peng, co-founder and CEO of NeuroXess

The essence of human cognitive thinking lies in the firing signals of the 86 billion neurons in the brain. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) seek to study the firing patterns of neurons at the cellular level, decode the thoughts and signals of the brain and ultimately establish a pathway between AI and the brain.

Elon Musk once said there is a significant information gap between the carbon-based and silicon-based forms of the human body, and the current pathways are highly inefficient. All BCI companies aim to expand the bandwidth of human thoughts, expressions, and receptions as much as possible after establishing a pathway. This is a long-term goal that requires a 15 to 25 year collaborative exploration.

China’s ambitious Brain Project, which has been dubbed the fourth great scientific endeavor after the Manhattan Project, the Apollo Program and the Genome Project, aims to unlock the mysteries of the brain. Like the previous three initiatives, the success of the Brain Project will depend heavily on technological tools, such as the centrifuge for the Manhattan Project, the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo Program and the DNA sequencer for the Genome Project. In the case of the Brain Project, experts believe that brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) will be the key to unlocking the secrets of the brain, as they enable stable long-term reading and writing of dynamic networks of neurons on a large scale.

Launched in 2021, China’s Brain Project is a 10-year, 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) scientific initiative. China is driven to spearhead the Brain Project and hopes to surpass the rest of the world in the field.

BCIs are a typical interdisciplinary field that covers semiconductors, chips, materials, algorithms, robots, medicine, ethics, neuroscience, psychology and other cross-cutting domains. The core issue that NeuroXess, a Chinese BCI company, needs to address is how to use the brain to its maximum potential while minimizing damage to it. Achieving a balance between the two is a constant challenge. To bring BCI technology to commercial applications, high-throughput neural read/write capabilities, low-trauma approaches and long-term carriers are the three main technical obstacles that need to be overcome.

Former President of the United Nations Security Council Kishore Mahbubani sees the 21st century as Asia’s century, with a great opportunity to improve the lives of billions of people, but also a great threat to the current world structure.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Kishore Mahbubani, former president of the United Nations Security Council. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

There’s an Arab proverb which says: He who speaks about the future lies even when he tells the truth. And we all know that the future is unpredictable. I’m sure we all keep getting surprised. And yet at the same time, the paradoxical thing about our world today is that the future, I assure you, is going to be very surprising, but there are still four certainties. That’s paradoxical. We can make confident predictions about what’s coming. So in the five or ten minutes assigned to me, I’m going to speak about the four certainties about the future and one big uncertainty.

So one of the four certainties, the first certainty is that the 21st century will be the Asian century, just as the 19th century was the European century, the 20th century was the American century. The 21st century will be the Asian century, and that will be a return to the norm because from the year 1 to the year 1820 — for 1,800 of the last 2,000 years — the two largest economies of the world were always those of China and India. So the return of China and India to the center stage is normal. The 200 years of Western domination of world history was abnormal.

And through a personal quirk, I have come to discover that the world is actually getting ready for the Asian century because in early 2022, thanks to my good friend, I published a book of essays with Springer, a German publisher, called the “Asian 21st Century.” The German publisher expected 20,000 downloads of the book. Instead, in 16 months, there have been 2.9 million downloads of the book in 160 countries. The world is psychologically preparing for the Asian century.

And here, just to reinforce a key point that my good friend Andrew Cheng just made — if you look at the future of Asia, the growth will be driven by what I call the new CIA. The CIA is not the Central intelligence Agency. The CIA is China, India, and ASEAN. And remember that — the new CIA. The CIA countries make up 3.5 billion of the world’s population. Now in the year 2000, out of the 3.5 billion people, only 150 million were in the middle class. By 2020, the number had grown to 1.5 billion and increased 10 times in 20 years. And by 2030 it will grow to 3 billion people. That middle class is going to drive this growth. So that’s one certainty, the Asian century.

The second certainty, if the first one was good news, the second one is bad news. I predict, sadly, with great certainty, that the US-China geopolitical contest, which has already begun, as you know, will gain momentum over the next 10 years. A few weeks ago out in the United States, I delivered a lecture at Boston University. In that lecture, I discussed and predicted that this geopolitical contest will gain momentum because it’s driven by an iron law of geopolitics, which tells us that whenever the world’s number one emerging power, which today is China, is about to overtake the world’s number one power, which today is the United States, the number one power will push down the world’s number one emerging power. That’s the iron law of geopolitics, and you’ve seen that. And you’ve seen the trade tariffs that have been imposed. You see the Chips Act that has been passed. And I confidently predict, sadly, that there will be other measures that will come. So that’s the second certainty.

The third certainty, which also has been referred to by many of the distinguished speakers before me, is that climate change is coming. It’s real, it’s accelerating and all the things that we are doing, all the development that we’re creating — I gave you the figures of the new middle-class populations in CIA — the more they consume, the more the greenhouse gas emissions of the community. So that is something clearly we all agree we should do something about. But that’s going to be a challenge.

And the fourth certainty and that’s why we are here today, is that science and technology will continue to develop and strengthen. Now let me be very honest with all of you: I’m not an expert in this field. I was so impressed with some of you who were nodding your heads when the speaker before Andrew Sheng was speaking — Professor Jia about quantum physics — I didn’t understand a word. I couldn’t understand the equations. I didn’t know what you were talking about, but I did know that it is going to lead to a great leap forward in terms of our understanding of the world that we live in. And so in that sense, we should be seeing, we should be expecting an era of great promise.

And yet, all this brings me to my one uncertainty. The big uncertainty that the world faces is whether humanity will be wise enough to use all this information that we have, all this accumulated understanding of science and technology. Can we bring it all together to save our world and to save our planet? In theory, all of us are becoming more intelligent and have gone to universities. We studied the best theories, the best practices, we should be wiser and more capable. Yet, despite that, the big uncertainty is whether humanity is wise enough to realize that when we used to live in under 193 separate countries, it was as though we were living 193 separate boats — now all of humanity lives on one boat in 193 cabins on the same boat. If you just take care of one of our cabins, we will not save the world. We have to take care of the world as a whole.

And that’s why I’m very glad that President Xi Jinping has launched a concept of a community with a shared future. That’s what’s coming to us. Humanity is going to have a shared future. If we can all come together, the world will be a better place. If we don’t, it will be very challenging. So be ready for the uncertainties, also. Thank you very much.

On Wednesday, Chinese quantum physics expert Jian-Wei Pan explained China’s progress in utilizing quantum physics at the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macao, adding that the country still needs a long time to popularize quantum computing. He highlighted China’s efforts in developing the world’s first quantum science satellite, Micius, in 2016 and the long-distance fiber-optic quantum communication backbone network, the Beijing-Shanghai National Quantum Communication Backbone, in 2017.

Pan has conducted extensive research experience in quantum optics, quantum information and fundamental issues in quantum mechanics. He is particularly known for his systematic innovations in quantum communication, multiphoton entanglement manipulation and cold-atom quantum storage.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Jian-Wei Pan, Academian of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Quantum Physics. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to scientists Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger for their ‘experimental violations of the Bell inequalities using entangled photons, and for laying the foundations of quantum information science.’

The work of Chinese scientists was highlighted during the news conference and scientific presentation in the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, including the use of the Micius satellite for intercontinental quantum key distribution and Earth-quantum-channel distribution, as well as recent work on quantum key distribution.

Quantum information science mainly involves two applications: using quantum communication to provide a theoretically unconditional secure communication method, and using quantum computing to greatly improve computational power.

In quantum computing, information is encoded using quantum bits (qubits), and the superposition principle can be used to achieve ultra-fast parallel computation, resulting in exponential acceleration. Therefore, quantum computers can be used to solve a variety of problems in fields such as classical cryptography, weather forecasting, financial analysis and drug design.

To achieve a generalized quantum communication network, we can use fiber optics to build a metropolitan quantum communication system and use quantum relays to achieve intercity quantum communication. Further, with the help of quantum satellites, long-distance quantum communication can be realized. After nearly 20 years, Chinese scientists successfully developed the world’s first quantum science satellite, Micius, which was launched in August 2016. In addition, in September 2017, China’s long-distance fiber-optic quantum communication backbone network, the Beijing-Shanghai National Quantum Communication Backbone, was officially opened. Micius and the Beijing-Shanghai Backbone helped China preliminarily test the hypothesis of building a wide-area quantum communication network and prove in principle that a unified quantum network is feasible.

In the field of quantum computing, achieving a universal quantum computer will require significant effort over an extended period of time. To ensure the healthy development of this field, academia has set three stages of development for quantum computing. The first stage is the demonstration of the superiority of quantum computing, which means that the quantum computing system’s solving speed for certain specific problems has far surpassed that of classical supercomputers, demonstrating its inherent superiority. The second stage is the construction of a specialized quantum simulation machine used to solve specific complex problems that classical computers cannot handle, such as high-temperature superconducting mechanisms. And in the third stage, the goal is to achieve universal programmable quantum computing with the help of quantum error correction.

To achieve global quantum communication in the future, we need to overcome the challenges currently faced by satellite quantum centers. The first challenge is that a single low-orbit satellite cannot directly cover the entire globe. The second challenge is that current satellites can only operate in low-visibility areas. There are corresponding solutions to these challenges. One solution is to launch multiple low-orbit satellites to form an efficient satellite network, known as a “constellation.” On this basis, satellites with longer transit times in medium to high orbits can be launched to distribute more keys. However, the fundamental premise for these solutions is that satellites can work under the background of solar radiation.

And in July 2022, China launched the world’s first micro-nano quantum satellite, “Jinan-1.” With a payload of only 20 kilograms, it is much lighter than the Micius satellite. We are currently developing the first mid-to-high orbit quantum satellite, which is planned to be launched around 2026. In addition to achieving quantum key distribution, it also provides a new platform for quantum precision measurement. This quantum satellite can achieve quantum entanglement distribution on a scale of tens of thousands of kilometers. In the future, by utilizing global entanglement distribution, multiple atoms can be entangled to significantly improve stability in atoms. Using optical neutralization and ultra-precise transmission of light screen targets, we can construct a long baseline interferometer in outer space and carry out tests on fundamental physics principles, including the detection of dark matter and gravitational waves.

In the field of quantum computing, our goal is to achieve manipulation of hundreds of quantum bits in the future, allowing for the construction of dedicated quantum simulators that can help us understand complex physical systems, such as high-temperature superconductivity and quantum Bohr effects. Currently, through 10 to 15 years of effort, we hope to manipulate millions of quantum bits and achieve quantum error correction, ultimately building a programmable universal quantum computer.

Joe Tsai, co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group, sees AI tools as powerful forces in shaping and transforming the future of the entertainment sector, according to his speech on Wednesday at the BEYOND Expo 2023 opening ceremony.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Joe Tsai, Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

Honored guests, I am very privileged and honored to stand here in front of you to talk about the future — the topic of “What’s Next?” When Jason (Jason Ho, co-founder of the BEYOND Expo) asked me to make this presentation, I thought about several factors that are affecting not just the world but also Macao itself.

So, the first thing about Macao that I learned over the last several months is that Chief Executive Iat Seng Ho is very intent on transforming the economy away from just a single industry of gaming into the world of entertainment, content, healthcare, sustainability, and consumption. And I think that’s a very, very interesting factor, which will explain why I’m going to talk about what I talk about.

The second factor is what’s going on in the technology world — the launch of ChatGPT late last year. Everybody has been completely entranced by the whole idea of generative AI. AI used to be able to tell you the difference between dogs and cats, whether it’s black or white. But now AI can actually generate content just like a human brain, very actively generating new information, new content. So generative AI is going to be another important factor in what I’m going to talk about.

The third thing is, it’s important in my business. We’re in the online retail e-commerce business, and we’re very much part of the economy in China in terms of helping the whole Chinese economy to grow through consumption.

Consumption today in China is around 40% of the total GDP. Over time we hope to help the country grow the economy through consumption. But what we do today is online shopping — buying stuff, material things, buying material things.

What I’m going to talk about is something that’s a little bit more spiritual. Although it feels like not a real economy, it’s virtual, but I think having spiritual well-being is very important in terms of the whole consumption economy. So, my presentation with the confluence of these three factors — where Macao is going, where AI is going, and where consumption is going — I’m going to talk about digital entertainment.

So, we’re going to redefine digital entertainment. I will take you through an example of filmmaking. In making a film, there are a lot of problems. What are the problems? We have to decide who to pick. We have to decide actors and actresses. And actors and actresses are human beings. They’re very, very difficult to manage.

Believe me, I manage a basketball team and the players are very difficult to manage. If you’re in Hollywood, it’s very, very difficult to manage people.

The next thing is logistics. The logistics involve a lot of costs and moving around and then finally shooting post-production and things like that. Well, what happens if you make a film when it’s already done? You’ve done the shooting and then you want to change it. What happens? The change is a part of the pain point of the industry that is very difficult to solve.

So, these are the pain points. Let’s see what technology and the future can bring to solve these three problems.

[Shows an ad]

Leah is a digital actress. She is a digital personality that we’ve created. She’s not a real person, and here’s the beauty of this. With digitization, we can bring together what is a very American sport, like baseball with something from China, that’s made in the image of a Chinese actress. And then we can merge the two together into a very sort of Chinese-American scene of promoting Major League Baseball. In fact, our group had done a deal with MLB to help promote this thing, and we have created a 3D model. When we create, we create a 3D model and it took us about a month to create. But today, if you use generative AI, it’ll take about a week to create this model.

So, today, in order to create this digital model, it’ll just take one week. That’s a very interesting aspect because now you replace human beings, you don’t have to manage the emotion for the issues with real humans. And the other thing is Leah is now a digital asset of the company — of the movie production company — and she belongs to the movie production company, and she’s in fact represented by an agent. The next thing is the NBA will probably call us and say, ‘Hey, can we use your Leah to help promote the league?’ I think that creates longevity for whoever created the character, and you can obviously build on the character.

The next thing is about logistics. This is what we call a digital studio. The traditional way of creating a studio and making an outdoor scene is you use the green screen, and the actor is standing on an empty stage with a green screen behind it, trying to act out something.

But now, with LED panels, we can create a studio with very little space. We have a studio in Beijing that’s about 2,000 square meters that can handle everything. The fact that you can create LED screens with scenes — we have hundreds of thousands of scenes that you pre create and put onto the screen. It makes shooting a film very easy. So you don’t have to really go on location. For example, here we have actors that are actually acting in front of the screen, so they are actually put into the environment of the story that they’re trying to tell. In this case, Mars and the spaceship. Once you’re in this environment, instead of standing in front of a green screen, you’re basically in the situation. You’re in the mood of the acting.

Now I want to talk about production a little bit. So, if you created a show, create something real and then you want to change things, there’s post-production tools to make it virtual. And what this does is it actually democratizes production and the whole post-production process because imagine if you are on TikTok, you can actually change things as you create your content.

And finally, generative AI. One of the last aspects of making a movie is marketing and promotion. So, what do you do when you market and promote a movie? You make posters. And now it’s very easy to generate these posters.

Within a few hours, you can use these generated AI tools to promote the posters. So, this is a movie (Born to Fly) that Alibaba Pictures invested in and it started showing during the Labor Day holiday. It’s a great movie, and we have basically generated these posters and put it all across the country at a very low cost. So that’s pretty much what I want to share with you about the future. And please go see this movie. It’s much, much better than Tom Cruise’s (Top Gun).

Chief Adviser to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission Andrew Sheng on Wednesday called for the embracing of a world power paradigm shift while exploring the interplay of philosophy, technology, and cooperation in a changing world.

“Today, thanks to technology, both in its physical and digital forms, our mindsets have opened tremendously. This openness, largely attributed to the AI revolution and ChatGPT, presents not only incredible opportunities but also profound threats,” Andrew Sheng, Chief Adviser to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said at the BEYOND Expo 2023 tech conference, held in Macao from May 10 – 12.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Andrew Sheng, Chief Adviser to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

I am honored to come to Macao and would like to thank Jason for joining this important session at BEYOND Expo. I am delighted that my esteemed fellow speakers, including my very good friend, the president of Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, Jin Liqun, have spoken about finance and the role of AIIB.

The previous speaker discussed quantum physics, which unfortunately, is a bit beyond my expertise, but aligns with my thinking on the challenges we face today. Talking about what comes next – we really need to think about what is wrong with the system today and see it as a whole rather than in parts.

One of the reasons the system is imbalanced is because the different parts are imbalanced. If your paradigm, or the way you think about a problem is only in parts, you cannot fix the problem. What are the key parts of a system? As the previous speaker mentioned, a lot of it is quantum thinking, an area that Einstein pioneered in science and technology.

We already understand that there are four critical parts in a system. The first is meta or the way we think about everything. It is the paradigm, and that is what I would like to discuss. Next, we delve into macro or the big picture. In economics, it is called macroeconomics, while microeconomics includes details. This connection between macro and micro is meta, and includes institutions. Joe Tsai from Alibaba will talk about the platform and the institutions that link the macro policy and the micro. However, if we really look at any system, it is the worldview or the thinking that matters most.

For 500 years, the world has been dominated by the West. The West has had a paradigm that expanded out of a small part of the world to colonize the rest, but that paradigm is now shaken because we are seeing an imbalance at the human level, which includes social imbalances, social inequality, people aging rapidly, and regional differences. There are rich countries and poor countries; fast-growing economies, slow-growing economies, and some failing economies; and therefore, the human aspect is deeply imbalanced.

Similarly, climate warming is about planetary imbalance. There is planetary imbalance and human imbalance, but planetary imbalance is because humans are going too fast. So, what are the solutions? As all the speakers before me have said, technology is the solution to many of the challenges we face, and as President Xi Jinping said, technology will offer an important way out. What is technology? Technology is cumulative human knowledge.

That is why all leaders have emphasized that Macao holds a central position in the fastest-growing region in the world, which is East Asia. China and India today account for half of the global growth in 2022. Those of us in Central East Asia and Northeast Asia, which is prosperous, must not overlook Southeast Asia represented by ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). ASEAN is 700 million people, half the population of China and India, half the geographical size of China and one-third larger than India, and growing at 5% to 6% annually.

North Asia, Japan for example, might grow at 2%. China is growing at 4%, but 700 million people are growing at 5% to 6%, and over the course of this decade, will be growing at nearly 7%, and if my projections are right, nearly 8%. The reason is the influx of money into this region. The Greater Bay Area plays a crucial role as an important platform, and shapes how we think about its paradigm.

What other paradigms should we consider? The previous speaker discussed quantum physics. Quantum thinking is ancient Chinese and Indian thinking. It focuses on the whole. We are all a part of the system and cannot say you are bad, or I am good because we are together. This underscores the importance of technology working together as noted by earlier speakers. We must cooperate and how we cooperate depends not just on the paradigm, but also on the platform.

That is why BEYOND Expo is a wonderful platform because, through technology, not only are we are able to physically meet each other and enjoy each other’s company, great food and culture, but we are also able to do it digitally. Today, thanks to technology, both in its physical and digital forms, our mindsets have opened tremendously. This openness, largely attributed to the AI revolution and ChatGPT, presents not only incredible opportunities, but also profound threats. Those who can harness technology will enjoy better income and prospects for the future. But those who do not understand technology risk being left behind. This imbalance is the most pressing challenge we face currently. How can we ensure that education extends beyond the privileged few and empowers the masses to understand the new challenges of our world? How can we cooperate with each other in a systemic manner? And here, again, I would like to touch upon ancient Chinese thinking.

For example, if we think about human beings, according to Qian Xuesen, the father of Chinese modern science, we are huge, open, complex systems. If one man is an open and complex system, he is living with 8 billion others. It is a system within a system and reflects the concepts of Tao Te Ching and I Ching, where we recognize that we are living in a world that is constantly changing. Change is perpetual, yet we remain unchanged. The new thinking is understanding how to go from simple to complex and back to simple again. While trying to understand quantum physics, I suddenly discovered that it is really ancient Chinese and Asian philosophy.

With this philosophical thinking, we are better prepared to see that the world is imbalanced. Asia is growing and aging at the same time. How do we use our own wisdom and combine it with new technology to navigate this new world? We must think for ourselves because it is essential to do so when confronted with challenges. That is where we stand today.

I’m honored to participate in this discussion. I hope that in the panel discussion we can explore how the East, West, South, and North can all cooperate to create a more prosperous future for the people and the planet.

Thank you very much!

The BEYOND Expo 2023 kicked off in Macao on May 10 with the theme “Technology Redefined.” The three-day expo will focus on showcasing and discussing technologies related to consumer technology, healthcare, and sustainability. The event will also feature multiple international investment and financing summits, as well as startup roadshows, providing a platform for emerging players in the industry to showcase their innovations.

The BEYOND 2023 opening ceremony on Wednesday morning saw government officials, executives and leaders from technology and finance industries gathering in Macao, where they discussed the role of technology to empower various industries in the future.

Here are some key takeaways from the opening ceremony speakers:

1. Jin Liqun, President and Chair of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

“At this Expo, I see the dream of a more inclusive Asia, particularly, a more financially inclusive Asia,” Jin said. He also emphasized that AIIB’s financial services can “make it possible for people to climb out of poverty by obtaining credit, to invest in their education, to take out insurance, to run the business, and to weather the shocks of the changing climate.”

Moreover, Jin sees digital access as a key threshold to keep people connected and resilient. AIIB prioritizes two types of infrastructure investment. The first is infrastructure development that supports the expansion of the digital economy, such as 5G towers and fiber cables. The second is digitalizing existing infrastructure into smart infrastructure. “That means we are thinking not just towers and data centers but smart cities, smart growth, smart roads, and smart vehicles.”

2. Jian-Wei Pan, Academian of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Quantum Physics

Chinese quantum physics expert Jian-Wei Pan explained China’s efforts in quantum communication and quantum computing. Pan believes that China still needs a long time to make progress in popularizing quantum computing. However, after nearly 20 years, Chinese scientists successfully developed the world’s first quantum science satellite, Micius, which was launched in August 2016. In addition, in September 2017, China’s long-distance fiber-optic quantum communication backbone network, the Beijing-Shanghai National Quantum Communication Backbone, was officially opened. Micius and the Beijing-Shanghai Backbone helped China preliminarily test the hypothesis of building a wide-area quantum communication network and prove in principle that “a unified quantum network is feasible.”

“To achieve a generalized quantum communication network, we can use optical fibers to build quantum communication between major cities, use quantum relays to achieve quantum communication between cities, and further use the quantum satellite platform to achieve long-distance quantum communication,” Pan said.

3. Andrew Sheng, Chief Adviser to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission

In his speech, Sheng touched on both the benefits and challenges AI tools like ChatGPT has posed on society. He said AI will create obstacles for people who are less knowledgeable about tech. “Those who do not understand the technology will be pushed further and further behind. And that is the biggest imbalance that we now face: How do we educate the masses not for the elite for the masses to understand the new challenges of the world?”

4. Kishore Mahbubani, Former President of the United Nations Security Council

In his speech, Mahbubani emphasized the rise of Asia and the challenges that come with it. He said that “the 21st century will be the Asian century, just as the 19th century was the European century and the 20th century the American century.”

He also coined a new version of the CIA — China, India, and ASEAN (the Southeast Asian regional intergovernmental organization). “If you look at the future of Asia, the growth will be driven by what I call the new CIA. The CIA is not the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA is China, India, and ASEAN. And remember that — the new CIA. The CIA countries make up 3.5 billion of the world’s population. In 2000, out of the 3.5 billion people, only 150 million were in the middle class. By 2020, the number had grown to 1.5 billion and increased 10 times in 20 years, and by 2030, it will grow to three billion people. The middle class is going to drive this growth.”

5. Joe Tsai, Co-founder and Executive Vice-Chairman of Alibaba Group

Alibaba’s Joe Tsai shared his thoughts on generative AI and agreed with Macao’s effort to transform itself from a city of gaming to entertainment, content, healthcare, sustainability and consumption.

In his speech, Tsai demonstrated an ad featuring an AI-generated actress named Leah, showing the potential of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) and its revolutionary power in the entertainment industry. “With digitization, we can bring together what is a very American sport, like baseball, with someone [AI actress Leah] made in the image of a Chinese actress. And then we can merge the two into a very sort of Chinese American scene of promoting Major League baseball,” he added.

He also showed how advanced LED screens can significantly slash the space needed for film shoots and simplify operating logistics. “With LED panels, we can create a studio with very little space. We have a studio in Beijing that’s about 2,000 square meters that can handle everything. We have hundreds of thousands of scenes that you pre-create and put onto the screen. It makes shooting a film very easy, so you don’t have to go to various film locations.” Joe said.

6. Panel discussion

BEYOND opening speakers Jin Liqun, Andrew Sheng, Kishore Mahbubani and Joe Tsai also sat down with BEYOND Expo co-founder Jason Ho for a panel discussion on the latest challenges of tech in society.

Speakers shared their thoughts on the fast-developing AI technology and its challenges to leaders and society at large. Mahbubani echoed concerns about AI accelerating the trend of people being replaced at jobs; Jin Liqun also raised a question whether AI will ever exceed human’s capacity to manage the robots? Joe Tsai said he doesn’t worry about robots, as he believes in the future evolution of human intelligence. “We actually have not explored how smart the human brain can get. There are 80 million neurons in the human brain and trillions of connections and synapses in the human brain. So there’s the potential of the human brain to get smarter and operate at a higher capacity.” Tsai said.

All the speakers agreed that countries globally should work together to develop a set of rules to help humans better manage and use AI. 

New product release

On the first afternoon of the BEYOND summit, six technology companies announced new products at the event. They are:

China State Construction International released three new products: Light A, C-SMART smart construction management platform and Hailong’s original concrete modular residential product. Light A, which mimics the appearance and texture of aluminum panels, can generate electricity while serving as a building facade. C-SMART smart construction management platform uses cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things, sensors, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, BIM, data information and communication technology to create a customized platform for smart, digital and information-based construction site management. Hailong’s original concrete modular residential product divides the building into independent modules, completes more than 90% of the construction in the factory, and then quickly assembles them into a building using reliable cast-in-place connection technology, achieving the goal of “building houses like building cars.” This technology system ingeniously integrates cast-in-place construction of the frame shear wall structure, making its mechanical properties and building height restrictions equivalent to those of traditional buildings.

Aerofugia, a tech company specializing in aerial mobility, unveiled its new product, the AE200, during the BEYOND Expo. The AE200 is an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft designed to meet high-density aerial travel needs of urban areas, with a focus on safety, performance and comfort. The prototype of the AE200 has completed its maiden flight and the certification process is now underway with regulatory authorities. This product is independently developed by Aerofugia, with outstanding capabilities in aircraft, system integration and certification experience in civil aviation.

XAG released the XAG P100 Pro agricultural drone, which is powered by electricity and designed to help farmers complete tasks such as seeding, fertilizing, and pesticide application in a more efficient, eco-friendly, and easy manner. Compared to its previous generation, the P100 Pro has been upgraded in terms of payload, efficiency, control, stability and other aspects, providing users with a more precise, efficient and user-friendly farming experience.

Shanghai Changing Biotech unveiled the Kluvy Protein and the Alternative Dairy Products for Professionals. This product line is based on biotechnology that creates microbial protein and biosynthetic milk protein, which efficiently uses limited earth resources to achieve unlimited nutritional potential. It is sourced from nature, with strains originating from Shangri-La, and the product also uses advanced technologies such as mutation evolution and gene editing to create future food from natural sources.

iFlyrec launched iFlyrec AI Writer to improve office efficiency and quality of work. The iFlyrec AI Writer is an AI writing assistant that provides services such as AI writing, abbreviation expansion, rewriting, polishing, proofreading and document translation in news writing, official document writing, marketing promotion, project planning and other scenarios.

Snail Zhixing introduced a product called the “Solar Scooter,” which uses safe and innovative solar energy technology to provide a zero-emission mode of transportation. This scooter is suitable for users traveling within 100 kilometers globally, providing them with an environmentally friendly means of transportation. Through this innovative product, Snail Zhixing will contribute to achieving the global dual carbon target and demonstrate the “power of China.”

BEYOND summits, programs, and exhibitions

Apart from a diverse range of exhibitors, this year’s BEYOND Expo has created six stages and two lounges for global technology and investment professionals to hold various discussions and meetings. The main stages are Stage T (Theater), Stage C (Consumer Technology), Stage H (Healthcare), and Stage S (Sustainability). In particular, Stage C (Consumer Technology) is partnered exclusively with ICBC Macao and gathers global top technology innovation leaders; Stage H (Healthcare) is jointly established by BEYOND and China Taiping, aiming to explore trending topics in life science and global health challenges solutions; and Stage S (Sustainable Development) is hosted by China State Construction International Holdings Limited, BEYOND’s exclusive strategic partner, and will provide cutting-edge solutions for trending topics in sustainable development industries and global challenges.

BEYOND Expo 2023 has set up a nearly 100,000 square meter exhibition area at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, welcoming more than 600 exhibitors from around the world, including Fortune 500 companies, large multinational corporations, unicorn startups, and new early-stage enterprises. The three major exhibition areas — consumer technology, sustainability, and healthcare — have attracted participation from top companies within their respective industries.

In the Consumer Technology exhibition area, leading players such as Huawei, AliCloud, and Lenovo are among the exhibitors. There are also exhibitors like Cowarobot, which specializes in L4-level commercial vehicle autonomous driving, and Mogoauto, which focuses on L4-level autonomous driving of urban public service vehicle fleets, including buses, taxis, sweepers, patrol cars, ambulances, and logistics vehicles. Exhibitors focused on flight travel such as Aerofugia, Xpeng Aeroht, and Ehang are also present.

In the Sustainable Development exhibition area, traditional giants such as China State Construction International, China Civil Engineering (Macau), Fujifilm, and Inspur are among the exhibitors. New companies that focus on hydrogen energy, agriculture, and plant-based meat such as Sinosynergy, Chinabric, and MoreMeat are also present.

The Healthcare exhibition area features exhibitors such as China Taiping, the nation’s oldest national insurance brand, United Family Healthcare, Fosun Pharma, and the Guangzhou Taihe Medical Technology Innovation Center.

The BEYOND Expo is held at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Expo, which has been a major conference and exhibition venue in Macao since its opening in 2007. With an area of approximately 75,000 square meters, Cotai Expo is one of the largest MICE venues in Asia and features six independent exhibition halls over two levels, accommodating up to 5,000 exhibitors. It offers a wide range of flexible spaces, an international team of professional event planners, and one-stop MICE solution with diverse facilities and services.

iFlyrec, a sub-brand of Chinese speech recognition company iFlytek, demonstrated its new AI-powered product — iFlyrec AI Writer — on Wednesday at the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macao. 

Why it matters: iFlytek is following in the footsteps of Chinese tech majors Baidu and Alibaba in releasing its own AI language models and related applications, continuing Chinese tech companies’ contribution to the global AI development drive ignited by ChatGPT. 

Details: The iFlyrec AI Writer is an artificial intelligence writing tool that helps people quickly produce articles based on provided materials and prompts. The product was first launched at iFlytek’s May 6 press release event.  

• iFlyrec, the sub-brand as a whole, focuses on speech-to-text transcription; this newly launched AI writing product focuses on providing AI writing, rewriting, smart summarization, language polishing and proofreading, multi-language translation of text, and keyword extraction. It can be used in various writing scenarios, such as news writing, official document writing, marketing promotion, and project planning.
• On Wednesday, Wang Wei, vice president of iFlytek and general manager of iFlyrec, demonstrated at the BEYOND Expo product release event that on day of the product launch (May 6), some media outlets were able to produce a complete news articles using the AI writing tool. They uploaded a 15-minute voice recording that was around 5,000 words long, and the tool generated a news article of around 500 words. 

Context: iFlyrec relies on iFlytek’s AI speech recognition tech for its products and services. The latter has been making moves to demonstrate its AI capability in recent weeks. On Monday, iFlytek launched an AI language model called SparkDesk. Liu Qingfeng, iFlytek’s chairman said at a May 6 product release event that the model has surpassed ChatGPT in Chinese long-text generation, medical knowledge, and mathematical abilities, but still lags behind ChatGPT in natural language understanding.

• Liu added that the model will have three upgrades in the near future. On June 9, the model will increase its capabilities in answering open-ended questions, multi-round dialogue, and mathematical ability, and on August 15, it will be improved with code and multimodal interaction abilities. He further stated that by October 24, the model will surpass ChatGPT’s current level in Chinese, while becoming equal to ChatGPT’s current level in English.
• Founded in 1999, iFlytek is a leading Chinese technology company specializing in voice recognition and AI. The firm has become one of the largest providers of intelligent speech and language technologies globally, focusing on developing voice recognition and natural language processing solutions. Some of iFlytek’s most popular products include voice assistants, speech-to-text translation software, and smart recorders. 

President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun on Wednesday called for more efforts to finance new infrastructure projects to digitize the Asian economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Digital infrastructure is quickly becoming one of the most important tools for structuring a balanced, post-pandemic world that keeps people connected and communities resilient,” Jin Liqun, president of the China-led development bank, said at the BEYOND Expo 2023 tech conference, held in Macao from May 10 – 12.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Jin Liqun, president and chair of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

It gives me great pleasure to be in Macao with you all at the 2023 BEYOND Expo. Over the last three years, Macao has grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic like other cities in China and the rest of the world.

The challenge is particularly formidable for Macau given its special economic feature. The tough situation could be regarded as a blessing in disguise because Macao has doubled down in its efforts to diversify its economy for the cause of more sustainable development. I am confident that more growth engines with powerful driving forces will be created in Macao moving forward. Please allow me to express my best wishes to the Macao SAR government and the Macao people. I wish you all the best.

The Pearl River Delta region serves as a natural hub of connectivity across Asia. People of ambition, people of grit and determination, and people of intellectual creativity, have long been attracted to the magnetic energy of this dynamic region. It is the focal point for the region’s development that hinges on its connectivity with the rest of China, Asia, and the world. The region has played a critical role in catalyzing and driving economic development that has catapulted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into prosperity. The spillover effect from this region has also contributed to the robust growth of China’s neighbors.

For those of you who don’t know much about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), I want to take advantage of this opportunity and introduce ourselves to you. Seven years ago, initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, we began with 57 founding members. We now cover 160 economies with $100 billion in capital to finance the sustainable infrastructure for tomorrow. We represent the North and South, East and West, and developed and developing countries. We operate to the highest standards of global governance, currently called the AAA credit ratings.

At the BEYOND Expo, I see the dream of a more financially inclusive Asia. I see an Asia with better access to financial services, which can make it possible for people to climb out of poverty by obtaining credit to invest in their education, to take out insurance to run a business, and to weather the shocks of a changing climate. This is the dream of a financially inclusive Asia where all people are able to generate income and improve the quality of their lives.

There is no magic bullet for achieving the dream of financial inclusion across Asia. Our region is incredibly diverse with vast differences in per capita GDP and population size, a dizzy variety of cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity. We must understand the unique preferences and barriers that shape financial access in each of Asia’s local markets, and ensure that we continue to keep people moving forward in their education, health, and livelihood.

Our bank also recognizes one key constraint which affects access to financial inclusion in Asia, and indeed, access to your products as well, and that is digital access. Data and broadband have become essential necessities, fueling economies and flowing through the veins of our modern lives. Digital infrastructure is quickly becoming one of the most important tools to structure a balanced, post-pandemic world that keeps people connected and communities resilient.

For this reason, AIIB thinks about infrastructure a little bit differently. We go beyond traditional physical infrastructure, like roads, ports, airports, or power stations, to include more communications, digital, educational, and health infrastructure, or any infrastructure that opens new opportunities toward a more sustainable society and supports the growth of Asia’s digital economy.

Our bank targets financing towards two aspects of digital infrastructure. The first is infrastructure development that supports the expansion of a digital economy. For example, 5G towers, fiber cables, and data centers that are essential for bridging the digital divide and ensuring more equitable economic growth. The second is digitalizing existing infrastructure into smart infrastructure. That means we are thinking of not just towers and data centers, but also smart cities, smart roads, and smart vehicles. By thinking about digital infrastructure in a more holistic manner, our bank makes efforts to improve financial access across all of Asia.

Given the scale of the challenges, private sector capital is an essential partner to the mission of reducing Asia’s digital divide and improving financial inclusion. Public and private capital must work together to leverage our respective strengths. Our bank is laser-focused on scaling up our impact to achieve this vision while investing in opportunities that leverage even greater amounts of private capital toward infrastructure investment.

Though the road ahead is far from certain, Asia’s technology sector has already shown tangible benefits and awareness of financial inclusion. It is now our shared responsibility to ensure that we realize the true potential of a more prosperous and equitable Asia for all. More than seven years ago, when AIIB was set up, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that this bank must be operated to the highest possible standards and the best international practices. We follow President Xi’s instructions and that is why we are recognized by everybody in this world. Thank you very much.

BEYOND Expo 2023, which will be held in Macao from May 10 to 12, will host investment and financing sessions, including the International Investment and Financing Summit, DEMO Day and Fund at First Pitch. BEYOND aims to help startups find more investment, financing and cooperation opportunities.

The Brazil-Portugal Innovation Company Roadshow is one of the highlights of BEYOND DEMO DAY and will be held on May 11 from 09:30 to 12:00. Below are the 10 companies participating from Brazil and Portugal for the roadshow:

BIOO (Brazil)

BIOO is founded by a group of entrepreneurs focused on reducing the incidence of diabetic foot disease, a complication of diabetes. The company aims to apply artificial intelligence and scientific knowledge in an economical and extensible way to save lives and build a sustainable economy for the world.
Company website: https://bioo.care/

Biosolvit (Portugal)

Biosolvit is a biotechnology company engaged in the development of new materials. Biosolvit researchers have developed the world’s most efficient oil-absorbing materials and other products.
Company website: https://www.biosolvit.com

Decoy (Brazil)

Decoy is a Brazilian biotechnology startup focused on researching and developing products to control animal pests. The company started working by analyzing the livestock market and observed that ticks were responsible for incalculable losses in the dairy and meat production sector in Brazil and elsewhere. To minimize losses, the company searched for the best solution to balance the proliferation of ticks in cattle and help producers control this problem through scientific research. Decoy is developing a much more effective way of controlling pests in a biological, precisely strategic, and natural way.
Company Website: https://decoysmart.com/en/

DruGet ( Brazil)

DruGet is an electronic drug platform solution that accelerates the development of new drugs and reduces the traditional time-consuming and expensive problems in developing new drugs. Users can upload the molecular structure of drugs they are interested in developing to the DruGet platform, and then choose to perform predictive analysis of pharmacokinetics, toxicology and forced degradation. Finally, an analysis report will be generated through the platform, indicating which of the analyzed molecules have development potential and deserve further research, and what can be removed from the candidate list. Through using computer technology, it aims to provide faster and more instructive results to promote the development process of drugs.
Company Website: www.druget.com.br

Key2Enable (Brazil)

Innovating in digital accessibility, startup company Key2Enable empowers people with disabilities to develop their skills and individualities.

Based on assistive projects first developed in Brazil in 2015, Key2Enable was established to use exponential technologies to give autonomy and plenty of possibilities to people with motor and intellectual disabilities all around the world.

Beginning its operations in the United States of America with the Key-X Multi-purpose Smart Keyboard, the startup has already accomplished a remarkable achievement: In 2018, Key2Enable became a portfolio company of Singularity University, the world’s leading school of innovation and entrepreneurship.

That means the company can impact 1 billion people in the next 10 years with its range of solutions and applications designed for people with disabilities. 
Company website: https://key2enable.com/

Pocket Clinic (Brazil)

Pocket Clinic is a med-tech startup company that aims to develop a smart syringe controlled by a smartphone to treat various chronic diseases requiring continuous drug injection.
Company website: https://pocketclinic.life/

R5  Marine Solutions (Portugal)

R5 Marine Solutions specializes in providing engineering solutions to address coastal and offshore maritime challenges, aiming to promote more effective management of coastal areas and improve environmental sustainability. The COAST assessment tool, R5 Marine Solutions, can provide coastal construction simulation scenarios, pre-designed construction structures and cost-benefit assessments for this specific scenario. The COAST tool also helps predict risk scenarios and territorial losses due to coastal erosion and can be applied to different regions worldwide, including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Company Website: https://r5engineers.com/marine/

Virtuleap (Portugal)

Virtuleap combines brain science and virtual reality technology and uses a small game library of gamified cognitive training exercises designed by neuroscientists to evaluate and train a series of cognitive abilities, such as memory, attention, information processing, cognitive flexibility and problem-solving skills. VR users also track their physical actions through a realistic, immersive experience, collecting psychological and other valid physical data, such as heart rate, facial expressions and pupil dilation, and sending them back to the Virtuleap platform for more accurate neuropsychological evaluation.
Company Website: https://virtuleap.com/

Yosen (Brazil)

Yosen is focused on bringing health to the public using nanotechnology for lipid drug delivery. Yosen is developing a smart delivery system based on nanotechnology to efficiently diversify the delivery of various drugs and nutrients, such as active ingredients, including vitamins, plant extracts and peptides, by obtaining different lipid nanoparticles, thus improving the therapeutic effect. These nanoparticles protect the active ingredients and are highly compatible with human cells, thus increasing the nutrient absorption rate or bioavailability. Yosen has developed two product forms: Ydrosolv, a dietary supplement, and Ynano food ingredients. A study pointed out that Yosen’s Coenzyme Q10 Ydrosolv has a faster absorption rate of up to five times than Q10 pills and capsules on the market.
Company Website: http://www.yosen.com.br/

Plux (Portugal)

Since 2007, Plux’s goal has been to facilitate access to solutions that cover the entire biosignals life cycle & drive biosignals innovation, from learning the first steps with BITalino to research with biosignals plux to developing your next medical device. The company provides the biosignals engineering tools & services to build biosignals products and medical devices while meeting all industry standards and beyond.
Company Website: https://www.pluxbiosignals.com/

BEYOND Expo will announce more details on the investment and financing sector activities. During the three-day expo, the investment and financing sector will invite top investors from all over the world to participate in the forum. They will discuss current investment conditions, share future investment trends and communicate with innovative entrepreneurs in the Fund at First Pitch and innovation roadshow, linking high-quality projects globally and effectively implementing a win-win investment environment.

During the previous two DEMO DAY roadshows, investment institutions such as Temasek, Hillhouse Capital, IDG Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, Eurazeo, Lightspeed China Partners, Gobi Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sinovation Ventures, 5Y Capital and China Everbright Limited have participated in the event, focusing on helping startups thrive and stimulating market vitality.

The Brazil-Portugal Innovation Company Roadshow aims to strengthen in-depth integration of scientific and technological achievements and financial capital. It aims to provide a real-time exchange platform for Brazil-Portugal enterprises to display the latest products and concepts to solve development-related financial problems. Meanwhile, the roadshow provides numerous high-quality products and projects for investors while conducting in-depth on-the-spot discussions on products and concepts to improve communication efficiency, reduce investment risks and maximize investment benefits. The two sides will work together to promote the development of the industry for mutual benefit.

Investor registration channel

About BEYOND

Since 2020, BEYOND Expo has been held twice with great success. It has become one of the largest and most influential international technology expositions in Asia, attracting 800+ exhibitors and 55,000+ attendees worldwide. More than 150 industry forums featuring 500+ innovative business leaders as speakers will provide a global platform for insightful technology exchange.

BEYOND has officially announced that “Technology Redefined” is the theme for BEYOND Expo 2023, which will be hosted in Macao from May 10 to 12. BEYOND Expo 2023 is set to reach a new high in terms of scale, attendee influence, diversity of industries, companies, number of exhibitors, and overseas visitors. There will be more than 100 events and networking sessions. We look forward to connecting with global tech innovation enthusiasts and facilitating in-depth interaction in all fields, including enterprise, product, capital, and industry to promote the global tech scene in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

For inquiries regarding cooperation, please contact us at:

Business Partnerships: BD@beyondexpo.com
Media Partnerships: media@beyondexpo.com
Other Inquiries: event@beyondexpo.com

As 5G, artificial intelligence, and sensors continue to develop, AI has deeply integrated into various aspects of the automotive industry. Intelligent cars have entered a period of rapid development, including intelligent connected cars, autonomous driving, intelligent cockpits, urban smart transportation solutions, which are all accelerating the development of smart cars. Among them, the most important one is autonomous driving.

Autonomous driving technology is triggering a worldwide revolution in automobiles and travel, and is one of the key areas of focus at BEYOND Expo. To promote the development of autonomous driving technology, BEYOND Expo 2023 will help accelerate the commercialization of this technology through exhibition areas, forums, and real-life experiences. Currently, companies such as Cowarobot, Qcraft, Xpeng Aeroht, and Shenzhen Autonomous Driving Intelligence Research Centre Eco-Enterprise (PIX Moving, BUS ME) have confirmed that they will bring their latest autonomous driving products to BEYOND Expo 2023, including unmanned cleaning, unmanned delivery, online car-hailing, buses, and other multi-industry autonomous driving application scenarios. The exhibition will showcase the value of autonomous driving technology in different industries along with the prospect of commercialization of autonomous driving.

Take a look at the intelligent cars at BEYOND Expo in advance.

Cowrobot

Cowarobot will be present at the exhibition with the COWA 1T Unicorn autonomous driving cleaning robot, equipped with CowaPilot 5.0, COWA’s latest generation L4 level autonomous driving control system, 128 line beam LIDAR, 6 intelligent cameras (two HD cameras, four surround-view cameras); four 77Ghz millimeter wave radars and one set of ultrasonic radars, which can achieve 360 degrees all-round environment perception, centimeter-level high-precision positioning, hundred-millisecond planning, and control. Cowarobots can be used to clean squares, pavements, non-motorized lanes, municipal gardens, back streets and alleys, commercial areas, and other urban semi-enclosed scenes. It works with pure electric power, low noise, and efficient operation, with the operating capacity and endurance equivalent to a 3-ton sweeping vehicle. It has the functions of intelligent waste identification, fully autonomous path planning, adaptive sweeping and automatic parking, enabling full-scene, all-weather and unmanned sweeping.

Qcraft

For L4-level autonomous driving, Qcraft’s Dragon Boat series (Dragon Boat ONE, Dragon Boat LONG, Dragon Boat SPACE, ROBOTAXI) autonomous vehicles and solutions can meet the needs of smart city construction. In many scenarios, they can be used as a network car, bus, and shuttle bus, creating a “mobile technology showcase for the city. The main exhibits at BEYOND Expo 2023 will be the Dragon Boat SPACE and Dragon Boat ONE.

Dragon Boat SPACE will create a “mobile living room” in the exhibition area. Dragon Boat SPACE is a tailor-made mobile space for future mobility that can operate on complex roads, with a steering wheel-less, modular, and customized cabin that can quickly meet the needs of different scenarios and satisfy the imagination of space.

Dragon Boat ONE is a self-driving minibus for the open roads of the city, running through the city’s core areas in an urban micro-circulation mode, creating an urban landmark for commuting, hospitality, and sightseeing. Dragon Boat ONE has nine passenger seats and one driving seat, but it is no longer the driver who sits in the driving seat. Instead, a safety officer monitors the regular operation of the vehicle, and the driving operation of the vehicle will be done by the self-developed self-driving software system of Qcraft. Qcraft will create a test route in Hengqin this time and open it up for experience in the autonomous driving experience session.

Xpeng Aeroht

This year, Xpeng Aeroht will present the Traveler X2, a two-person intelligent electric flying machine, the fifth generation of the product developed and manufactured by the company. The X2 features an enclosed cockpit with a similar design to the P7. Through its minimalist design, the X2 presents a teardrop shape that is polished and pure, with a futuristic sci-fi appearance. It also considers high-efficiency aerodynamics to achieve the ultimate flight performance. When empty, the X2 weighs 680kg with the battery and can carry two passengers with a maximum load of 160kg. The X2’s entire fuselage is made of carbon fiber to reduce its weight.

The X2’s zero carbon emission during flight aligns with the goal of green urban transportation. The battery life can last up to 25 minutes, and it is designed to fly at an altitude of under 1,000 meters, making it suitable for future low-altitude flights in cities. During the flight, the maximum flight speed is 130 km/h, which can meet the demand for short-distance travel in towns, and serve scenarios such as tourism, wilderness rescue, and medical transport.

The X2 is currently equipped with two driving modes: manual and auto-pilot, with the auto-pilot function allowing it to automatically fly along a planned route according to a set flight altitude, speed, and time. During the automatic flight of the X2, passengers do not need to have any professional piloting skills, instead, they can use simple operations such as start, return, and landing to enjoy a safe and intelligent flying experience.

In October 2022, X2 was awarded a charter flight certificate by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA). It successfully held its first public flight in Dubai, witnessed by Dubai’s Royalty, their family members, the Chinese Consul General in Dubai, and over 100 media outlets worldwide. In January 2023, the Voyager X2 was officially granted a Certificate of Authorization by the civil aviation regulator, making it the first manned eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) product to be formally applied for and successfully awarded in China.

PIX Moving 

PIX Moving, an eco-enterprise of Shenzhen Autonomous Driving Intelligence Research Centre, will showcase the PIX-Robobus Mobile Space. PIX Moving designs, develops, and manufactures third-generation vehicles based on self-driving chassis and AIGC toolchains, and is committed to building a new industrial ecology with chassis as the core. Its products have been delivered to nearly 30 countries worldwide. With safety as its top priority, PIX Robobus Mobile Space is dedicated to providing passengers with a comfortable and diverse commuting experience, creating unmanned shuttle vehicles, self-driving coffee carts, and beauty carts, making the vehicle no longer just a means of transport, but a movable space. PIX Moving provides customers with a complete set of industry customer success stories and integrated hardware and software self-driving deployment services to complete the commercialization of Robobus mobile spaces.

BUS ME

BUS ME, an ecological enterprise of Shenzhen Autonomous Driving Intelligence Research Centre, provides autonomous driving solutions for short-distance travel from urban metro to communities, universities, and parks. BUS ME applies L4 autonomous driving, but the cost of the whole vehicle is economic, controlled at less than 100,000 RMB, and can achieve mass production. This exhibition will feature a variety of models, including the unmanned ferry car series, patrol car series, minibus series, and others.

Real experience of autonomous driving: efficient, comfortable, and secure

Can autonomous vehicles reach their destination precisely? Can they park themselves? Will they free up the hands of experienced drivers? During the expo, in order to enable participants to experience autonomous driving cars, the BEYOND Organizing Committee has opened an autonomous driving experience zone for the first time in the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone, offering free and efficient observation of autonomous driving, intelligent bus, and drone flight. Our goal is to provide participants with a new travel experience and a glimpse of the enormous changes that autonomous driving will bring to the automotive industry, smart cities, and smart mobility! This includes, but is not limited to, companies and products mentioned above.

Please stay tuned for more updates on the participating companies in autonomous driving and flying cars!

More special activities

DEMO DAY keywords: Investors, company representatives, media

New Product Release keywords: Global media outlets, attract global attention, lower cost and increase efficiency

BEYOND Awards keywords: Official release, highlight of expo

With more official events in the pipeline, BEYOND will offer an enriching experience and increased business opportunities to global exhibitors and attendees. We welcome you to join us at BEYOND to discuss the latest cutting-edge technology trends, promote industry communication, seek new partners, and maintain competitive advantage through innovation.

Sharon Chen is the CEO of AlphaPrime, a global health technology company. Prior to founding AlphaPrime, Sharon was the head of Verily China (Alphabet’s life science arm) and the Engineering Site Lead of Google Shanghai. Sharon is an IT veteran with 20+ years of rich experience in the industry, 15 of which were gained at Google. Sharon earned her bachelor’s degree in automation from Shanghai Jiaotong University, and her master’s degree in computer science from Texas A&M University.

Founded in August 2020, AlphaPrime focuses on developing SaaS solutions to accelerate clinical trials in life sciences by leveraging cloud computing, AI, and big data.

AlphaPrime’s clinical trials management SaaS platform AuroraPrime comprises a suite of products including Create for AI-assisted medical writing, Collect for electronic data capture, and Compute for clinical data analysis, to name a few. AlphaPrime is a full-fledged, configurable, and highly scalable system with some unique features that differentiate it from other clinical trial software alternatives on the market.

The company has recently completed a multi-million-dollar A+ financing, led by Han Kang Capital, followed by B Capital. The team at AlphaPrime consists of tech gurus and clinical experts with extensive experience in leading global companies, such as Verily, Google, Medidata, and Veeva.

Below is an interview with AlphaPrime’s CEO Sharon Chen. Text has been edited for brevity and clarity:

1. Can you provide an overview of AlphaPrime’s main business offerings and the company’s key differentiators in the health tech industry?

The life cycle of clinical trials in the medical industry can be broken down into three major scenarios: clinical trial design, data capture, and final analysis and report. AlphaPrime offers products that cover all three scenarios of the clinical trials life cycle in a unified, versatile, intelligent, and advanced manner.

Let’s talk about the first scenario, which is the protocol design of the clinical trials. It’s a crucial part of the process because it defines how the research will be conducted, what kind of data will be collected and in what ways, and how the report will be submitted to regulatories authorities such as the U.S. FDA and China NMPA to assess the efficacy and safety of drugs or medical devices.

The protocol’s design is eventually written down in the document, so AlphaPrime supports this with a very intelligent, template-based, collaborative tool called Prime Create. The key function of Prime Create is to support content recommended by the AI model, plus a collaboration tool for you to design, write and review the content very efficiently. Finally, there is an official approval process to sign off on the accuracy and completeness of the documents.

The second scenario is the data capture phase, which is a critical component of the drug development process. Electronic data capture, also known as EDC, is a well-established field with many offerings in the market. However, our advantage lies in the powerful features built around the collection process.

Our EDC product, Prime Collect, includes the randomization and Trial Supply Management system RTSM. This integration eliminates the need to switch between different systems and re-enter information.

Our company also offers decentralized trials, which is a remote way of collecting data empowered by portable or home devices, tele-visit, remote monitoring, and many other different offers. Our expertise lies in combining all these different data sources seamlessly, without any extra effort.

Overall, our comprehensive EDC and decentralized trial offerings make us stand out in the market, and we are confident in our ability to meet the diverse needs of our clients.

The final scenario of clinical trials is a crucial part of the cycle. It involves analyzing data and generating a final report that proves the efficacy and safety of the device or medicine being tested. This phase is essential for satisfying the requirements of regulatory departments. Prime Compute is a major product that facilitates this process.

The strength of the entire system lies in the provision of out-of-the-box standard templates and libraries, algorithms, models, analysis methods, and final visualizations. These features are designed to make the process of data analysis as seamless as possible. The aim is to minimize the effort required to analyze and report the data generated in clinical trials.

2. What are some of the key underlying technologies that help with AlphaPrime’s products?

I will highlight two key technologies: Clinical Logic Engine and Compose.

Clinical Logic Engine is our main strength of the AuroraPrime system. It is AI-powered, and it is the underlying engine of the system, driving the data flow and the processes.

Evidence-based data is required in a structured manner from the protocol design to the final report submitted to the regulatory body. However, due to the distributed and diverse nature of each segment of the cycle, different expertise is needed to work on different parts. This makes it difficult for them to communicate with each other or work together using the same language. To solve this problem, we built a Clinical Logic Engine to automate the process and translate data from one part to another.

For example, for certain diseases and phases of clinical trials, we broke down the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the visiting schedule, so the computer system can comprehend each element. This drives the automation of database building, allowing for the collection of clinical trial data in a structured manner. Eventually, it can populate the final clinical study report based on the initial protocol and the resulting biometrics. This back-end engine empowers the data flow throughout the lifecycle of a clinical trial.

We have developed a homegrown highly-adaptable (technically known as low-code) platform called Compose, tailored for the clinical trial industry. Our CTO, Xu Pengcheng, has led the effort for about two years to build this from the ground up.

We have a few applications built on top of Compose, such as Compute, which is our analysis tool and system to run analysis on top of the medical and operational data of the clinical trials. We also provide visualized reports and dashboards for clinical trials.

We want to tailor our offering of highly-configurable Coordinate, an ERP-like tool to manage clinical trials, known as Clinical Trials Management System in the drug development industry, to support the growing demand of the customization needs of our clients. We provide this tool via a set of out-of-box standard templates, and libraries together with a low-code platform for the customers’ IT department to be able to write simple code to fulfill their own SOP demands.

3. What other health scenarios can AlphaPrime’s products be used in?

AlphaPrime also focuses on consumer health development. The product family is called AuroraEssentials, which empowers the development and commercialization of consumer cosmetics.

The suite of products can be flexibly reassembled to support clinical trials for the cosmetic industry. They have quickly expanded from clinical trials to real-world evidence, utilizing de-centralized trials to collect more data.

4. How does the company plan to expand its reach outside of China, and what new markets is it exploring currently?

AlphaPrime life science is a global company from the very beginning, with offices or registered entities already in Singapore and Shanghai. We started from China because we see the strong demand of this fast-growing market. We really want to capture the wave of the opportunities.

The health industry — medicines, the device invented, the innovation from biotech or pharma companies — really needs to serve human beings across the globe. So the final market is global, and so is our company.

Our expanding market strategy is based on the whole market demands. For example, the United States is one of the major or leading markets, and we are planning to expand our business to the United States very soon. Europe is another giant market and we are working on that as well. Biotech and biopharma companies often use the Australian and Southeast Asian markets for their clinical trial market as well, so we will also look for opportunities in those markets.

In summary, we are looking at all the possible global markets and based on the priority of how soon and how quickly we can work with our biotech companies together.

5. What has AlphaPrime’s experience been like working with Microsoft for Startups?

We really appreciate the great support from Microsoft. AlphaPrime is one of the companies sponsored by Microsoft for Startups. Microsoft has been spending years supporting and empowering local startups here in China. We highly appreciate the great benefits of this program, including the office space offering at the beginning, Azure cloud capacity, and the co-marketing opportunities supported by Microsoft for Startups.

AlphaPrime’s public cloud-based SaaS platform uses Azure as one of our major cloud providers outside of China. AlphaPrime system is designed to comply with regional regulations, via a cloud-agnostic technique. We are ready to fully support US solutions in the States.

AlphaPrime is a Microsoft for Startups portfolio company.

To learn more about Microsoft for Startups, click here or email us to mfschina@microsoft.com.

To get started with Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, sign up here.

BEYOND Expo 2023 will be held from May 10-12 in Macao. A variety of special events will be held during the expo, including a Business Matchmaking & Reception. This event is specifically planned for exhibitors with the aim of helping exhibitors find more opportunities for collaboration. We will promote the implementation and application of innovative technology ideas and products, to improve how technology serves human beings. Besides, leading enterprises from various fields will gather to create synergistic innovation opportunities for different industries, injecting new energy into the global future of technology and innovation.

Sands Macao, Galaxy Group, Wynn Macau, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, MGM, SJM Holdings Limited, Sino Group, Swire Properties and China State Construction International Holdings Limited have confirmed their participation in the Business Matchmaking & Reception.

Business Matchmaking & Reception

*Not limited to the following industries

Service robots

With the rapid advancement of technology, service robots have become increasingly common, bringing more convenience to our lives. BEYOND is bringing together the world’s top real estate developers and resorts to explore opportunities with robotics companies for integrating robotics into their daily operations. BEYOND is working with renowned companies like Sands Macao, Galaxy Group, MGM, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, SJM Holdings Limited and Wynn Macau, to provide visitors with superlative service through robots that greet and guide guests, clean rooms, and carry luggage. We hope that both sides will cooperate to drive the continuous upgrade of property technology, and provide more diversified cooperation opportunities for robotics companies. We are excited about the potential for service robots to quickly empower various industries.

FoodTech

In recent years, FoodTech has become a trending issue due to growing demand from customers. BEYOND will collaborate with many famous Michelin restaurants in Macao, which will include participation from their Michelin Star Chefs, to help companies in the agri-food technology sector to explore the future of FoodTech, innovate the future value chain and improve the sustainability of the food industry, and provide healthier and more environment-friendly food choices for consumers.

Construction and property technology

Asia has one of the biggest property development and urban renewal markets. However, the construction industry generates considerable carbon footprints, and we believe the industry is looking for solutions for sustainable building practices. Construction sustainability is an important part of practicing the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. BEYOND is working with well-known property developers like China State Construction International Holdings Limited, Swire Properties and Sino Group to discuss the innovative applications and future development of construction technology, promote more sustainable building and urban construction solutions, and contribute to the future of urban development technology.

More business matchmaking & reception activities will be updated soon. Please stay tuned for more information on the official website!

Please register for our Business Matchmaking & Reception activities as soon as possible. Please note that these activities are open to exhibitors only. We welcome your participation!

 Schedule @BEYOND

BEYOND hopes to establish an open platform for technology exchange and unite more high-quality events to create a global technology carnival in Macao! For more events, please click [Read More] to visit our official website for the latest schedule!

More special activities

DEMO DAY Keywords: Investors, company representatives, media

New Product Release keywords: Global media outlets, attract global attention, lower cost and increase efficiency

BEYOND Awards keywords: Official release, highlight of expo

Registration for DEMO DAY at the 2023 BEYOND Expo is now open. The Expo calls for startups and investment institutions. Deadline is April 15.

Capital and innovation are essential drivers for the development of the science and technology industry. To accelerate the improvement of the linkage of the industry chain, gather more opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, promote the deep integration of tech innovation and financial capital, explore more cooperation models, and stimulate market vitality, BEYOND has specifically organized a DEMO DAY. Registration for this event is now open, and we welcome exhibitors and investment institutions from all over the world to participate.

After the daily roadshow, the venue will be open for one-on-one communication between investors and enterprises, and all companies participating in the roadshow will have access. To qualify, companies can identify themselves through the official APP and their participation name tag.

Global top investment institutions gather at BEYOND to offer customized services to startups

As an important platform for demonstrating transformation results and matching science and technology innovation resources, the BEYOND Organizing Committee aims to help startups find more cooperation opportunities through the roadshow. To achieve this, we will invite top investors and investment institutions worldwide to participate and cover the global capital network.

During the past two DEMO DAYs, top investment institutions such as Temasek, Hillhouse Capital, IDG Capital, Shenzhen Capital, EURAZEO, Lightspeed China, Gobi Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sinovation Ventures, 5Y Capital, and China Everbright Ltd participated in the event, focusing on helping startups thrive and stimulating market vitality.

A global cooperation platform for the tech innovation industry

During BEYOND Expo 2022, the BEYOND Organizing Committee collaborated with the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region-Economic and Technological Development Bureau to hold a special roadshow for Brazilian and Portuguese projects at the  BEYOND Metaverse venue. A total of 12 Brazilian and Portuguese companies participated. Investors from Kairous Capital, Creative Ventures, Yael Capital, LATAM China Tech, Ericsson ONE, New Frontier and other investment institutions were also invited to participate. As epidemic prevention and control measures continue to improve, this year’s DEMO DAY will be more international, with innovative entrepreneurs worldwide attending the event on site, conducting innovative roadshows and showcasing their latest innovative products and ideas. This event will provide more diversified and international opportunities for innovative global entrepreneurs, to communicate with global capital in-depth and one-on-one, accelerate the connection between capital and startups, and promote the development and success of the technology industry.

Reviewing the past to improve the present and future

During the past two DEMO DAYs, the BEYOND organizing committee invited 150 renowned investment institutions and investors worldwide to participate, providing efficient one-on-one communication opportunities for exhibitors and representatives of investment institutions. Participating companies fully demonstrated their self-developed technology innovation and application prospects, and investment institutions had the opportunity to witness many high-quality projects.

DEMO DAY description

Qualification

Companies & investment institutions align with BEYOND three sub-brands

Channel

BEYOND Expo official website has established registration channels for companies and investment institutions. Submit your information before April 15 and get access once verified.

Activity format

Each company will be given a 5-minute roadshow time and an additional 5-minute to do investor Q&A.

Registration time

March 14 – April 15

Registration fee

RMB 15,000 / 10 min

Services included

– Conference-related services such as crowd control, lighting, sound, etc.

– Pre-promotion and post-communication of the official platform once each.

– Invitations for 8-10 investment institutions.

TechNode’s International arm TechNode Global is excited to announce that its signature Southeast Asia-focused tech event, ORIGIN Conference, will be back offline, to be held on 11 May 2023, as one of the BEYOND Week events.

ORIGIN Conference, a Southeast Asia-focused exclusive event at BEYOND Week that brings together industry leaders, investors, and innovators to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of Southeast Asia’s technology ecosystem. ORIGIN will feature an exciting lineup of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and showcases, providing valuable insights into the region’s most promising industries and emerging opportunities.

Dr. GANG Lu, Co-Founder of BEYOND and Chief Executive Officer of TechNode Group, will kick off ORIGIN Conference with a keynote about unlocking the potential of Southeast Asia as a  rapidly evolving region. The panel discussions will provide an overview of the market and delve into the reasons behind the region’s increasing global significance.

“Southeast Asia has become an increasingly important player in the global technology landscape, with the region experiencing rapid growth and innovation in recent years. According to a report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, Southeast Asia’s internet economy is expected to reach USD 360 billion by 2025, with technology startups playing a significant role in driving this growth. At BEYOND Expo, we believe it is crucial to showcase the advancements made by Southeast Asian companies and provide a platform for them to connect with international partners and investors,” says Dr. GANG Lu.

Participants can look forward to engaging panel discussions on a wide range of topics, including discussions about digital transformation, the next generation of unicorns, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and mobility, healthcare, sustainability, market opportunities, and the investment landscape in the Southeast Asia region. Some of the exemplary companies that will be present include Gobi Partners, Kairous Capital, Carsome, Aerodyne, Pluang, FastCo, Enlitho, and Wellous.

“Through ORIGIN Conference, TechNode Global hopes to help position the region as a key player in the global technology landscape by highlighting the innovative work being done by Southeast Asian companies and providing a platform for them to connect with international investors, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders,” says Stanley Chong, Director at TechNode Global.

“We believe that BEYOND Expo represents an unparalleled opportunity for Southeast Asian companies to showcase their innovations, build meaningful connections, and grow their businesses on a global scale,” he adds.

ORIGIN Conference, a Southeast Asia-focused content track at BEYOND 2023, offers a unique opportunity for attendees to connect with industry leaders and gain insights into the future of Southeast Asia’s technology landscape. Don’t miss this chance to be part of the conversation shaping the region’s tech future.

For more information and to register for BEYOND Expo and ORIGIN Conference, please visit https://www.beyondexpo.com/.

About BEYOND

Since 2020, BEYOND Expo has held two successful events, growing to be one of the largest and most influential technology expositions in Asia, attracting 800+ exhibitors and 55,000+ attendees worldwide. Running more than 150 industry forums with 500+ business leaders as speakers, BEYOND Expo provides a global platform for insightful technology exchange.

BEYOND Expo will be held at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, which is spread across approximately 100,000 sqm and can accommodate more than 1,000 exhibitors. We expect Fortune 500 corporates, large multinational enterprises, tech unicorns, and startups to participate in this year’s event. There will be more than 100 events and networking sessions at BEYOND Expo.

We look forward to connecting with global tech innovation enthusiasts and facilitating in-depth interaction across all fields, including enterprise, product, capital, and industries, to promote the global tech scene in the Asia-Pacific region and across the world.

Official website: https://beyondexpo.com

About TechNode Global

TechNode Global is a Pan-Asia tech platform offering premium tech news, industry insights, events, and tailor-made marketing solutions for startups, VCs, corporates, and other industry pioneers. With a vast network of partners in global innovation and entrepreneurship, TechNode Global facilitates cross-border partnerships and businesses. TechNode Global is a spin-off of TechNode, China’s leading innovation and entrepreneurship platform.

Official website: https://technode.global

For media inquiries, please contact: J. Angelo Racoma at tnglobal@technode.com.

George Yan, founder and CEO of Clobotics, is a seasoned executive with over 15 years of experience at Microsoft. Before starting Clobotics, an AI solution company focusing on retail and green energy, he served as the CEO of EHang, an autonomous aerial vehicle company. He successfully led EHang to enter markets in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and China. He also built a successful industrial drone team from scratch and achieved rapid growth in its user base.

Clobotics is a computer vision company that provides data collection solutions for retail and wind power customers. The company holds multiple patents in retail and wind power. Retail customers use Clobotics for shelf management, availability, and pricing. The company’s platform also helps wind power customers acquire, process, and analyze time-sensitive data on wind turbines and automate dangerous processes such as inspecting, repairing, and optimizing.

The company was founded in 2016, headquartered in Shanghai, and with a research and development center in Seattle, and an Asia-Pacific sales center in Singapore. The name Clobotics is a word combination of the cloud, robot, and analytics, reflecting the company’s focus on the intersection of cloud computing, robotics, and data analytics.

Below is an interview with Clobotics’ CEO George Yan, text has been edited for brevity and clarity:

1. What kind of product and service does Clobotics offer? What technologies does your company focus on?

Clobotics is an ESG and AI company. We believe that all the technology we build needs to be specific to certain industries and have a bigger ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) impact on their customers.

Clobotics is a made-up word with three parts: cloud, robots, and analytics. The cloud is where all services and data are stored, and Clobotics is cautious about where the cloud sits, ensuring that customers’ data stays in their respective regions. Robots is the way Clobotics captures images and data. The better the robots are, the easier it is for processing and computer vision. Analytics is where Clobotics analyzes the data, which is what customers are looking for.

2. Clobotics works in both retail and wind power. These are two very different sectors and we usually don’t see startups working in a combination of these two. Why did Clobotics choose to focus on these two areas?

Our computer vision stack is a fundamental framework that can be applied to both retail and other industries such as wind and solar. The key is capturing and processing the data using a uniform model to achieve effective results. However, scaling the business requires finding experts in the industries who understand the data and can groom it effectively for customer response.

We believe that the fundamental technology and framework are quite similar in multiple different industries, and we picked two different industries to prove this point. The more insights we have into these industries, the better we can use the technology to apply to multiple industries.

3. Can you share with us a specific example in the retail industry where your company’s technology made an impact?

Our product on the retail side is in-store observation. For example, imagine a beverage company with over 200 different SKUs wanting to push its products out to all its stores. Once they do that, they want their people to go back and track if the products are on the shelf, stocked in the fridge, and at the right point of interest for the customers. All these things are done manually. We think a lot of things can be done digitally and via technology, including computer vision.

Essentially, if we can digitalize a store, we can open up that digital footprint to beverage companies or other snack companies for them to take a better view of what the store looks like. They get a massive amount of data that they can use for better analytics. This is a very important path for a maturing developed country like the United States but even more for emerging countries in Southeast Asia.

Previously, going to stores to take pictures and write down surveys would take about 30 minutes to an hour. Now, with our product, you can take a picture of the shelf, and all the pictures will get stitched together, making it easier to track where the product is. All that can be done in five minutes. Building efficiency for our customers on a daily basis is exciting for us. And the data we provide to these companies helps them understand how their products are varying in these countries. There isn’t a place with a second copy of that data anywhere, so having that information is super valuable for them to understand more of their business.

4. Can you tell us about a particularly challenging problem the company solved for customers in the wind power industry?

In the wind industry, we have developed an autonomous inspection service for wind turbines. Before our product came to market, engineers had to climb up the turbine with ropes and use binoculars and a mobile phone to look for defects, which was a strenuous and dangerous process. Accidents happen around the world every year.

After seeing this in some wind farms in China, we thought there had to be a better way to do this. So we decided to use a drone and built autonomous software to make the inspection process take less than 15 minutes. With just the push of a button, the drone can detect where the turbine is, where its blades are, and conduct the entire inspection without anyone on the ground. So we set on that journey four years ago. The inspection is only the tipping tip of the iceberg. We also built a repair robot after customers told us that “this is an area that if you want to grow your business, we really need some help there.”

So going from inspection to repair to that data-driven, decision-making is really what the customers in that industry told us.

5. Can you give us an example that illustrates the process of how the company’s technology is developed, from ideation to implementation?

The developing process is really a jigsaw puzzle. Every time that we go and sit down with a customer or visit a customer, the part of the jigsaw puzzle gets filled.

When we started on the inspection journey in the wind industry, a lot of people said this couldn’t be done. Because, how do you get a drone to fly autonomously? It has to be manual. And the wind blades are so much bigger now. And the wind tower is so much higher now. How can you really have a pair of eyes on the drone that can do this precision inspection? But we thought that this is something exactly that technology needs to do.

So we started looking at questions like: Are there enough drones available in the market that can do the work that we need. Are there enough cameras out in the market to do this? Are there enough gimbals out in the market to do this? So really, it’s a jigsaw puzzle that requires a lot of knowledge from different parties and different parts of the business.

When we list all technology pieces together, there won’t be a place where everything lines up, all technology is 100% ready. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Many technologies are only 60%-70% ready, but if you look at the technology trend and trajectory, it’s going to get there sooner or later. So you have to take a leap of faith and get on this journey a little bit earlier.

6. How does Clobotics plan to expand its reach outside of China, and what new markets is it exploring currently?

Clobotics does business on six continents and in more than 40 countries worldwide, serving large companies that want to expand to different regions. More than half of Clobotics’ revenue comes from global customers.

Clobotics sees Southeast Asia as a blooming area due to its younger population and thirst for newer technology. The company has engineering teams in Shanghai, Seattle, and customers in the Asia Pacific, China, Japan, the US, and Brazil. Clobotics serves its customers across the world, and it is a unique strength that helps the company increase its revenue internationally.

The company plans to have an 80/20 split between its revenues in China and globally. 80% global and 20% China.

7. Tell us more about Clobotics’ experience of working with Microsoft for Startups?

My career began at Microsoft many years ago. I usually joke with people that I believe in blue. I had a unique opportunity to be an engineer at Microsoft, coming to China to build its engineering center, and build a large part of the Microsoft China business. In the later part of my days, Microsoft gave me the opportunity to build the Microsoft cloud platform here in China.

My journey with Microsoft for Startups has been a personal one. When I was at Microsoft, we started the idea of having startups participate in the cloud journey. Microsoft for Startups came about once I started running a startup on my own. Obviously, I wanted to take advantage of what Microsoft for Startups can offer, not only in China but also having China as the center that connects the world. It is especially fitting for a company like ours, where a large majority of our business actually comes internationally.

Having China as a hub allows us to build and polish our products using that sandbox to grow our customer base. Once we reach maturity, it is easy to use the Microsoft network to go broad and go global and touch into their account teams and the services they offer. Once we make that connection, our business grows exponentially increases internationally.

Because of our connection to Microsoft for Startups, we have the opportunity to leverage their resources and expertise. We feel like standing on the shoulders of a giant, which will help us take the next step forward in our growth.

Clobotics is a Microsoft for Startups portfolio company.

To learn more about Microsoft for Startups, click here or email us to mfschina@microsoft.com.

To get started with Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, sign up here.

BEYOND Awards 2023 has entered the re-selection stage. Since the Awards opened entries for award nominations, the BEYOND Organizing Committee has received more than 300 applications. After re-selection, 90 companies will be shortlisted for final consideration across three categories of Innovation Awards (Healthcare, Sustainability, and ConsumerTech). The selection process for the Impact Awards is also underway simultaneously.

Selection process

The selection process consists of the following steps: Launch, Nomination, Preliminary selection, Re-selection, Final selection, Media matching & meeting / Award ceremony.

Professional judging committee

BEYOND Expo has established a BEYOND Awards Committee comprising members from BEYOND Expo’s global partners and international investment institutions. The committee will play a significant role in developing the criteria and selection process for the four awards, and will create a common selection mechanism for the BEYOND Awards.

The committee will select and nominate professional judges for the four BEYOND Awards 2023. Each judging panel will comprise technology and innovation authorities, industry experts, and senior media professionals. The judges will ensure an impartial and authoritative assessment of the award applicants based on their expertise and experience in the field.

The judges are selected and invited based on their widely recognized and respected backgrounds and professional achievements in the industry. During the award selection process, the judges will conduct in-depth research and analysis of the applicants, and determine the winners after preliminary selection, re-selection, and final selection to ensure that only the most outstanding innovators are awarded. This is intended to encourage more people to devote themselves to the field of technology and innovation.

BEYOND Awards 2023

List of first panel of judges (in no particular order）

Huang Zhimin, director of Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Platform, executive director of the Youth Committee for Sustainable Development

Zhang Yu, member of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, CIO of Optimize Integration Group Inc and principal of the Intelligence Structure, member of the Youth Committee for Sustainable Development

Ruby, co-founder of Impact Hub Shanghai, partner of Impact Capital

Zhao Yuheng, co-founder of Shen Impact Venture

Du Feng, co-founder, CFO, and MP of TheJiangMen, member of Investment Committee. Former principal of Microsoft Ventures Greater China, former co-founder of GRC Sinogreen Fund, former co-founder of JL McGregor&Company

Guo Ruiling, investment incubation director of Impact Hub Shanghai Impact Hub Shanghai

Tracy Zhang, publisher of FTChinese.com , former deputy general manager of Business Week(China), former chief China representative of Dow Jones & Company

He Xiao, deputy general manager of Min Yin International Investment, member of Youth Committee for Sustainable Development.

Li Hongkai, deputy director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship of Peking University HSBC Business School

Dee Zheng, investment director of Bits x Bites

Zhang Han, innovation director of Plug and Play China

Wu Lanting, energy and sustainability director of Plug and Play China

Carl Wu, co-founder and CEO of New Frontier, CEO of New Frontier Health Corporation, co-founder and executive director of Yidekang, Boxful, HelloToy Tech, and Better Health, and chairman of Care Alliance

Jerry Wu, investment director of TUSHOLDINGS

Lin Zihong, dean, Doctor of Business Administration

Wang Young, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Wang Dan, BS of Peking University, joint MS of Stanford University and Singapore, and MPP of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Dai Minghan, investment director at Miracle Light Venture

Feng Jianlin, LTM of China Business Angel Association, Guangzhou Technological Innovation Talent, eco-consultant at XJTLU Greater Bay Area Modern Industry Research Institute

Liu Dong, chief editor and partner of VBDATA.CN

Zhang Chen, general manager of Shenzhen Zhongeurope Innovation Center, principal of Stockholm Overseas Innovation Center, rotating chairman of alliance at Shenzhen HongKong Macau Angel Investor 2023

Liu Bo, deputy general manager of TusStar, general manager and managing partner of Enlightenment Star (Beijing) Technology Business Incubator

Shen Qiang, co-founder and CTO of TheJiangMen, former CTO of Microsoft Ventures Reactor

Qiao Jianhua, CEO of Phoenixtree Capital

Cai Xiaopeng, vice president, general manager, and CCO of ZOL

Pan Weizhe, chief editor of PChome

The 3rd BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo is the first offline conference after the pandemic. All the exhibitors are showing great enthusiasm and will bring their latest black technologies to the show; many new products are ready to be launched! To this end, the BEYOND Organizing Committee has planned a special New Product Launch event, which will be held on May 10 after the opening ceremony. As one of the highlight events of this year’s fair, the BEYOND Organizing Committee will provide the best service for the exhibitors participating in the New Product Launch event. We hope to see more exciting technology products.

The most luxurious top-quality theater venue of BEYOND site to boost the global launch of new products

The new product launch event will be fully built with top configuration, providing the largest display stage and the best resource allocation for participating companies. This event will be held at the venue of the conference’s opening ceremony, which is also the most luxurious venue of BEYOND Expo. The site is equipped with an ultra-clear LED screen, and multiple cameras for the global professional media and buyers to introduce new products, and show product highlights so that more people understand the original intention of product design and design concepts.

Overseas media is expected to account for more than 50% of the media coverage to help international communication

In this event, domestic and overseas media will be invited to gather at the launch site and report in various forms, with broad radiation and a high communication density. At the same time, global mainstream media will pay attention to this event in real-time, accelerating network communication, increasing the exposure of new products and spreading the volume of sound, expanding the influence of the brand so that the new products can gain a high degree of attention, strengthening the international buyers’ awareness of the brand and products.

Participation List of English media (in no particular order):

CGTN, Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, Yahoo HK, Time Magazine, TechCrunch,  Engadget, SCMP, Nikkei Asia, Techsauce, Jumpstart Media, Caixin, e27, DealstreetAsia, VietCetera, WHub, The Edge, TechShake, AHEAD ASIA, DailySocial, Teman Startup, The Story Thailand, Channel News Asia (to be updated)

Participation List of Chinese media (in no particular order):

CCTV, People’s Daily Online, Xinhua News Agency, China Net, World Wide Web, National Business Daily, Tencent Technology, Sina Technology, Netease Technology, Phoenix Technology, Nan Fang Daily, Yangcheng Evening News, Macao Daily News, TechNode, 36Kr, TMTPost (to be updated)

Official online and offline channels support, covering core audience groups of more than 150k

BEYOND officials will also support the dissemination of this event online and offline. A large billboard will be set up in the exhibition area. BEYOND’s official website, APP, and domestic and overseas new media platforms (WeChat public number, Weibo, video number, Jitterbug, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) will carry out activity announcements, live broadcasts, and reports on the new product launch event, focusing on the display of new products and technologies, allowing global attendees to fully understand the advantages of the products and establish a brand image, bringing a visual feast for users while also providing more accurate matchmaking opportunities for participating stations.

Registration

Time: May 10th afternoon

Venue: Theatre venue

Duration of each session: 30 minutes

Fee: $8000/ 15 minutes

Services included:

– Conference-related services like crowd control, lighting, sound, etc.

– Text simultaneous interpretation services.

– Official platform with full online live-streaming services.

– Pre-promotion and post-communication of the official platform once each.

– 20 media invited.

The BEYOND Organizing Committee will provide a special exhibition space of 108 square meters at most(up to RMB 314,000) for free to companies who apply to participate in the new product launch event!

Scan the QR code or click here to register.

The Beyond Organizing Committee has officially announced that the BEYOND Expo 2023 will be held offline in Macao from May 10 to May 12, 2023, under the theme, “Technology Redefined,” with three sub-brands: Sustainability, Healthcare, and Consumer Tech. Participants can enjoy three days of exciting exhibition content, including stand-alone exhibits and industry summits.

BEYOND Expo 2023 is all set to reach a new high in terms of scale, attendee influence, diversity of industries, companies, number of exhibitors, and overseas visitors. As Asia’s largest and most influential international technology exhibition, BEYOND Expo 2023 will be held at the Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, which is spread across approximately 100,000 square meters and can accommodate more than 1,000 exhibitors. We expect more Fortune 500 companies, large cross-border enterprises, tech unicorns, and start-ups to participate in this year’s event.

Standard booth registration

Standard booth area: 9 square meters
Register and make a successful payment before Feb. 28 to enjoy a 30% discount on early bird booth fees.
Available for $2520.

Please contact Sicily at 1586817650 or send an email to event@beyondexpo.com.

Special exhibition registration

Please contact Sicily at 15868176570 for more details.

Why choose BEYOND Expo 2023?

Offline exhibition. BEYOND Expo 2023 will attract more than 1,000 exhibitors from around the globe, with 40% of exhibitors from overseas companies. Exhibitors have the chance to access quality attendees around the world.

International buyers and government and enterprise delegation tour. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will organize visits to the exhibition area for VIPs, such as government representatives, international buyers, overseas chamber of commerce representatives, and industry eco-partners. During the exhibition tour, companies will have the opportunity to meet with these VIP groups and explore opportunities for cooperation.

Industry leaders’ dinner. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will invite exhibitors to a VIP dinner on May 10. The dinner will be attended by key representatives from government agencies, investment institutions, major corporations, business associations, and the media.

The summit & roundtable conference. Every year, the BEYOND Organizing Committee invites distinguished speakers from around the world to discuss topics related to the three sub-brands of the BEYOND Expo. As a top international technology innovation summit, BEYOND Expo will feature pioneering forum topics and authoritative industry leaders sharing their insights. As an exhibitor representative, you can also apply for a speaker’s seat and represent your company on the international stage.

Global media coverage. As part of BEYOND’s mission to promote better communication, the BEYOND Organizing Committee will invite more than 100 domestic and overseas media outlets to cover the event. If your company wishes to launch new products or has other communication needs during the event, the BEYOND Organizing Committee can help make arrangements for you.

Business conference. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will also arrange closed-door meetings for exhibitors who require them. During this meeting, you can meet privately with other companies, business organizations, or individuals you are interested in, communicate efficiently during the conference, and invite potential customers, upstream and downstream partners, investment institutions, or government representatives in a targeted manner.

Funding activities. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will organize a variety of investors and capital matching activities during the conference, including but not limited to one-on-one international capital matching sessions and innovation roadshows. In addition, the BEYOND Organizing Committee will invite industry leaders, international capital, and media to attend the event, providing your company with the opportunity to present your business plan in public or in one-to-one meetings.

The BEYOND Organizing Committee will organize a variety of investors and capital matching activities during the conference, including but not limited to one-on-one international capital matching sessions and innovation roadshows. In addition, the BEYOND Organizing Committee will invite industry leaders, international capital, and media to attend the event, providing your company with the opportunity to present your business plan in public or in one-to-one meetings.

Social activities. During the expo, the BEYOND Organizing Committee and its partners will host various social parties every day, creating a relaxed social scene for VIPs to enjoy the unique international atmosphere of Macao.

The BEYOND Organizing Committee

Host: Macao Technology General Association

Co-hosts: The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration commission of the State Council, Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation, the Ministry of industry and information Technology, Trade Development Bureau of Ministry of Commerce, Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center，Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, China Centre for International Science and Technology Exchange(CISTE), China International Cooperation Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Chinese Medical Association, CHINA ELECTRONIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Strategic partners: Research and Development International (RDI), CCG CHINA-ASEAN GREATER BAY AREA CO-OPERATION CENTRE

Co-organizers: Guangdong Federation of industry & Commerce, Council for the Promotion of Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation

Organizers: TechNode, Forte inc., Nam Kwong International Conference ＆ Exhibition Co., Itd.

Supporters: Macao Trade and investment Promotion Institute, Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region-Economic and Technological Development Bureau, Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region – Health Bureau, Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region -Pharmaceutical Administration Bureau, ZGC Group, Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee, Beijing and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Cooperation Center of Science and Technology, Shanghai Science and Technology Exchange Center, China Association of Environmental Protection Industry, BRI International Green Development Coalition, Chinese Entrepreneur Commerce Club, China Alliance of Social Value Investment, Service Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Entrepreneur Union, Beijing-Macau Economic and Cultural Exchange Promotion Association, Zhongguancun Private Equity ＆ Venture Capital Association, Impact Hub Shanghai, Hong Kong United Youth Association, Y.Elites Association, Macau Youth Federation

Don’t miss out on the early bird booth prices.

Enjoy a wealth of activities.

Worth the trip.

Book the Best Booth at BEYOND Expo in advance.

Early bird tickets for the conference pass are now on sale.

The original price is $99, but you can get it for an early bird price of $49 if purchase before Feb. 28.

Explore innovative technologies and numerous products.

Participate in a forum to interact with technology companies.

Scan the code to place your order.

About BEYOND

Since 2020, BEYOND Expo has been held twice with great success. It has become one of the largest and most influential international technology expositions in Asia, attracting 800+ exhibitors and 55,000+ attendees worldwide. More than 150 industry forums with 500+ innovative business leaders as speakers will provide a global platform for insightful technology exchange.

Please contact us about other cooperation!

Business Partnerships: BD@beyondexpo.com
Media Partnerships: media@beyondexpo.com
Other Inquiries: event@beyondexpo.com

BEYOND Expo 2023 calls for companies to release new products at the tech event, an exclusive opportunity to showcase innovation.

Market competition is becoming increasingly fierce as products and technologies are constantly being updated.

If you want to showcase the latest and most innovative products of 2023, raise brand awareness and influence globally, demonstrate your company’s potential, attract the attention of global technology innovation enthusiasts and customers, and debut your latest products on an international platform, BEYOND Expo gives you the perfect opportunity.

As an international technology exchange platform, BEYOND Expo provides a global stage to showcase the latest cutting-edge technological products and creates an exciting atmosphere for product launches.

Don’t miss the chance to exhibit your new products at BEYOND Expo!

Maximize your returns with reduced costs. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will offer a complimentary exposition space of up to 108 square meters (worth up to RMB 314,000) to applicants approved for new product releases. BEYOND Expo 2023 will take place at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, spread across approximately 100,000 square meters, providing a professional platform for innovative companies in consumer technology, healthcare, and sustainability. With over 1,000 exhibitors, including Fortune 500 corporates, large cross-border enterprises, tech unicorns, and startups participating in this year’s event, the exhibition features state-of-the-art technology and products. Companies with new products from all industries are welcome to apply, participate, and make an outstanding appearance at BEYOND.

Media exposure. BEYOND Expo 2023 will invite over 300 mainstream media to participate and cover the event, increasing the exposure of the new products and attracting global attention. These products will thus stand out from the competition and attract more consumers. Furthermore, the Organizing Committee will provide opportunities for media and exhibitors to network and exchange thoughts and ideas. Events such as Media Tours and Media Networking will also be held to connect with media partners and learn more about advanced technological concepts and brand culture in various fields. This will give enterprises increased exposure and an opportunity to present their cutting-edge tech products to media from all industries. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will also invite Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) from the technological innovation sector to the exhibition area to experience the new products and interact with participants on site.

Official support. The BEYOND Organizing Committee will provide comprehensive support for the product release, both online and offline. This includes a pre-expo warm-up, event announcements, and product launch promotions across all channels, such as the BEYOND official website, the BEYOND app, and domestic and international social media platforms. Currently, BEYOND has over 150,000 followers on its official social media, with the total engagement of the posts published during the conference exceeding 10,000,000. To enhance the recognition and awareness of new products during the expo, the organizers will implement a combination of online and offline interactive activities. In addition, they will focus on continued exposure after the expo to attract more offline attendees to participate in the event and help online users understand the advantages of the products.

We look forward to seeing you in Macao in May at BEYOND Expo!

Technology is driving us towards a smarter future.

We look forward to sparking a trend of innovative technological products in the post-pandemic era in Asia and raise the profile of Asian technology on the global stage.

We hope that BEYOND Expo can serve as a global launch platform, and we look forward to seeing more interesting, insightful, and valuable “new gadgets” at the product release event!

If you would like to showcase your products to a global audience and capture the interest of technology enthusiasts, please scan the QR code below to submit your information by February 28, 2023, or click [here]. We will review your submission as soon as possible and get back to you shortly. We look forward to your participation!

About BEYOND

Since 2020, BEYOND Expo has been held twice with great success. It has become one of the largest and most influential international technology expositions in Asia, attracting 800+ exhibitors and 55,000+ attendees worldwide. More than 150 industry forums featuring 500+ innovative business leaders as speakers will provide a global platform for insightful technology exchange.

BEYOND has officially announced that “Technology Redefined” will be the theme for BEYOND Expo 2023, which will be hosted in Macao from May 10 to 12. BEYOND Expo 2023 is set to reach a new high in terms of scale, attendee influence, diversity of industries, companies, number of exhibitors, and overseas visitors. There will be more than 100 events and networking sessions. We look forward to connecting with global tech innovation enthusiasts and facilitating in-depth interaction in all fields, including enterprise, product, capital, and industry to promote the global tech scene in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

For more cooperation, please contact us:

Business Partnerships: BD@beyondexpo.com
Media Partnerships: media@beyondexpo.com
Other Inquiries: event@beyondexpo.com

Although the global economy faces enormous challenges in the post-epidemic era, technological innovation is showing us extraordinary potential. With cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, and 5G as core technologies, new technological innovations and product solutions today are revolutionizing all aspects of traditional businesses, such as autonomous cars, robots to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and the metaverse that transcends the boundary between virtual reality and reality.

Earlier, BEYOND officially announced that “Technology Redefined” will be the theme of BEYOND 2023, which will be hosted in Macao from May 10 to 13. In line with this concept, BEYOND Expo 2023 is set to reach new heights in terms of scale, attendee influence, diversity of industries and enterprises, number of exhibitors, and overseas visitors. As the impact of technology on social and human development is still a key focus of BEYOND, thousands of outstanding tech innovation companies will showcase their breakthrough technologies and products at BEYOND Expo 2023, a tech gala that is all set to attract global attention!

BEYOND Expo launched the BEYOND Awards to demonstrate cutting-edge innovation, promote comprehensive integration and interaction between capital, industry and innovation, fully realize the impact of technological innovation, and encourage more participation in shaping future trends. BEYOND Expo 2023 launched the BEYOND Awards, including the BEYOND Innovation Awards and BEYOND Impact Awards. The BEYOND Awards established the Healthcare Innovation Award, the Sustainability Innovation Award, the Consumer Tech Innovation Award, and the BEYOND Impact Awards to discover innovative technologies and companies, highlight outstanding individuals including technological products and services, and demonstrate the infinite possibilities of technological innovation and its impact on the global community.

BEYOND Innovation Awards

The BEYOND Innovation Awards has established three awards for its three sub-brands: Healthcare, Sustainability, and Consumer Tech. The goal is to identify and promote the most innovative companies and products featuring breakthrough technologies and industry-leading solutions of the year. Award winners will be judged by the BEYOND Awards Jury based on a variety of factors such as technical content, commercial value, and innovation. Each year, a total of 30 award-winning enterprises are selected across the three categories of the BEYOND Innovation Awards.

BEYOND Impact Awards

The impact of technology on social and human development is one of BEYOND’s main concerns. Therefore, the BEYOND organizing committee established the BEYOND Impact Awards. Based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, these awards recognize companies that have made significant contributions to the environmental, social, economic, and technological fields. These companies have addressed carbon emissions, public health, environmental protection, and social poverty alleviation through technological innovation under the premise of carbon neutrality.

Selection instructions

Selection process:
The process includes the following sections:
Launch – Nomination – First Round of Selection – Second Round of Selection – Final Selection – Media Matchmaking Meeting / Awards Ceremony

2023 selection calendar:
January 10: Official launch, nomination channel is opened

March 10: Nomination deadline
All nomination information must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on March 10, 2023, through the BEYOND Awards official nomination portal. Extensions or submissions from other sources will not be accepted for any reason.

March 10-15: First round of selection
Initial screening to weed out applications that do not meet the criteria for nomination

March 15 to April 15: Second round of selection
Confirmation of shortlisted candidates with 30 candidates selected in each category. Finalists will be announced no later than April 15.

April 30: Final selection
BEYOND Awards jury meeting to select finalists
BEYOND Awards media matchmaking meeting: See the BEYOND Expo official calendar
BEYOND Awards ceremony: See the BEYOND Expo official calendar

Nomination methods:

1. The nomination is open worldwide; all companies and institutions can apply via online nominations. The only official portal for self-nominations is the BEYOND Awards official nomination portal.
2. Referral nominations are jointly nominated by BEYOND Expo sponsors and BEYOND Awards partners. The only official portal for nominations is the BEYOND Awards official nomination portal.

Nomination qualification:

• Industry: Open to all innovative technologies, products, and solutions that contribute to industrial and social development. The industry should belong to the “Healthcare”, “Sustainability,” and “Consumer Tech” areas that the BEYOND Innovation Awards focus on.
• The applicant must be a legally registered company or legal institution.
• Innovation Awards: The submitted product must be first marketed or released after March 1, 2022, or must be marketed by March 1, 2023, or it must be a technology or project that will be released in the interim and for which intellectual property rights have been acquired.
• The technology and products submitted with the application must not infringe any intellectual property rights, including but not limited to patents, copyrights, and trade secrets.
• The products or projects must be submitted in the relevant product category. Specific categories with built-in options can be found in the nomination form on the official website.
• Each nomination must be submitted in .jpg format and must not exceed 10MB in size. For intangible products, applicants can submit screenshots or diagrams.

Award benefits:

1. The BEYOND Awards winning trophy
2. The right to use the BEYOND Awards logo
3. Direct access to the BEYOND Expo international investment and finance matchmaking meeting in Macao, and one-on-one communication with representatives of investment institutions
4. Honorable display on the official website, and the opportunity to participate in the BEYOND Awards offline media matchmaking meeting in Macao.
5. 100% subsidy for a standard booth at BEYOND Expo (limited to one booth per company) to showcase the award-winning products and projects to the global audience in Macao. The booth will feature a special logo for the BEYOND Awards finalists.
6. A corporate member at the co-founder level will receive a Macao travel subsidy (economy class) to BEYOND Expo 2023.
7. Special benefits for 2022 award-winning companies: a discounted booth at BEYOND Expo 2023 (specific benefits to be announced soon).

About BEYOND

Since 2020, BEYOND Expo has been held twice with great success. It has become one of the largest and most influential international technology expositions in Asia, attracting 800+ exhibitors and 55,000+ attendees worldwide. More than 150 industry forums with 500+ innovative business leaders as speakers will provide a global platform for insightful technology exchange.

BEYOND Expo will be held at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, which is spread across approximately 100,000 square meters and can accommodate more than 1,000 exhibitors. We expect more Fortune 500 corporates, large cross-border enterprises, tech unicorns, and startups to participate in this year’s event. At the same time, there will be more than 100 events and networking sessions. We look forward to connecting with global tech innovation enthusiasts and facilitating in-depth interaction in all fields, including enterprise, product, capital, and industry to promote the global tech scene in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

Business Partnerships: BD@beyondexpo.com
Media Partnerships: media@beyondexpo.com
Other Inquiries: event@beyondexpo.com

The four summits at BEYOND Expo are among the most influential platforms in Asia and the world. They are key drivers of technological innovation due to influential speakers and specialized topics. BEYOND Expo 2023 will continue to host four international summits: the Sustainability Summit, the Healthcare Summit, the ConsumerTech Summit, and the Global Investment Summit.

From development to practical application, technology is revolutionizing traditional businesses and impacting every aspect of our daily lives with 5G, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse. The global economy faces tremendous changes in 2023 and the post-pandemic era as businesses transition from reality to virtual reality. As a Chinese proverb says, there is no construction without destruction. The purpose of “Technology” is being redefined, and so is its value. BEYOND Expo 2023 will be held in Macao from May 10 to 13. Our goal is to introduce and discuss the latest innovative technologies from various industries, and re-evaluate their economic value and social impact.

With the theme “Technology Redefined,” BEYOND Expo 2023 continues to focus on its three sub-brands: BEYOND Sustainability, BEYOND Healthcare, and BEYOND ConsumerTech, focusing on hot topics across industries. The expo brings together global leaders in technological innovation, renowned experts, entrepreneurs, and representatives from international organizations to share advanced technological concepts and explore future development trends across various industries for a better future.

BEYOND Expo 2023 is now recruiting speakers in full swing

If you want to share your unique insights into technology innovation industries, showcase cutting-edge technological products and concepts to attract industry attention, and explore future trends on an international technology exchange platform, BEYOND Expo 2023 is a perfect choice!

BEYOND Expo 2023 will host at least four industry summits, focusing on its three sub-brands: BEYOND Sustainability, BEYOND Healthcare, and BEYOND ConsumerTech.

Sustainability Summit: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) are important criteria in the evaluation of many companies. Tentative topics include green cities and infrastructure, alternative energy solutions, green transportation, food and agriculture, and green logistics.

Healthcare Summit: Recently, coronavirus and other new epidemics caused by climate change have attracted much attention in the life sciences. As a result, it is more important than ever to accelerate the development of new drugs, vaccines, and medical devices to ensure public health and safety. The BEYOND Healthcare Summit will provide forward-looking insights and ideas on these concerns to global attendees. Tentative topics include innovative medicine, groundbreaking biotechnology, big data medical care, innovative medical devices, future medical research, AI pharmaceuticals, cutting-edge medical diagnostics, genetic testing, and anesthesia and life sciences.

ConsumerTech Summit: The speed of innovation and development in consumer technology is breathtaking compared to most industries. Tentative topics include artificial intelligence, portable devices, drones and robots, IC chips, smart home technology, and financial technology. We will invite experts, academics, and leaders in this industry to share their insights with global attendees.

Global Investment Summit: Financial capital is the driving force behind technological innovation, making it an integral part of the innovation ecosystem. This summit focuses on the development and impact of cutting-edge technology across various industries in light of future investment trends. Top investors worldwide will gather to discuss and share observations and experiences in capturing promising technological innovations. Tentative topics include family investment, impact investment, female investors, the next decade in investment, early-stage investment, and infrastructure investment.

Our visionary speakers

As the opening and closing ceremonies and industry summits are key components of BEYOND Expo, the organizing committee invites world-class industry experts, academics, and business leaders to promote authoritative exchanges, forward-thinking ideas, and deep-dive discussions on the current situation and future development of the tech industry, and establish business relationships.

Previous Visionary Speakers

If you are interested in BEYOND Expo or the topics of its industry summits and have insights into the current situation and future development of the above industries, please feel free to scan the QR code below or click here to enter your information and speech summary! In addition, you have the chance to be a speaker at the largest and the most influential international technology exposition in Asia, and share your ideas with global entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, scientists, and government representatives.

About BEYOND

Since 2020, BEYOND Expo has been held twice with great success. It has become one of the largest and most influential international technology expositions in Asia, attracting 800+ exhibitors and 55,000+ attendees worldwide. More than 150 industry forums with 500+ innovative business leaders as speakers will provide a global platform for insightful technology exchange.

BEYOND Expo 2023 is expected to reach another milestone in scale, attendee influence, diversity of industries and companies, and the number of exhibitors and overseas visitors. The expo will be held at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, which is spread across approximately 100,000 square meters and can accommodate more than 1,000 exhibitors. We expect more Fortune 500 corporates, large cross-border enterprises, tech unicorns, and startups to participate in this year’s event. At the same time, there will be more than 100 events and networking sessions. We look forward to connecting with global tech innovation enthusiasts and facilitating in-depth interaction in all fields, including enterprise, product, capital, and industry to promote the global tech scene in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

Business Partnerships: BD@beyondexpo.com
Media Partnerships: media@beyondexpo.com
Other Inquiries: event@beyondexpo.com

As one of Asia’s largest and most influential international technology expositions, BEYOND Expo has drawn widespread attention from the global technology innovation industry. Founded in 2020, it has been held twice before with great success, bringing together 800+ exhibitors, 55,000+ visitors, 500+ business leaders, and world-class speakers to participate in 150+ industry panels at online and offline summits.

Technology has long been ubiquitous in our lives, revolutionizing traditional businesses and influencing every aspect of our daily lives. The global economy in 2023 and the post-pandemic era faces enormous challenges as businesses transition from reality to virtual reality. As a Chinese proverb says, there is no construction without destruction. The purpose of “Technology” is being redefined, and so is its value. Therefore, “Technology Redefined” will be the theme of BEYOND 2023, which will be hosted in Macao from May 10 to 13. Our goal is to introduce and discuss the latest innovative technologies in various industries and re-evaluate their economic value and social impact in this new era.

With the relaxation of strict Covid controls, BEYOND Expo 2023 is set to reach a new high in terms of scale, attendee influence, diversity of industries, companies, number of exhibitors and overseas visitors. The expo will be held at the Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, which is spread across approximately 100,000 square meters and can accommodate more than 1,000 exhibitors. We expect more Fortune 500 companies, large cross-border enterprises, tech unicorns, and startups to participate in this year’s event. Industry forums and networking sessions will be held concurrently. We look forward to connecting attendees from all technological backgrounds with in-depth interactions to promote the global tech scene in the APAC region.

Comprehensive integration of cutting-edge technologies and industries with a focus on BEYOND sub-brands

BEYOND Expo 2023 will continue to focus on its three sub-brands: BEYOND Sustainability, BEYOND Healthcare, and BEYOND ConsumerTech. Through exhibitions and industry summits, the platform will facilitate the exchange of ideas to promote comprehensive industrial modernization, development and transformation, for better global technological innovation. BEYOND Sustainability focuses on technological innovation and the application of environmentally sustainable technologies by fostering collaboration among individuals, companies, and governments worldwide, and stimulating their interest in sustainable development.

BEYOND Healthcare puts cutting-edge technologies, products and solutions in the life sciences industry at the center by creating a platform that integrates companies and connects upstream, downstream, investment and academic exchanges.

BEYOND ConsumerTech brings together the latest technologies and products in the consumer technology industry, ranging from foundational technologies such as AI, smart manufacturing, and semiconductor chips to industrial applications for individuals, home and travel, creating a world-leading consumer technology expo in Asia — the largest consumer market and supply chain hub in the world.

Global exchanges across three tech verticals

In BEYOND Metaverse, a unique virtual online event previously held for BEYOND Expo 2022, we created a visual feast of outstanding technological innovations and striking exhibition booths.

In the past two BEYOND Expos, Alibaba Group, Deloitte, Huawei, Nam Kwong (Group), SIMENS, ICBC (Macau), China State Construction International Holdings Limited (CSCI), and Bank of China Macau Branch participated in the BEYOND Sustainability exhibition to propose more low-carbon solutions for green development. Edwards Lifesciences, Fosun Pharma, BGI, Merck, Concord Medical Services, Abbott, and China Taiping attended the BEYOND Healthcare exhibition to share their latest research findings in the life sciences sector and connect the upstream, midstream, and downstream industries to discuss people’s health and well-being. BYD, Insta 360, Nreal, OPPO, Pico, Macau Pass, Ant Bank, and SenseTime participated in the BEYOND ConsumerTech exhibition to promote the development of the consumer technology industry, discuss future trends and introduce new technologies for the transformation of the industry.

BEYOND Expo 2023 exhibitor area will continue to focus on its three sub-brands: BEYOND Sustainability, BEYOND Healthcare, and BEYOND ConsumerTech. It will attract 1,000+ exhibitors from around the globe, with 40% overseas companies exhibiting in Macao, and communicating with attendees from all over the world. The exhibition promises to be an informative and exciting experience for all attendees.

Meet world-renowned speakers at the opening and closing ceremonies and participate in 4+ industry summits for a smart future

The opening ceremony has always been a BEYOND Expo highlight. The organizing committee will invite industry experts, scholars and global business leaders to share key insights with technology innovators. BEYOND Expo 2023 will gather world-renowned experts to discuss the theme of “What’s Next”, and offer forward-looking perspectives to followers of global innovation. Speakers will also focus on technology and its impact by exploring and analyzing industry and innovation trends from a macro perspective.

At the industry summits, an important part of BEYOND Expo, global experts, scholars, and business leaders will discuss the industry’s current and future situation. In BEYOND Expo 2022, the BEYOND organizing committee worked with China State Construction International Holdings Limited (CSCI) to co-host the Sustainability Summit with the Chinese Medical Association and China Taiping for the Healthcare Summit; ICBC (Macau) for the ConsumerTech Summit; Bank of China Macau Branch for the Global Investment Summit; and SenseTime for the Web3 Summit for deep-dive discussions across verticals, providing insight into the seamless integration of technology and industry.

BEYOND Expo 2023 will host at least four industry summits, including the Sustainability Summit, Healthcare Summit, ConsumerTech Summit, and the Global Investment Summit. The BEYOND Sustainability Summit will focus on green cities and infrastructure, alternative energy solutions, green transportation, food and agriculture, and green logistics. The BEYOND Healthcare Summit will share innovative insights and visions with global attendees. Tentative topics include innovative medicine and biotechnology, big data medical care, AI pharmaceuticals, cutting-edge medical equipment, future of medical research, innovative medical diagnostics, genetic testing, and anesthesia. The BEYOND ConsumerTech Summit will discuss artificial intelligence, portable devices, drones and robots, IC chips, smart home technology, and financial technology with the attendees. The BEYOND Global Investment Summit will focus on global investment, cutting-edge technologies, and the impact of technological innovation, serving as a platform for entrepreneurs, top investors, and industry leaders to discuss and share their experiences in discovering promising technological innovations. We look forward to connecting with all innovators to explore the future of these industries together!

BEYOND Awards to promote innovation in technology for social benefit

As the impact of technology on society and human development has always been its key focus, BEYOND 2023 will also feature three innovation awards for its sub-brands: BEYOND Healthcare Innovation Award, BEYOND Sustainability Innovation Award, and BEYOND ConsumerTech Innovation Award along with the BEYOND Impact Awards. BEYOND Innovation Awards recognize tech companies that offer innovative products and services with breakthrough technologies and industry-leading solutions to show the world the potential of technological innovation. BEYOND Impact Award recognizes individuals or companies with outstanding achievements and contributions to natural, societal, economical, and technological reforms, as well as solutions for carbon emissions, national health, environmental protection, and poverty alleviation under the premise of carbon neutrality, based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After nominations and selection rounds, 10 winners will be chosen in each category. On May 12, the BEYOND Awards Committee will hold an award ceremony to announce the final winners, who will enjoy special benefits from the organizing committee.

An extraordinary tech expo for global innovators in Macao

BEYOND Expo 2023 aims to distinguish itself across industries by comprehensively showcasing and discussing technology’s commercial application and social value. Events such as Fund at First Pitch (VC meetups), Startup Roadshows, and Closed-Door Meetings will be organized to build a capital network centered on innovation for global tech entrepreneurs, and to create a high-quality source of business matching for investors and investment institutions. A media tour will be organized to increase company exposure. Social events, including dinners and parties, will also be held to help people build high-quality connections. In addition, other exciting events will provide a wonderful experience for attendees worldwide, promoting industry exchange and further strengthening the exhibitors’ brand influence by reaching more technology innovators and enthusiasts.

See you again in Macao in May 2023!
We invite you to join us in learning about the immense potential of technology,
and creating a brighter future together!

Contact us:
Business partnership: BD@beyondexpo.com
Media partnership: media@beyondexpo.com
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Editor’s note: China is on holiday for the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, from Jan. 21 to Jan. 27. For the week, TechNode has prepared three yearly summary reports. They include a list of the most-read articles, an in-depth feature on the rising Chinese EV sector, and an analysis of the growth of China’s overseas shopping apps. 

In 2022, many Chinese tech companies struggled to keep growing amid slowing demand, drastic Covid control policy changes, and heightened geopolitical tensions. 

TechNode looked back on articles published in this tumultuous time and saw readers gravitate toward several topics: new Chinese consumer tech products, the rise of Douyin and Shein in e-commerce, the US’s chip sanctions on the entire Chinese semiconductor sector, and key moves from China’s tech giants. 

Below are the 10 articles read the most by TechNode readers in 2022: 

1- A guide teaching programmers “to live longer” goes viral on GitHub among Chinese tech workers

A Chinese-language guide on GitHub entitled “HowToLiveLonger” was trending within the Chinese tech community in late April. Despite its serious and scientific tone, the new “guide” appeared to be a pointed joke, taking aim at ongoing overwork practices in China’s tech industry and their impact on employees’ mental and physical well-being. Its popular reception in Chinese tech circles reflected the community’s mood. 

2- ByteDance acquires two new entertainment companies

Chinese tech unicorn ByteDance acquired cinema ticketing platform Yingtuobang and online comics service Yizhikan Comics to further ramp up its push into the entertainment market, Chinese media outlet Tech Planet reported in mid-January. 

With the new acquisitions, the Beijing-based TikTok developer further expanded the reach of its entertainment empire, which already consisted of short video apps, short- and long-form video platforms, news aggregation services, online novels, gaming, music streaming, idol management, and virtual idols.

3- Tencent reported to be cutting 20% of its workforce

Chinese tech giant Tencent reportedly planned to lay off around 20% of its staff in mid-March, joining a lengthy list of tech firms trimming their workforces since 2021. 

Deep-pocketed tech titans such as Tencent and Alibaba, which are generally less vulnerable to small market fluctuations, have largely maintained their headcount until recently. The two giants have not been immune to China’s ongoing economic downturn, regulatory curbs, and international trade tensions.

4- China’s NFT market: Who are the major players, and what makes them different?

In China, the NFT digital art market is bustling with new players and projects. That may come as a surprise for people familiar with China’s strict approach to cryptocurrency, with the country having fully banned crypto trading and mining in 2021. However, China has also embraced controlled versions of blockchain technology, such as the digital yuan, encouraging its growth in various sectors. So far, China has allowed NFTs but banned people from speculating and trading them. 

NFTs are viewed more as a derivative of blockchain technology rather than a tradable asset in China. Tech majors such as Alibaba, Tencent, and JD have built their own platforms where users can buy and collect NFTs but are prohibited from trading or reselling their purchases. Most Chinese tech giants don’t even use the term NFT, hoping to stay on regulators’ good side and avoid association with the global crypto market. Instead, they use the term “digital collectible.” 

5- The US’s moves to contain China’s semiconductor industry: a timeline from July

In early October, the US announced a new set of semiconductor export restrictions aimed at cutting China off from accessing certain high-end chips and further limiting the country’s ability to make advanced chips themselves. 

The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued nine new rules, imposing export controls on advanced chips, transactions for supercomputer centers, and transactions involving certain entities on the Entity List. The rules also imposed new controls on certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment and on transactions for certain integrated circuit end uses. 

6- Chinese semiconductor firms bear heavy fallout of US chip sanctions

After the US issued one of the broadest export controls on semiconductor technology to China in a decade in October, China’s semiconductor industry saw its market value tumble. At least 13 China-listed semiconductor firms saw their market value decline more than 10% in less than a week, and five saw a more than 20% decline. 

Issued by the US commerce department, the comprehensive restriction bars companies from shipping advanced chips and chipmaking tools to China unless they obtain a special license. More specifically, the restrictions aim to cut off China’s access to and ability to make advanced chips under 16nm or 14nm, DRAM memory chips of 18nm or more advanced, and NAND flash memory chips of 128 layers or more. These technologies are essential to supercomputing and artificial intelligence. 

7- Gadget review | Oppo Watch 3 Pro: a high-end Android watch that lasts for days

Chinese phone maker Oppo released its new generation of smartwatches, the Watch 3 series, in August with a price tag of RMB 1,599 – RMB 2,099 ($228 – $300). The company first entered the watch market in 2020, updating its range annually since then.  

The latest series has a new look and offers more premium features such as long battery life, and an always-on feature supported by a LTPO OLED display. 

The version TechNode tested, the Watch 3 Pro, is currently only available in mainland China and Oppo has yet to reveal any plans regarding overseas markets, but there is an expectation that it will eventually be sold internationally. 

8- Gadget review | Xiaomi 12S Pro review: Flagship made for photographers and gamers

Xiaomi launched the 12S Pro in China in early July. The phone is the mid-range offering in Xiaomi’s new 12S lineup (including the 12S, 12S Pro, and 12S Ultra), which updates annually and targets a broad range of mid-end to high-end users. The series is also the first set of Xiaomi phones to use Leica lenses. TechNode got a hold of the 12S Pro and spent a week using and testing it. 

The phone is a solid choice as a primary daily device. The Leica-branded cameras can lure photography lovers, and the 12S Pro’s specs offer a quality entertainment experience. We would also recommend it to avid gamers and video watchers.

9- Douyin sees e-commerce sales more than triple in the past year

TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin announced in late May that its online sales had more than tripled for the year ending in April 2022, an impressive growth rate for the e-commerce up-and-comer when other majors were slowing down due to an economic downturn in China.

Chinese short-video platforms such as ByteDance-backed Douyin and Kuaishou are quickly eating into the market shares of e-commerce giants such as Alibaba, JD, and Pinduoduo, thanks to their widely popular social content.

10- How Shein became China’s ‘TikTok for e-commerce’

Shein was among hundreds of thousands of Chinese startups that tapped into the country’s emerging cross-border e-commerce industry when it was founded in 2008 in the eastern city of Nanjing. 

More than a decade later, it’s a Chinese fast fashion decacorn (a private technology company worth more than $10 billion) with a market cap of $100 billion. Only three other tech juggernauts — ByteDance, Alibaba’s Ant Group, and SpaceX — have surpassed that benchmark, according to Crunchbase’s private unicorn list.

Shein is a much lesser-known name than its local peers, such as Alibaba and JD. Its relative anonymity is largely due to its unusually low profile, typified by the lack of public information on its mysterious founder Xu Yangtian, also known as Chris Xu. However, Shein is a name that is increasingly difficult to ignore, as its extraordinary growth has people comparing it with big-name rivals like Amazon and Zara.

China’s media regulator released its December game licensing list for domestic and imported games on Wednesday. The National Press and Publication Administration approved 84 China-made games and 44 imported overseas games. Among those winning approval, Tencent got a green light for Pokémon Unite, part of the famous franchise co-developed with Nintendo. NetEase also scored several approvals. 

Why it matters: Despite the resumption of gaming licenses in April after an eight-month freeze, China again skipped approvals this year in May and October, and overall approved far fewer games than in previous years. The country approved 468 domestic games this year, 38% less than in 2021 and only a third of those approved in 2020, according to Caixin’s calculations. 

Details: Tencent received approval for one domestic game and five imported games. NetEase got one domestic game and two imported games approved. Alibaba’s Lingxi Game and ByteDance’s Nuverse won approval for one imported game each. 

• Tencent’s NExT studio got its third-person shooting game Synced: Off-Planet approved. The world-leading game developer also won approvals for five imported games: Pokémon Unite, Valorant, Don’t Starve Newhome, The Age of Navigation: Sea Overlord, and Crossfire developer Smile Gate’s Lost Ark.
• NetEase’s Racing Masters, a racing game co-developed with British car game developer Codemasters, also won approval. NetEase also gained licenses for Raid: Shadow Legends and Fantasy Life, two imported role-playing games. 
• Chinese gaming firm Perfect World also won approval for two imports: Two Point Hospital and Dorfromantik.

Context: Although the Chinese regulator has shown signs of loosening the crackdown on the gaming industry that began in August 2021, it is still handing licenses to fewer games and doing so with less frequency than before. 

• This round of approvals was the first time in 17 months that the Chinese regulator gave nods to imported games developed overseas. Last year, the regulator handed out imported game licenses in June, approving 76 games, 42% more titles than on this year’s approved list.

“Treasure hunting” on Taobao is part of our daily life. During this year’s Singles Day Global Shopping Festival, Alibaba has combined shopping, fun, and entertainment all into one. Business units across Alibaba’s ecosystem are using augmented reality, extended reality and virtual influencers to transform online shopping.

Three Chinese consumers are invited to try out some new features, such as virtual marketplace, and picture search on Alibaba’s shopping apps, Taobao and Tmall. Watch the video below to see their experience:

As Alibaba enters its 14th Singles Day shopping event, the e-commerce giant that founded the annual shopping phenomenon is pursuing new growth strategies this year by expanding the influence of its livestreaming channel and growing its membership program to cultivate loyal customers for its merchants.

More influencers joining Taobao Live

Chinese consumers are now used to shopping via Taobao Live, the livestream shopping platform embedded on Alibaba Group’s e-commerce marketplace Taobao. This year’s Singles Day event is set to attract more buyers to watch and shop on Taobao’s livestreams due to its continued rising attraction to influencers and the expansion of brand livestreaming. 

In the first hour of the first sales window this year, the number of views recorded by Taobao Live increased by 600%, compared with the same period in 2021. Over 500,000 new hosts have joined Taobao Live over the past 12 months, including key opinion leaders (KOLs) such as Luo Yonghao, a serial tech entrepreneur who used to stream exclusively on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Chui Xue, President of Industry Development and Operation Center of Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba Group said that, “Livestreaming has become a storytelling format for delivering product information. Consumers are getting used to longing for a particular product through content consumption.”

Shifting to a membership strategy and building brand loyalty

As China’s largest online retailer, Alibaba is transforming consumer awareness into consumer loyalty as its domestic consumers reach the milestone of 1 billion. For Alibaba, brand loyalty memberships have become a key focus, as membership allows brands to interact most directly with consumers and, for some, ensure a higher degree of certainty over sales during and beyond the Singles Day event.

During the presale period from October 24 to 31, brands on Tmall gained in excess of 66 million new members. On November 1, 82 brands surpassed RMB 100 million in GMV generated from their members. More than 4,000 brands saw their member-led GMV more than double year-on-year, and brand members contributed more than 50% of the GMV for 2,700 prominent brands.

“11.11 is the most powerful engine for our merchants’ customer growth every year. Transforming consumer awareness into customer loyalty is key to generating the best return on investment. We will introduce technology and business innovations while enhancing supply-demand matching and loyalty membership management, to support our brand and merchant partners. Ultimately, we aim to turn customer assets into the most important driving force for merchants’ long-term business growth,” said Alibaba’s Chui Xue.

Bain & Company said in a report on Singles Day 2022 that retailers need a comprehensive understanding of their target customers to find the right loyalty levers for their business. “Alibaba is one retailer that has made strong progress in shifting focus from GMV to customer loyalty,” the report noted.

In this year’s Singles Day event, Alibaba aims to help millions of retailers attract and keep customers through its comprehensive brand loyalty membership programs.  

Loyalty is a better goal than GMV

With the macro challenges posed by the Covid resurgence in China, retailers are looking for better strategies to convince consumers to shop. In the Singles Day report, Bain & Co advised retailers to “stop fixating on the gross merchandise value (GMV) as a measure of success.” This year’s macro environment and the further saturation of the Chinese online retail market have made such suggestions all the more relevant.

“It doesn’t really matter if retailers breach the RMB 1 trillion mark for Singles Day GMV this year,” said the consultancy, adding that retailers should ask themselves a series of questions when shifting to a loyalty strategy, such as how to measure loyalty and high-quality growth, do investments in customer loyalty generate higher profits, and how to better integrate offline and online offerings.

Alibaba has been preparing for loyalty membership mechanisms for years. In 2018, the company established an ecosystem-wide loyalty program called 88VIP, giving members a 5% discount on more than 300 branded products and other membership privileges across Alibaba’s platforms. The program now has over 25 million members with an annual average spend of more than RMB 57,000.

Case study: Pet products find consistent growth through membership

One of the first sectors that benefited from membership loyalty programs is pet care. “Membership programs can bring in loyal consumers, and cultivate potential consumers,” said Claire Sun, the Onmi-SPT Associate Marketing Director of Royal Canin, a pet food brand with 1 million members and a decade-long presence on Tmall. She added that the company believes that “developing members through marketing and other means is important to the long-term growth of our business.”

Baby Care, an infant product brand, has operated brand memberships on Tmall since 2018. “We have always believed in membership operation as a new strategic growth point for the brand. So far, we have accumulated 15 million members through the brand membership program. I believe the brand membership system can help us better reach consumers,” said Yang Yang, vice president of the company.

As online retailers continue to navigate the current economic downturn, Alibaba is using the annual shopping festival to lay the groundwork to become more resilient. In a market that’s very used to online shopping and increasingly demands better quality services, the e-commerce giant hopes to support brands to secure steadier revenues through membership programs and recurring purchases.

The technology of data, networks, and 3D visuals have developed so much in the past decade that many people and companies are now in the early stages of building the next generation of web experience. They call it Web3, in contrast to the current internet experience (Web 2.0). It’s still too early to pinpoint what that experience might bring, but many are hoping for a more decentralized experience where users have more ownership over their digital assets and the data they generate. 

Three tech entrepreneurs in the Web3 space discuss the core differences between Web3 and our current internet experience at a panel discussion that took place on Sept. 26 at the Beyond Expo 2022 tech conference, held online at BEYOND Metaverse. They are Wilson Wei, founder and CEO of social graph protocol CyberConnect; Eric Liu, founder and CEO of digital clothing design software company Style3D; and Suji Yan, founder and CEO of Mask Network, a portal that allows users to use decentralized applications on traditional social media platforms. 

The text below has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Wilson Wei, founder and CEO of CyberConnect

We have no asset ownership on the internet during the Web 2.0 era, and thanks to blockchain technology, now we do [in Web3]. For the first time, users will be able to own their own stuff completely decentralized, without any kind of centralized party granting them the right to own any assets. That’s why we’re building the social protocol to give data, especially important data like social graph data, back in the hands of users. 

In the Web 2.0 era, there is a lot of important social data. For example, you know how Facebook login was so powerful back in when they opened up the API, and in China, WeChat login is super powerful. For users, when you login into different scenarios and sometimes you’re allowed to port your social graph to the other app, but sometimes not. A lot of people don’t actually know why. The reason is that you don’t own that data at all. 

Centralized platforms, on which you spend years building your social graph, own all the data you created on their platforms. And that’s a problem. 

For content creators, like any YouTubers who spend years building up their livelihood on YouTube, they have absolutely no bargaining power against the platform because they own zero data, and they have no option to easily migrate to any other platform. If they try to create another account on any other new media platform, they’ll have to bootstrap all over again. That’s a huge problem for social status mobility or social capital mobility, and it wasn’t possible before on Web 2.0 because the infrastructure is purely centralized.

I think owning your social status is the key thing, and also, we’ll have to build the infrastructure to enable users to build their status in a way that they own it. And that’s what I think, other than crypto assets, is the most important thing that’s different from Web 2.0 to Web3.

Eric Liu, founder and CEO of Style3D

We are in the fashion business, and before it was a physical fashion business, now it’s a digital fashion business. 

The copyright of digital assets in fashion will be much easier than Web2. All the decentralization can generate copyright-based digital content at a low cost, make it more convenient, create more convenient transactions, and bring in more profit.

In the physical world, we are mostly using computers to solve pain points. For example, we provide our core products, such as 3D digital product software and digital asset management platform and online collaboration platform and others. But in the virtual world, what we can provide is the 3D virtual cloth and fashion infrastructures, such as the technology and application of 3D design and modeling and 3D digital content itself. 

We are trying to connect the physical world and digital world through digital twins technology, and we hope that whether it is the digitalization of the physical world or rendering of the 3D world, we are going to be the provider of underlining technology and content as long as you want to create something in fashion.

Suji Yan, founder and CEO of Mask Network

The decentralized social network is like the public forum of ancient Rome. This is Web3 Rome and in every aspect, Web 2.0 and the current ecosystem we live in have failed us at some point, and it’s not improved in the last 10 years since the mobile internet came to life. So I think that’s something we are going to change. 

Decentralization is rebuilding the social consensus. I think that in the next 20 years, a new kind of social consensus will be formed during this crypto war against the community of regulators. And we’re going to have new laws established during these DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), during the inception of these DAOs. 

You don’t want a single point of failure, which could happen at any point and get your asset stolen or just vanish. Decentralization could help with that. It also means the consensus comes from the community, the crowd, a decentralized, non-biased decision group of decision-makers, or from machines. That kind of trust level is what decentralization could provide that a centralized party could never provide.

Even if [a centralized party] is a great company. It’s a great product. It’s a great team, you know, companies like Google, it’s a great brand. They said ‘don’t do evil,’ but it’s always don’t do evil. It’s not like you cannot do evil. Decentralization cannot do evil and cannot be evil. You don’t have to trust anybody; you just trust the coding, the virtual machine, the blockchain, and that will promote so much more productivity when we collaborate from all aspects because of trust. 

As many regions around the world enter an adjustment period, startup founders and investors have to adjust to a slower fundraising pace. Still, some investors see the adjustment as a healthy thing since it produces more reasonable valuations, weeds out unproductive firms, and forces founders to focus on creating real value. 

Three veteran investors — Oscar Ramos, General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director at Orbit Startups; Bernard Moon, Co-founder and Partner of Sparklabs; and Jeff Chien, Senior Vice President of Plug and Play — shared their thoughts on how companies can navigate this period, and discussed some of the developing trends at a panel discussion that took place on Sept. 22 at the Beyond Expo 2022 tech conference, held online at BEYOND Metaverse. 

The text below has been condensed and edited for clarity。

Oscar Ramos, General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director at Orbit Startups

It’s no secret that fundraising has not been easy during the last month. If I had to describe the situation regarding fundraising for startups right now, I’d say the word is slow. For Orbit Startups, we work very closely with many of our portfolio companies across the globe. The common pattern that we’ve seen is that the decision-making process for any investment is taking longer. Every investor is scrutinizing all the decisions even more. 

And right now, I think a lot of investors are trying to analyze how real it is what the company has, how repeatable and scalable is revenue, how dependent are they going to be on capital, how far is their own break-even point in terms of investment, and if they reduce the pace of investment-driven growth, can the company still be sustainable? 

One thing companies need to consider is: Am I a nice to have, or am I a must-have for my customers? And if you are a must-have type of service, how do you compare with the existing alternatives?

A developing trend that we’re more excited about is we see technology as a force for improving the quality of life in emerging markets. Some of the goals that society has are to be able to reach a level of stability and wellbeing – those solutions that are very efficient in terms of cost, very effective in terms of solutions, and sometimes very simple to be inclusive, and require a low barrier of entry in terms of knowledge or technological literacy. So those solutions are eventually going to be able to make a jump and become solutions that are also going to be quite relevant and reasonably competitive in more developed economies. 

We already see that with some of the companies. So I think that trend is an emerging trend where we see new hubs of innovation that will take shape in the future…And we’re very excited about that. We’re looking forward to bringing in more innovation from the rest of the world. 

Bernard Moon, Co-founder and Partner of Sparklabs

For investors, and for entrepreneurs to see this cycle, realize it’s not always about the highest valuation. It’s really about executing with what you have and also hitting your next benchmarks and goals. 

I think [the adjustment period] weeds out certain types of entrepreneurs that might have been just going for a quick money grab. I think it also filters out any bad actors in certain spaces like crypto. So I think it’s a good thing for the overall ecosystem to go through this period of adjustment, and for first-time entrepreneurs to sort of see the cycle. 

I would advise the startup founders to just be persistent. I think in this environment it just takes probably twice as many asks and pitches. A year or so ago, maybe it took 50 meetings or 50 to 100 pitches, maybe it’ll take 200 now. So I think just be persistent. But also, get the basic things right, know the investors that you’re targeting, and what they’re really looking for. And whether that firm has adjusted its strategy.

In terms of general developing trends, we are seeing more innovation on the enterprise software side, especially in even top OECD nations. Besides the US, UK, and certain markets, I think that’s developing further in Asia, whether it’s China, Korea, or Japan, and also continuing in sort of second-tier OECD nations. Crypto infrastructure, I think that’s going to grow, that’s a space we’re watching. 

Also, just overall healthcare innovations. I think that’s going to continue. It was a trend in Covid but I think that it is just further accelerated, whether it’s on the biotech side or even just in terms of software and other innovations.

Jeff Chien, Senior Vice President of Plug and Play

I think one thing that we’ve been seeing is the domestication of products. Especially with some of the heightened political instability, we’ve seen a lot of growth in that. Plug and Play, we work with other Fortune 500 companies in terms of innovation, introducing startups to them. And we’ve been noticing that they’ve been requesting this type of startup from us.

For example, in China, after they purchase the equipment, they’re now looking for something that’s domestic in terms of the software that operates it, as opposed to just looking for the best available technology. So in that area, we’ve been seeing some trends. Cybersecurity, we’re starting to see a bit of a comeback in that area as people started to pay more attention to that. Carbon neutrality has always been a solid area to invest in. So these are some of the areas where we’ve seen some growth. 

Another developing trend we’re also seeing right now is that three years ago when you find something really good in the States, we would say, ‘can I potentially bring that to China?’ and vice versa. Now the mindset has become, ‘well, I see a very good idea for an explosive startup over here in this part of the world. Can I do something similar in a different part of the world?’ So that’s what we’ve been very intrigued to see.

Startups take a lot of pride just saying that ‘I’m this version of that in this particular part of the world,’ knowing that there’s actually a higher barrier since Covid because of some of the political environments. So I think that has also been a developing trend. I think that we will probably continue this for the next two, four, or even six years. 

Society has long faced public health challenges in developing better drugs at a lower cost, preparing for future pandemics, and preventing diseases. During the opening day of BEYOND Expo 2022, Dr. Roger Kornberg, the 2006 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, shared several new tech approaches, such as quantum mechanical calculations and RNA therapies, aimed at solving long-standing health sector challenges. 

On Wednesday, the BEYOND Expo 2022 opened online at BEYOND Metaverse. The week-long Expo will have more than 40 talks and panel discussions where leaders and experts across sectors dive deep into the topics of consumer tech, health tech, global investments, sustainability, and Web3. 

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Dr. Roger Kornberg, laureate of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

Good day, I am Roger Kornberg, and I will speak to you about what’s next in human health.

I’ll speak to you about something old and something new. What is old are the longstanding challenges, three of which I’ll address today. What’s new are emergent technologies that offer potential solutions to these important problems.

The long-standing challenges include the development of better drugs at a lower cost more rapidly, and secondly, future pandemic preparedness. And finally, prevention, which is, of course, better than cure. 

There’s a saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. There’s no question that if a disease can be prevented, that’s far better than allowing it to occur and then trying to treat it.

In regard to the first challenge, better drugs more rapidly at lower cost, I will explain that the best current approach for drug development entails the solution of the molecular structure of a drug candidate bound to its protein target.

Based on the structure, the drug candidate can be redesigned to improve the fit to the target.

The improved design is then subjected to chemical synthesis and testing. The process is repeated to enhance further structure determination, molecular design, synthesis, and testing.

It is repeated many times. The process is expensive and laborious. It costs a lot of money.

It takes a long time. And the process is limited by time and money, as a result of which, drugs are often produced that fail clinical trials.

The solution to the problem is advanced computation. It has long been hoped that computer-aided drug design would enhance the process. The problem is that until now, that was not possible, or at least not to the extent that was hoped for. The strength of interaction between a potential drug and its target was limited by the capacity for computation.

Ideally, one computes using the full power of chemistry, one computes using quantum mechanics. Unfortunately, a full computation by that approach takes at least a trillion years for a single molecular design. The available methods are much more rapid. They can be accomplished in minutes, but they don’t achieve the accuracy required. 

What is new is a method of quantum mechanical calculation that is sufficiently rapid and achieves the desired accuracy.

With this new approach, only beginning to be applied, it will be possible to make molecules that are much more potent, much faster, in much less time. And ultimately, without any requirement for synthesis or testing at all.

The second longstanding challenge that I wish to address is future pandemic preparedness. Obviously, of great importance in light of all our recent experience.

The solution to this problem will come from RNA therapy. I speak not of messenger RNA to produce vaccines, but rather, RNA molecules that are 100 to 1,000 times smaller, only about 20 to 25 RNA building blocks or nucleotides in length.

These are called small interfering RNAs. If introduced in cells, they lead to recognition of a gene sequence in a messenger RNA, corresponding to that in the small interfering RNA and a perfect match leads to the destruction of the messenger RNA.

In this way, by introducing a small interfering RNA into cells, one can stop the progress of a viral infection, or interfere with a pathway leading to unrestrained cell growth or cancer, and so forth.

The problem with this approach has been that small interfering RNAs approximately 20 to 25 nucleotides in length are nevertheless too large, and also too high and electrically charged to enter cells. They are unable to cross the surface, the bounding membrane that surrounds every cell.

The problem was solved by the recent discovery of a very small modification, a small molecule that could be attached to a small interfering RNA, that would enable its rapid penetration and accumulation in cells where the destruction of the protein of a virus or of another offending molecule is desired.

This approach has been applied to the development of SARS-CoV-2, a Covid drug with great success. It has resulted in 99.9% elimination of the virus from an infected animal.

The importance of this approach is not only how well it works, in the case of others that I might mention, but that the emergence of any new virus or a variant of an existing virus can be dealt with immediately. The genome sequence of the virus can be determined overnight. And the corresponding sequence of a small interfering RNA is created automatically actually on a machine. So the whole process from the appearance of a new virus to the availability of a drug is accomplished within a matter of days. 

It’s further important to mention that small interfering RNAs persist in cells for a long time. So small interfering RNA drugs are not only therapeutic but also preventative. They are prophylactic. They will immunize an individual against infection for a period of weeks, if not longer. This is clearly a solution, not only to the problem of future pandemic preparedness but to viral disease and very many other conditions, in general. This is a wonderful, new approach that’s only just begun to be applied. 

Finally, we come to prevention. Of course, that may take many forms. 

I’ll cite one example of particular significance that has recently been developed. It pertains to air pollution, which, as you know, is a pressing problem everywhere in the world, and which is responsible for millions of deaths every year, for hundreds of millions of days lost from work or other activity due to disease, an economic cost to the world economy estimated at several trillion dollars a year.

The solution to this problem was developed for detection to warn an individual of exposure to air pollution. So a new, I should say extraordinary software was created that can be installed on any cell phone, the simplest of cell phones, which utilizes only the audio and visual capacities of any phone to measure very accurately every environmental parameter that includes the concentration of particulate matter in the air, especially so-called PM2.5, 2.5 micron particles, which pose the greatest hazard from air pollution.

But equally, the software I have mentioned can measure temperature to within 1 degree centigrade in the immediate vicinity of an individual with his or her phone.

It can measure the humidity. It can measure the wind direction. It can measure everything you might like to know. It will estimate ultraviolet light exposure and exposure to sounds that may be harmful.

This device will represent a warning system against every possible environmental hazard.

When carried by an individual, it will protect against conditions that would otherwise lead to disease or disability or what have you.

It may also be useful to conserve energy, a pressing problem around the world as well. So it won’t be necessary for the air-conditioner to be on in a house, or even part of a house or of a building, but only in the immediate vicinity of the individual whose exposure to heat or cold is of concern.

Finally and not less important, when installed on hundreds of millions, if not billions of cell phones, this technology will create an extraordinary data warehouse, an enormous data bank of information of very great value for human health, for insurance, against disease and other consequences of environmental conditions, for municipalities to design smarter cities and so forth.

To summarize then, I have described three long-standing challenges. They are the development of better drugs, future pandemic preparedness, and finally, the prevention of disease in the first place without having to resort to better drugs.

The solutions are at hand. The three examples I gave are fully developed and ready to apply. In the years to come, much better drugs will be made more rapidly at a much lower cost.

There should never be another pandemic. And finally, we should be well protected through a personal warning system from dangers inherent in the environment.

On Wednesday, BEYOND Expo 2022, co-organized by TechNode, opened online in the BEYOND Metaverse. The Expo will run until Sept. 27 and focuses this year on healthcare tech, sustainability tech, consumer tech, global investment, and Web3. 

The opening speeches featured seven top tech leaders and investors, sharing insights on the future focal points of China’s tech sector in climate tech, health tech, and the nurturing of top talents.

Please find below selected quotes from the opening day speeches. The text has been condensed and edited for clarity: 

Tech and investments to support carbon neutrality

Zeng Yuqun, founder chairman of CATL
Environmental degradation is putting unprecedented pressure on all human beings and our earth. Disasters caused by climate change have threatened the survival and health of human beings. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every citizen of the earth to spare no effort to reduce carbon emissions.

The new energy industry must work hard in two directions. One is that the products must be perfect so consumers can use them confidently; the other is that the batteries must be low carbon for consumers to protect the environment.

CATL has been making efforts in these two directions for a long time. Our extreme manufacturing has improved the defect rate of battery products from PPM to PPB level, reducing it from one in a million to one in a billion. Our Ningde production base has also become the only lighthouse factory in the battery industry recognized by the World Economic Forum. Our Yibin production base achieved carbon neutrality in 2021, becoming the world’s first zero-carbon battery factory.

Zhang Lei, founder and CEO of Hillhouse Capital
We actually see more and more people paying closer attention to long-term development, climate change, and social responsibility. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has become a certain future. According to the data statistics, the global ESG investment scale in 2020 reached around $100 trillion, a 14-fold increase compared with that of the year 2006.

Institutional investors can, during the management of investment process and the selection of investment targets, take ESG into consideration, and through self-build capacity and investment cooperation, especially the digital capacity, build the ESG infrastructure in your investment ecosystem and the sustainable database.

We can introduce a digitized ESG performance system for many corporate investees, which will help relevant corporate investees to collect their ESG data and do industrial benchmarking. Thus, an information disclosure system that meets international standards will be established to help investees lay a foundation for sustainable development by leading investees to collect and accumulate data.

Zheng Xuexuan, chairman and president of China State Construction Engineering Corporation
Urban and rural construction is one of the main areas of carbon emissions, and effectively reducing the carbon emissions of the whole industrial chain in the construction field is an important link to achieving the “double carbon” goal. 

We adhere to the concept of “ecological priority and green development”, which is deeply integrated into the whole process of investment, planning, design, construction and operation.

We have led the formulation of more than 10 national and industrial green construction standards, participated in the formulation of a number of policy documents, and developed a series of innovative products such as ultra-low energy consumption and zero-carbon buildings. We have promoted more than 100 green construction technologies in the industry, vigorously promoted the emission reduction and resource utilization of construction wastes, and basically formed a technology research system covering the whole construction process and the application service capability of the whole industrial chain.

New frontiers in health tech

Allan Gabor, president of Merck China, and executive vice president of Merck Electronics
AI has the potential to accelerate the discovery of the next generation of drugs and therapies. This is exciting because it holds the promise of more personal and targeted therapies, which can make them more effective and more accessible for patients.

Natural and engineering sciences are converging at a fast pace in our quest to better understand human health and diseases – like the fields of anatomy, cell biology, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, molecular biology, immunology, mathematics, statistics, and bioinformatics.

All this interdisciplinarity results in the creation of huge data sets, and that makes AI so immensely helpful for biomedical science and for the development of the new treatment technologies that are currently emerging.

Dr. Roger Kornberg, laureate of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The three long-standing challenges in public health are developing better drugs at a lower cost more rapidly, preparing for future pandemics, and preventing diseases.

The current best approach for drug development entails a solution that is expensive and laborious. Advanced computation can change that. A method of quantum mechanical calculation is sufficiently rapid and achieves the desired accuracy. 

The solution to the second challenge of pandemic preparedness will come from RNA therapy. I speak not of messenger RNA to produce vaccines, but rather, RNA molecules that are 100 to 1,000 times smaller, only about 20 to 25 RNA building blocks or nucleotides in length.

Small interfering RNA drugs are not only therapeutic but also preventative. They are prophylactic. They will immunize an individual against infection for a period of weeks, if not longer. This is clearly a solution, not only to the problem of future pandemic preparedness, but to viral disease and many other conditions in general. This is a wonderful new approach that’s only just begun to be applied. 

Higher education innovation and tech disruption in finance

Shi Yigong, president of Westlake University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
China has become a big power in technology, higher education, and talent cultivation, and is on the way to becoming a world power, but we haven’t become a big power or a world power worthy of the name in terms of innovation ability. We still have a long way to go.

There are some problems with higher education in our country. We have a high educational attainment rate, but we lack cutting-edge researchers. We generally pursue a general and comprehensive education but have no significant advantages or distinctive features. We emphasize knowledge and practicality, but there’s still a gap between us and other countries regarding innovation. We’ve developed far more general talents than the most outstanding and innovative ones. 

Therefore, China’s future development can only rely on high-end leadership and innovation-driven development strategy. And the core of this strategy is the top talent. The top talent we’re talking about isn’t only the core talent in basic research, applied research, core technology, and cutting-edge research, but also the top talent in all fields, in all aspects, from the law, to finance, to social governance, to national management. I think the top talent will be the most crucial factor in a country’s high-end leadership and innovation-driven development strategy.

Charles Li, chairman and founder of Micro Connect
I have been in finance for more than 25 years now, including 11 years running the Hong Kong stock exchange. And I think that experience gave me tremendous insight as to how the financial system works in our economy and in our society.

I think that the modern Wall Street model, which has worked wonderfully for over 100 years now, works for the industrial age, because the economy at the grassroots level is unclear, and very difficult to gather information from, so you need a centralized, institutionalized, professionally staffed Wall Street to organize everything together so that information can be discovered, price can be discovered, and execution can be delivered in the traditional financial market sort of systems.

And I believe that we are now coming to the age where fundamental disruption is going to happen to financial services as well. Because at least in China today, the entire economy has largely become cashless. What that means is that most of the financial activities in China, even at the smallest business level, are completely digital, which means that they’re completely transparent. With the digitalization of the businesses at the grassroots level transparent and digital, the question becomes do we still need to force the little guys to organize into big corporations?

Millions of them never will.

Imagine a future scenario where patients don’t have to travel long distances or spend too much time talking to their doctors face-to-face, and where doctors can easily access their patients’ daily health data remotely, allowing patients, doctors, health plans and managers to remain seamlessly connected. 

Now, consumer electronics makers and scientists are seeing new possibilities for utilizing these tools — smartphones, apps, smartwatches — to help people live healthier lives though digital health treatment and detect problems early on. 

The growing trend of consumer digital health devices has contributed to the ongoing expansion of the digital health industry. The global digital health market recorded $145.57 billion in 2021, growing at a 16.9% compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2028, according to US market research firm Vantage Market Research. 

The booming industry empowered more consumers to use health tools to monitor their own health. The health devices go beyond just tracking one’s walking steps, monitoring heart rates and calorie burns during a workout, or counting one’s sleeping hours. The tools can bring in a lot more in the future, potentially helping more people access quality healthcare and prevent costly surgeries and treatment by diagnosing cardiovascular diseases, cancer, or other diseases early on. “Digital health is a cultural transformation that creates a new status quo, where the relationship between a doctor and a patient becomes an equal-level partnership,” said Dr. Bertalan Mesko, Director of The Medical Futurist Institute during an interview.

Dr. Timothy Weadon, Director of Hardware Engineering for Health from OPPO explained such trends to TechNode, saying, “One key aspect of change over the next five years will be bringing in clinically validated metrics and bridging the gap between some of the consumer device industry and some of the real medical industry.”

Weadon also believes that in the future, the telemedicine industry can be well promoted by consumer device companies with its high connectivity between the health data and digital health devices, and those devices will come in all forms, not just wearables. “I think that we’re going to start seeing more contactless care where you can have various monitors that follow your health metrics and quantify with you while having minimal interaction,” he added. 

New startups to revolutionize digital health 

From May to August, OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator calls for innovative proposals from around the world, running regional demo events in Israel and India to find the most promising health companies to work with. In its innovative program, OPPO has selected ten startup teams for the regional roadshow in Tel Aviv, Israel. The candidates’ research areas also reflect the trend of digital health. OPPO saw two companies bringing innovative ideas to personal healthcare through smart wearable devices and the ability to integrate data analytics: Facense and Docdok Health.

Launched in 2015, Facense is an Israeli company that develops smart glasses with head-mounted sensors for continuous signal measurement to monitor metrics like head movement, steps, skin temperature, and blood pressure for applications in diverse health and wellness. For instance, according to the firm’s roadshow slide, its smart glasses can detect potential Covid symptoms based on those sensors.

Docdok Health is a company that provides CE-certified software as a medical device app that delivers data-driven personalized healthcare. The firm has a three-step concept: connecting healthcare providers with their patients as a basis for personalized healthcare, compiling meaningful patient data and running smart analytics to grasp patients’ full picture, and applying the gained insights to improve patient outcomes.

Among the winning teams at the Israel roadshow, OPPO saw a more practical-focused firm, Social Mind, which provides AI and evidence-based interventions for parents with autistic children, transforming autism care with high quality and wide-reaching.

“Digital Health is new and emerging. It needs community effort and engagement with other startups as well as health institutions.” In addition to innovative ideas, Weadon said he’s also looking for teams that bring creative ideas with a passion. “I think a good team is not only a team that works hard or has a good direction, but they need to have passion and motivation. I think it’s really important that people work with passion to develop the next thing.”

Preventive healthcare, find problems early on

OPPO is a strong advocate for proactive and preventive healthcare. It launched OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator in May and has included digital health as one of the topics of the project, and the other is accessible technology, aiming to push the digitalization in health care, making health care services more personalized.

The company plans to achieve its preventive health goals by applying holistic design concepts to its digital health devices. “As an engineer, I think about things as a system,” said Weadon, “the point of the design is to have an impact to really enable and empower our users to have a better life and also to be able to go and enjoy the activities that they have and help them with those devices.”

When it comes to smartwatches, OPPO believes it’s about having real, accurate, clinically meaningful information and creating a full loop experience for users, so they can take that information and make decisions that lead to healthier lifestyles. And the firm builds its devices works in an invisible and nonintrusive way, hoping the users would set their devices and forget them.

Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA), a global IoT development platform service provider, listed its shares in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The new listing comes 15 months after the firm raised $915 million in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. 

Tuya is following an ongoing trend of US-listed Chinese companies seeking a dual listing in Hong Kong. Pricing its initial offering in Hong Kong at HK$19.30, the company plans to use the proceeds to enhance its IoT technologies and infrastructure, expand and enhance product offerings, and pursue strategic partnerships in the next five years. 

In the first quarter of 2022, Tuya has seen robust revenue growth in its Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, bringing in $5.8 million – a yearly 147% increase – thanks to fast growth in its value-added services, such as monthly subscription revenue. The company’s newly launched smart private cloud product, Cube solution, has achieved important breakthroughs with new customers in the first half of this year. Despite the various challenges of the pandemic, Tuya is seeing strong growth in its enterprise-facing SasS service and overseas expansion. 

Founded in 2014, Tuya focuses on providing PaaS and SaaS to brands, OEMs, developers, and retail chains across a wide range of industries, including consumer electronics, hospitality, energy, lighting, and more.

Strong growth in SaaS

Many of Tuya’s SaaS customers are property developers and hotel owners looking to digitize their offerings. In May, Tuya reached a strategic partnership with China’s top mobile payment app Alipay. The two companies will jointly help hotels cut costs and increase efficiency by adding smart devices, hardware, and managing software. A Tuya-powered smart hotel aims to increase conversion rate by cutting down check-in and check-out times and increasing the interconnection between different devices in the hotel. 

Tuya also made substantial progress in its smart private cloud product, Cube solution. Several leading customers in different countries and industries have recognized the firm’s private cloud solution. Telkom Indonesia, the largest telecom operator in Indonesia with service coverage of over 55% of all Indonesian households and hundreds of millions of registered users, will use Cube solution to tap into the strong spending power of consumers in its network, accelerating the development of its Indonesian smart home appliance market. 

Overseas expansion

Tuya offers a holistic solution to companies around the world looking to digitize their products, including connectivity hardware, platform services, and app development. The firm has seen accelerated growth in partnering with overseas clients. 

For example, Malaysia’s leading hotel system integrator Core System Technologies is using Tuya’s hotel SaaS solution to create the first smart hotel in Malaysia. In Mexico, industrial lighting brand Dimas Lighting used Tuya’s software capabilities to complete the construction of its intelligent platform for commercial lighting and implemented several industrial lighting projects. 

Earlier this year, Tuya partnered with PEARL. GmbH, a leading German mail-order company and online channel for consumer electronics and smart home products. The two companies have agreed to work together to boost smart home adoption in the European market, introducing consumers to a wide range of smart home products, including light bulbs, smart sockets, and various other home appliances, all connected and controlled by a single mobile app developed on the Tuya platform.

Moreover, Tuya also announced a strategic partnership with Denver A/S, a leading European consumer electronics distributor, in June. The two companies will work together to promote a wide range of smart home products in Europe, including smart home and security products. 

The future 

Tuya was selected as a top 10 IoT supplier in IT research and consultancy firm Gartner’s 2020 report on “Competitive Landscape: IoT Platform Vendors.” Gartner analyzed hundreds of tech companies worldwide for the report. 

In 2021, Tuya was also included as a Sample Vendor in Gartner’s recently released report, Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Business Capabilities, which focuses on wide-scale digital change that will impact all industries and enterprises.

According to the report, the market penetration for digitally connected products is 1% to 5% of the target audience. Companies face many challenges in the process of adopting smart technologies, including internal frictions and the lack of a clear business strategy. This is where businesses like Tuya Smart can step in and help companies stay connected to customers, improve their products, and optimize their business models.

TechNode is excited to announce a content collaboration with RADII, a Shanghai-based online media focusing on Chinese society and youth culture stories. Through the collaboration, we will bring more human interest stories shaped by the country’s tech companies and innovations, as well as new tech trends embraced by Chinese youth. 

Founded in 2017 by former Alibaba VP Brian A. Wong, RADII is an independent media platform whose mission is to captivate the world through stories that transcend boundaries. RADII is a multinational group of artists, writers, and creators who are passionate about telling human stories from the center of Chinese youth culture. The online publication covers all things culture-related, from music and nightlife, food and drink, fashion and design to digital life and society.

Founded by Dr. Lu Gang in the early 2010s, TechNode is one of the leading tech media in China, providing news and in-depth coverage of China’s tech and startup community in English and Chinese. TechNode specializes in giving readers an authentic view of the fast-moving landscape of China’s tech sector by focusing on the country’s tech majors, mobility industry, e-commerce, consumer electronics, games, and social media platforms.

Both sides also strive to build bridges between China and people worldwide: TechNode by supporting and bridging the tech and startup ecosystem between China and the rest of the world, and RADII by sharing engaging stories that cut through preconceived notions and strengthen cross-cultural understanding. From where we’re standing, this alignment of goals is more important than ever in an increasingly polarized global political environment.

In the near term, TechNode readers can expect a regular selection of RADII’s content sitting at the intersection of tech and society, art, and entertainment. RADII readers will also see a steady flow of TechNode’s latest tech industry coverage. 

We hope to expand this collaboration as we advance also to include joint events, video content, and collaboratively researched and written articles created by members of both publications’ editorial teams.

We’re confident this partnership will help expand the horizons of global followers of both publications, and we’re excited to invite you along for what’s sure to be an insightful and exciting ride.

On March 31, the 2022 Asian Games, to be held in September in Hangzhou, released a series of digital franchises named “Asian Games in China” on Alipay mini-program, powered by AntChain’s digital collectible solution.

The lead characters of the three digital franchises are the mascots from China’s three Asian Games: “Pan Pan” of the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, “Five rams” (A Xiang, A He, A Ru, A Yi, and Le Yangyang) of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, and “Memories of Jiangnan” (Congcong, Lianlian, and Chenchen) of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Users can explore and buy these digital franchises through the Alipay mini-program “Smart Asian Games” and Topnod (鲸探), an Ant Group platform for collecting, exploring, and sharing digital collectibles. With a limited edition of 20,000 copies, each with a unique, immutable ID to ensure seamless copyrights protection.

With the rapid development in digital technologies, the global sports industry actively embraces digital transformation. In 2021, AntChain became the official global blockchain partner of UEFA Euro 2020 and UEFA National Team Football, with the winner’s scoring records uploaded to the blockchain for permanent storage for the first time.

According to Deloitte Global, NFTs or digital collectibles for sports media will generate more than $2 billion in 2022, about double the figure for 2021.

BANGKOK, March 9, 2022–True Digital Park officially announces its strategic partnership with TechNode Global. Through our partnership, we can open up more opportunities and interactions between the tech startups across Thailand, China, and Southeast Asia, as well as breakthrough innovations and technologies that will drive a positive impact on the startup ecosystem.

This collaboration will promote the integration of science and technology innovations across Thailand, China and Southeast Asia, and the partnership is expected to further enhance cooperation between the startup ecosystems between these regions, with both parties having vast networks and resources in the technology and innovation industry.

As part of this partnership, we co-hosted an event on the topic of “Building Connections and Capabilities Before You Land in the Thai Market.” During this session, we shared advice, experiences, and best practices relevant to expanding into the Thai market. Thailand’s economy has been growing rapidly and has made remarkable progress in social and economic development, moving from a low-income country to an upper-income country in less than a generation. Bangkok has become an important regional hub for startups.

​​“We are delighted to partner with TechNode Global to strengthen both of our networks to create a stronger and wider startup ecosystem. True Digital’s goal is to attract startups, talents, and VCs from other countries to tap into the Thai market and exchange knowledge access to infrastructure and customer groups in the region. We sincerely hope that this cooperation will lead to the sustainable development of the digital economy,” says Dr. Tarit Nimmanwudipong, General Manager, True Digital Park.

With a vast network in global innovation and entrepreneurship, China-based TechNode is at the center of a unique worldwide tech ecosystem of startups, venture capital firms, industry resources, and corporate partners. In 2018, TechNode expanded its core offerings to include six business units: TN Media, TN Inno (corporate innovation services), TN Global, TN Events (branding and event services), TN Data (startup ecosystem database), and TN VC (venture capital and financing services). Through these initiatives, TechNode Global supports and connects the startup ecosystem between China and the rest of the world.

“TechNode Global’s partnership with True Digital Park builds on our respective strengths, in-depth knowledge, and expansive connections across China and Southeast Asia,” says Dr. GANG Lu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TechNode Group. “We look forward to serving as the trusted platform with our international events and conferences, complemented with our media to deliver timely news and insights, as well as being the connector for global entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, and other partners as we continue to level up the region’s innovation ecosystem.”

About True Digital Park

True Digital Park is Southeast Asia’s largest tech and startup hub, spanning over 200,000 sqm. The park is a critical driver for the development of the startup and innovation ecosystem in Thailand. All under one roof, startups, entrepreneurs, tech companies, investors, accelerators, incubators, academies, and government agencies co-exist in our interconnected ecosystem.

For further media information, please contact:

True Digital Park
Puyada Sawasdikosol, Assistant Director
puyada.saw@truedigitalpark.com
+66-95-556-5154

About TechNode Global

TechNode Global is a Pan-Asia tech platform offering premium tech news, industry insights, events, and tailor-made marketing solutions for startups, VCs, corporates, and other industry pioneers. With a vast network in global innovation and entrepreneurship, TechNode Global facilitates cross-border partnerships and businesses. TechNode Global is a spin-off of TechNode, China’s leading innovation and entrepreneurship platform.

For further media information, please contact:

TechNode Global
Stanley Chong, Head of TechNode Global
stanley@technode.com
+65-9690-1079

As the concept of the metaverse – a virtual world where people gather to socialize, play, and work – becomes increasingly popular in China and around the world, companies are thinking about how to benefit from it. 

As part of the Beyond Expo tech conference, held at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center in Macau, TechNode talked to tech experts about the best ways to enter and make money from the burgeoning metaverse ecosystem.

The text below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Shi Chengqiu, Senior Technical Marketing Manager at Nvidia China

“We at Nvidia consider ourselves the builders of the metaverse at this stage. We want to focus on working with our partners, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) device makers, cloud companies, and computing companies, to build a healthy ecosystem. Maybe in the future, we will be a participant in the virtual space. 

“China has 1.4 billion people and a vast internet user base. Many people have one or two devices to get online. So if we build a metaverse ecosystem that Chinese people find convenient to use for work, socializing, and entertainment, we might be able to make money from that.

“I think it will be a three-step process for Nvidia to position itself in the metaverse. First, be a builder, then a participant, and lastly, a business making money from the metaverse.” 

Angela Pan, CEO of Eyexpo Technology 

“Top internet giants are moving quicker than others in reacting to the metaverse concept. Next year, many mid-sized companies will start to lead the moves. Those companies provide solutions to connect the giants with smaller suppliers. 

“The simple first step to enter the metaverse for most companies is to create related content. For example, many live broadcast events are now using virtual characters and virtual intellectual property (IP), creating metaverse-related content. Smaller companies should cultivate unique IPs and find mid-sized solution companies to help them build a small metaverse environment rather than building the metaverse themselves since most of the metaverse infrastructure will need to be made by specialized technological companies.” 

Yang Xiaokang, Executive Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

“From the perspective of academia, the metaverse is a problem of fusing the virtual world and the natural world and doing it more efficiently. AI researchers are looking into how AI can calculate faster and improve this fusion. For example, we often use the phrase ‘AI empowerment’, but empowerment still means AI is dependent on others instead of AI as an independent product. I think AI may have its own independent product in the metaverse. 

“The metaverse will be using a lot of AI technologies in the future. Take the identification issue, for example. We need AI to authenticate people’s real identities and their virtual identities.

“Another example is linking one’s social groups and behavior. Efficiency will be essential if we need to map the real-world organization in the virtual world or even create new organizations. If we want to create lots of content and organizations, we need to rely on AI to improve efficiency. 

“We are also making virtual humans. I have shown Angela Pan some examples. For instance, if we upload a picture of our face, we can generate a very detailed and realistic digital face. We can also generate a three-dimensional match from a highly complex movement of a rotating figure-skater. The metaverse is very exciting for us AI researchers, and I hope to work with everyone here.”

Once known as the world’s factory, China is hoping to transition from a manufacturing hub relying on cheap labor and abundant resources to a country driven by technological innovation and automation. TechNode talked to leaders from three robotic companies on the automation needs in Chinese factories and the construction industry. 

This conversation took place during an open panel discussion on Dec. 4 at the Beyond Expo tech conference, held at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center in Macau.

The text below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Zhang Chaohui, Founder and CEO of Youibot

Chinese manufacturers face an urgent dilemma: they are expanding production when China’s population is aging, and more young people are choosing service jobs over factory jobs. This dilemma means we have to transition to smart manufacturing to avoid hollowing out.

In the last two years, many of our semiconductor clients have seen demand rising rapidly, sometimes by two or three times. But at the same time, they have a hard time finding people willing to work in factories. For example, one of my clients in a top chip factory said the factory has a 30% turnover rate every month, which is a common phenomenon in electronics factories.

People have seen robots as production tools in the past decade, but now more people will see robots as a production force. The way I look at the relationship between robots and people is that by using robots to automate some jobs, people will be liberated to do more high-level creative work, increasing people’s happiness.  

Xiong Junjie, Deputy General Manager of Hangzhou Shenhao Tech

We found that as the scenery and atmosphere of factories and other facilities changes with the seasons, some robots can get confused and lost if they’ve only been programmed for one time of year. This problem inspired us to customize our robots to suit different environments and needs. As a result, we have made robots that can move on wheels, rails, and via other forms of mobility. 

As Chinese manufacturers transition to meet the country’s goal of reaching peak carbon emission in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060, the inspection industry is working to provide inspection robots to new energy producers, such as solar power stations, wind power stations, and power storage stations. We are also working to have robots inspect carbon emissions so clients can get a more detailed read on emission data and trade redundant carbon emission quotas on the market.

Han Li, CEO of Fab-Union

Construction robots have only started to develop in the past two years, and it’s a new growth area in the industry. While we replace some traditional construction processes with automation, we also know some of those processes will slowly disappear as China tries to cut down carbon emissions. So not all current construction processes need to be automated, such as pouring reinforced concrete, which emits large amounts of carbon dioxide and might be replaced in the future by use of steel structures and wooden structures. 

It might take a while for the construction industry to reach a higher automation level. We might get a breakthrough in five to ten years. Automation in the construction industry will take more than robots replacing some human work. It will require a rethink in design, material, and crafts. I will use the 3D-printed chair we brought to the exhibition hall as an example. The chair is customized based on each person’s body; in other words, each of our chairs is different. If the chair is produced in a traditional industrialized way, it will take a lot more time, as every design change will change the production. But with 3D printing, we can build a customized chair in three to four hours.

On Friday, Dec. 3, TechNode talked to three venture capitalists about investment trends and opportunities in the metaverse, a popular concept referring to the next iteration of the internet. This conversation took place during an open panel discussion at the Beyond Expo tech conference, held from this past Thursday to Saturday at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center in Macau.

The text below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Ken Xu, partner with CMC Capital headquartered in Shanghai: 

It would be exciting to see who can formulate this system and establish the virtual world’s economic system. That’s why many people are investing in blockchain technology. 

Ken Xu

If we’re following a common investment logic, most investors will think about investing in devices that will allow people to access the virtual world. For example, one would think of investing in computer equipment in the past because people needed a computer to access the internet. 

However, if you think of this question from the bottom up, there should be many investment opportunities for components integral to those devices and hardware, such as circuits for AR and VR devices. 

Secondly, I think there are opportunities in setting up new business models and new economic models. For example, a virtual world like the metaverse will need an underlying structure to support the operation of the world. It would be exciting to see who can formulate this system and establish the virtual world’s economic system. That’s why many people are investing in blockchain technology. 

Thirdly, there are opportunities in business-to-business applications. Businesses in tourism and logistics will have many needs for metaverse-related applications. We may find opportunities worth investing in these areas. 

Jia Ke, founding partner of Creation Venture Partners headquartered in Shenzhen: 

I think of investment opportunities in three key places: immersive, entry point, and real-world spaces. 

We have invested in one of China’s biggest chain stores offering VR devices for people to try out and play with. There are opportunities in that area. 

Another is investing in entry points, which I think lies in interactivity. Good interaction will bring more people into the virtual world. 

Lastly, I think there are opportunities in physical spaces. For example, we recently invested in a company that excels at doing interactive art space in the real world. The company collaborated with a Chinese public company to build a digital art museum last month, which is located near the pier in Shenzhen. They remodeled an abandoned factory into an art space that offers viewers some virtual experiences. 

Chen Wensi, partner with Hongtai Aplus headquartered in Beijing: 

We have been investing in the metaverse for a while. Some of our previous investment cases can also be put into the metaverse category now. For example, we invested in the AR glass maker Nreal around 2015 and 2016. We also invested in Corigine, a company that focuses on DPUs (data processing units), and brought us eight times in investment returns since last year. 

I’m also working on my own startup called Yika, a metaverse company for the cultural sector. I started thinking about the idea two years ago. I was thinking of displaying arts and creative things in 3D and giving viewers a more immersive experience. The idea sounds like part of the metaverse. We are building it from the bottom up. We have made a consortium blockchain, and we are the exclusive platform working with the Copyright Protection Center of China … We offer a full service in intellectual property protection (for digital cultural products), including trading, displaying, and protection.

Airbus predicts that the first commercially available flying taxi route will be operational by around 2025, said Philipp Visotschnig, chief financing officer of Airbus China, told the Beyond Expo event held in Macau on Friday.

Below is the full text of Visotschnig‘s speech at the Beyond Expo event. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity: 

For half a century Airbus product line of commercial aircraft has transformed the way we live and interact with the world. By truly opening borders, connecting cultures, and changing the way we think and feel about our global neighbors. commercial aircraft have a major role to play in breaking down barriers and uniting people around the world. 

Partnering with over 400 operators and customers on flying more than 48,000 routes worldwide, the 12,000 Plus Airbus aircraft in service today connect people each day. Keeping our gaze on the future is in line with our core beliefs. The next challenge for Airbus is to lead the way in making zero-emission commercial aircraft a reality. I will discuss this point and then later. 

At Airbus, we are proud of how our products and services contribute to communities around the world every day. Our satellites and tracking systems have made the ocean safer, with solutions that monitor and protect naval roots at maritime assets. Airbus built aircraft instrumental in firefighting, public safety, and maintaining energy services. Airbus products and services are used for some of the most critical missions through human humanitarian aid. We support our partners in times of crisis providing aircraft satellite imagery and other services when relief teams are literally fighting against the clock. Our aircraft help transport patients for urgent medical care and the assistance of relief efforts at sea. That’s what we do. 

With the very fast development of his aerospace aviation industry, China’s on track to become the world’s largest aviation market. Today we have more than 1900 aircraft commercial jetliners in service in China and deliveries to this country represent more than 25% of annual deliveries under the annual production volumes of Airbus. What has been making this possible are more than 1900 employees in China that work for Airbus and its joint ventures and commercial aircraft in multiple locations across the country. 

Airbus has also been the number one helicopter partner for China for more than 50 years. This is a long-lasting relationship that began in 1967. Today Airbus helicopter is a leader in China with a 40% market share. Traditionally, our helicopters activities are based here in the Greater Bay Area. This is also where our general Innovation Center in Shenzhen is leveraging China’s innovative advantages. Here we are focusing on connectivity, cabin experience, and manufacturing technologies. 

At Airbus, we believe that the future of aerospace is autonomous, connected and zero-emission. So our world is changing. And so we are. At Airbus, we want to be known not only for our exceptional products and services but also for the positive impact that we have on the world, our society and on its citizens. 

Aviation has given us the possibility to explore all four corners of the world, to connect with friends, and to meet new ones, virtually every day, to feel the thrill of seeing the world, from 30,000 feet above. 

But today, we know that the love for travel comes with a price. It comes with a cost. The aviation industry represents today roughly two and a half percent of global human-induced CO2 emissions. But aviation is not the problem, emissions are the problem. So how to address that? 

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our generation. At Airbus, we understand that, and we also understand that society expects us to rise to this challenge. This is why we are leading this journey towards clean aerospace. The aviation industry with Airbus at its forefront has committed to industry-wide decarbonization. It includes the following two key targets carbon-neutral growth, and net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. 

We at Airbus expect to make the necessary decisions by 2025 to see what is the best combination of technology. China, being at the forefront of the hydrogen economy will be part of the strategy. More short-term in the development of sustainable alternative fuels. Soft sustainable aviation fuel has the potential to drive significantly down CO2 emissions. 

We have seen tremendous activity in the past few years in urban air mobility (UAM). While the industry is still in its early stages, new players continue to enter the market, and the number of UAM pilot projects involving conventional helicopter or aircraft types as electric vertical takeoff, and landing aircraft continue to rise. And until now, almost all vehicles designed for UAM rely totally, or at least partially, on electric propulsion. So that’s one of the trends that we see is electric propulsion. 

As more and more operational UAM use cases take to the skies and public publicity increases, you see confidence rising, that’s also important, there’s confidence rising and a higher probability that developers will meet their development targets. As such, we predicted the first commercial UAM routes will be operational by around 2025. They may even start a little earlier. 

There is a Chinese autonomous urban air mobility developer that is already operating flights and has received approval from the Chinese authorities to pilot cargo operations. Indeed, the first production facilities and supply chains are already built up for them. Similarly, when we looked at the US, there is also a maker that is already producing or setting up its production site in California with the help of a Japanese auto giant.

Most new models are designed to serve particular purposes. That’s also a trend that we see there’s a design for particular purposes, there are typically city flying taxies, which will fly within very densely populated urban areas covering distances from 15 to 50 kilometers. We see airport shuttles, which will transfer passengers from transport hubs or points of interest to airports within 15 and 80 kilometers. And we see inter- or intra- city flights, which will fly commuters routes up to 250 kilometers. 

At the same time, more and more players have entered the wider UAM market. From part suppliers, traffic management providers, infrastructure suppliers and software producers. We see this ecosystem is building up. This is creating an ecosystem with a varied value chain collaboration is becoming an increasingly important aspect. Regulatory authorities must also be involved very heavily. 

UAM could become a game-changer for mobility, but there are still many open questions that we need to address. I personally believe that the key to success is collaboration and the right business model. 

I think OEMs should build on their experience and find the best fit UAM model. startups need to focus on public acceptance and proof of concept and suppliers and hardware providers to select value chain targets. Then we are there are we on the path to get to this $90 billion market.

On Thursday morning, Beyond Expo (Beyond International Technology Innovation Expo) kicked off at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center in Macau.

The event features 10 heavyweight speakers to share thoughts on China’s technology innovation.

Please find below selected quotes from the opening day speeches. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity: 

Rising tech investment opportunities in China

Wu Yibing, head of China in Temasek:

Driven by China’s goal of reaching a carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060, the country is about to see a massive transformation in its energy industry and great transformations in the electric car industry. 

We will see significant rising demand for energy services and energy solutions. For example, industries such as centralized energy storage systems, smart grids, and charging infrastructure might see growth in the future. 

Temasek is investing in low-carbon and decarbonization technologies, including energy storage, nuclear fusion, geothermal, and 3D manufacturing. We hope to use our ecosystem to help every partner and member form a (global decarbonization) ecosystem. 

Ni Zewang, party secretary and board chairman of state-affiliated Shenzhen Capital Group: 

What trend would China’s capital market embrace in the next couple of years? We have seen opportunities in key and core technology, information technology, smart manufacturing, and others. 

In information technology, we see opportunities in digital infrastructure, which includes 5G and industrial internet of things, and digitization in daily lives and production. In smart manufacturing, the keys are transformation and upgrading…we have solved the problem of not making enough products in the past couple of decades. Now, we are hoping to solve the problem of making better, more competitive products. 

Company’s social responsibility

Ma Weihua, chairman of China Alliance of Social Value Investment and former president of China Merchants Bank: 

We have discovered that economic development also brings economic and environmental problems (such as inequality and climate change). So we can start weighing both the economic benefits and social impacts at the beginning of every economic activity, at the start of every investment decision, we might minimize these problems.

The Chinese government has asked people to strive for common prosperity. The most important thing in the next 100 years is to keep growing the economy and make sure the gains are better distributed. 

Companies should strive to be great companies, not just good companies. A good company can provide good products and good services to society, but a great company makes the world a better place and provides good products and services.

Macao aims to become a tech event hub

Note: China’s Greater Bay Area consists of nine cities in the southern Guangdong province, Hong Kong, and Macao. 

Hugo Shong, founding Chairman of IDG Capital: 

When we talk about entrepreneurship, most of us will think of silicon valley an entrepreneurship heaven. Silicon Valley is in San Francisco Bay Area. There are many bay areas in the world; they share some similarities but also have their own unique characteristics. I think Macao and the Hengqin area (an area neighboring Macao and Guangdong province and part of a government-led project to develop the Greater Bay Area) are vital and could borrow some of the lessons from the Bay Area in the US. However, this area still lags in terms of investment and education, but it also means huge growth potential. For example, we invested in a solar power company headquartered in Hengqin, Zhuhai. It has already generated about RMB 2 billion in revenue since we invested last November.

Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of appliance maker Gree Electric: 

Gree Electric is based in Zhuhai, neighboring Macao. We are already a family with Macao, the Greater Bay Area family. I hope that Gree Electric will continue to serve the development of the Greater Bay Area and attract young people in Macao to come to Zhuhai, come to work at Gree, and come to the Greater Bay Area. 

Qi Faren, space technology expert and chief designer of “Shenzhou” manned spacecraft:

When I visited Macao more than a decade ago, the region was an observer of the space tech. Now, Macao’s tech sector has already taken part in China’s aerospace projects, participating in a scientific exploration satellite project that will be launched next year. I hope we can attract more young people to join China’s space projects.

BEYOND Expo kicked off with its nearly month-long online conference, BEYOND Virtual Opening, on November 9, 15:00 (GMT+8) with entrepreneurs, scientists, global investors, and tech experts. The opening was broadcast live on the BEYOND Expo website, BEYOND App, and simulcasted on CGTN, Forbes, and Pheonix New Media’s social media channels.

We are honored to have Dr. Song Xiao, Global Executive Vice President and President and CEO of Siemens Greater China; Jessica Tan, Co-CEO and Group Executive of Ping An Group; Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China; Scott Beaumont, President at Google Asia Pacific; David Liao, Co-Chief Executive, Asia-Pacific at HSBC; Dr. William A. Haseltine, Founder, Chairman and President of ACCESS Health International, and Raymond Teh, Vice President at NVIDIA, APAC, spoke on this year’s theme of BEYOND Expo – “What’s Next?”, as well as our special guest, Terry Gou, Founder of Foxconn.

Many of our speakers at BEYOND Virtual Opening touched on digitalization and how it can transform economies. Dr. Song Xiao, Global Executive Vice President of Siemens and President and CEO of Siemens Greater China, believes that digital transformation is imperative for all markets, industries, and societies to achieve high-quality growth, carbon neutrality, and resilience.

Digital technologies are expected to further loosen geographical restraints and blur the industrial lines, even for professional industries, said Jessica Tan, co-CEO and group executive of Ping An Group, as she shared her thoughts on how the pandemic has accelerated digitalization trends and opened up new opportunities; while David Liao, Co-Chief Executive, Asia-Pacific, HSBC said when the COVID pandemic struck, it became very clear that digital transformation was no longer a choice for businesses, but a necessity.

The future for the Asia Region with technology is incredibly bright, said Scott Beaumont, president at Google Asia Pacific. As countries find a path to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Macau, a special administrative region on the south coast of China, could serve as a key platform, connecting traditional industries with emerging industries, said Foxconn founder Terry Gou.

In terms of technology and its environmental impact, Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, stressed the importance of sustainability and sustainable development in doing business. For large enterprises, small businesses, or government organizations, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals can be considered a blueprint for success in unlocking new markets and ensuring longevity in business operations. As a global corporation, Google made a statement that they want to be carbon-free by the end of the decade, said Scott Beaumont, president at Google Asia Pacific, although with some nervousness and some excitement, it is important to try and possibly set a standard for others to follow.

William A. Haseltine, founder, chairman, and president of ACCESS Health International, said he expects the next 20 years to become an era of enormous innovation, not just in one country but around the world, followed by Raymond Teh sharing his insight on NVIDIA’s insights on AI, metaverse, and his observation on how a substantial digital revolution is taking place all over the world.

Global Investment Hotspots panel

Apart from the opening speeches, there was an opening panel on “The Global Investment Hotspots: The Next Blue Ocean” with Amir Gal-Or, Founder and Managing Partner of Infinity Group; Christine Tsai, CEO and Founding Partner of 500 Global; and Hans Tung, Managing Partner at GGV Capital. At the opening panel, we learn about the current trends in innovations, investments, and capital flow–particularly the industries and regions that are emerging as hotspots.

The panel’s participants are no stranger to finding the right trends and timing, having invested in companies young and early, with at least a hundred Unicorns in their portfolios. We learned how alternative sources of capital can become both challenges and exit/partnership opportunities. The panel discussed how investors are growing more open to investing outside of their primary markets. VCs are bound to miss out on opportunities if they don’t invest outside of their comfort zones.

While the pandemic has proven to be a challenge in terms of finding opportunities for founders to travel to network with VCs, the new trend in remote meetings and distributed teams has proven to be a good opportunity for founders and investors to build relationships globally. References and relationships are important.

Stay tuned for more

In the following weeks, BEYOND Virtual will offer 18 panels, featuring 40 distinguished speakers from around the world. The virtual panels will provide deep-dive discussions on trending and critical topics in the tech sector. Follow us on our BEYOND LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts to be notified of upcoming sessions. The Expo will host an on-site event from December 2 to 4, 2021, at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center. 

If you have missed the previous content, you can log into your BEYOND account to watch the replays on-demand.

The BEYOND Virtual Opening presents world-class entrepreneurs, scientists, global investors, and tech experts to share with us the trends of technology, investments, and the impact of each industry in shaping the world we live in today and the future.

In his opening remarks, William A. Haseltine, founder, chairman, and president of ACCESS Health International, said he expects the next 20 years to become an era of enormous innovation, not just in one country but around the world.

The biological sciences are leading the way in many different fields, not just in health and agriculture and understanding the natural world, but in physics, in chemistry, in nanomaterials, he added.

The major advances that are coming are not just from the fields alone, such as chemistry and physics, and mathematics but it is a combination of all of them.

Looking ahead to the next 15 or 20 years, he said he sees many more opportunities arising.

ACCESS Health International is a nonprofit think tank, advisory group, and implementation partner aiming to improve access to high-quality and affordable healthcare for people everywhere. It works closely with governments, the private sector, development partners, and researchers to improve health financing systems and the quality of healthcare services.

Below is the full text of his speech at the BEYOND Virtual Opening. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity:

Allow me to thank the organizers of Beyond Expo for inviting me to speak today. I’m very sorry not to be able to join you in Macau. It’s a beautiful part of the world, which I’ve had the pleasure of visiting many times.

Macau is a particularly fitting locale for this conference, not because of the leading role in the Asia Pacific region it plays in both scientific and technological innovation, but because Macau is in a unique position reaching the United States and China, supporting the expansion of some of the most forward-looking thinking companies in both countries.

In my opinion, there’s no more exciting time than to be working on science and technology today. Advancements over the past 15 to 20 years have allowed scientists like myself, the opportunity to explore new ideas in ways I could not even imagine when I was beginning my career.

When I look ahead to the next 15 or 20 years, I see many more opportunities arising.

First, let me say the biological sciences are leading the way in many different fields, not just in health and agriculture and understanding the natural world, but in physics, in chemistry, in nanomaterials, we are learning to manipulate the atomic world.

The same way life does, i.e. engineering new devices, new products at the molecular level, at the atomic level. That is how life is built and that is what we are learning.

In addition to that, the major advances that are coming are not just from the fields alone, such as chemistry and physics and mathematics. It is a combination of all of them.

We have never seen such a flowering of innovation from cross-cultivation, cross-pollination of the different technologies.

I expect the next 20 years to be one of enormous innovation, not just in one country but around the world.

One of the most important things about science is collaboration. Science is a universal language, spoken by every scientist no matter where they live, and critical to the progress of science.

It is that uninterrupted communication amongst our leading thinkers and it’s extremely important for young people to travel to different countries to understand that their language is the language that others speak.

I can tell you from my own experience, my early travels around the world were essential to my understanding of what science is, how it’s practice, and a source of infinite new ideas.

But science and technology alone will not get us where we need to be. These two past two years have shown us the critical importance of strong and dynamic healthcare systems that make the best use of limited pools of resources.

Studies have shown us that people living in countries with weak and overburdened healthcare systems, suffered much more dramatically than those who did not. Strengthening our healthcare systems and improving their resilience will only become more important in the months to come.

That’s why I’m so pleased to have had the success that we’ve had with Access Health International, a group that works on improving the health system, strengthening health systems worldwide.

We consult with the best thinkers everywhere in the world. We study what works the best, and then we help policymakers who have opened to innovation adapt those innovations in healthcare reform, healthcare systems, healthcare strengthening, not least of which is financial technology and information technology, fields that have formally been thought to be foreign from the idea of healthcare service and healthcare delivery.

In closing, I’d like to offer a few words of advice. One of the things that at this point in my career I’m interested in, is making sure that there are future generations that are dedicated to improving the lives of others.

In a book that I’ve written for young people, Science, as a Superpower, is intended to inspire them to realize that in science, one person, one mind, can really save the world.

My life has been saved by such super scientists, the man who invented penicillin. I was one of the first civilians ever to receive penicillin as a young child. I remember quite well the restrictions in my life that polio imposed very similar to the restrictions that young people have today, and we all have today as a result of COVID that change with two great scientists.

One is Salk and the other one is Sabin. They made a great difference. And today as we face COVID, it’s really important to have the best scientists in the world.

If children’s lives will be made better, if young people’s lives will be made better, if all of our lives will be made better in this time of COVID, it’d be because we have great health system and great scientists to help save us from what is a new scourge of humanity.

So again, I close this by thanking the organizers of BEYOND Expo for inviting me to take part in this important event. I look forward to the possibility of joining you in person in the years to come. In the meantime, I send you my best wishes for a fruitful exchange of ideas.

There will no doubt lead us to new and better opportunities and innovations for the future.

Thank you very much.

The BEYOND Virtual Opening presents world-class entrepreneurs, scientists, global investors, and tech experts to share with us the trends of technology, investments, and the impact of each industry in shaping the world we live in today and the future.

In his opening remarks,  David Liao, Co-Chief Executive, Asia-Pacific, HSBC said when the COVID pandemic struck, it became very clear that digital transformation was no longer a choice for businesses, but a necessity. The pandemic has an impact on payments.

He also shared how the pandemic accelerated the growth of e-commerce and how the banking group is doing to help its clients adapt and how it scales its digital transformation.

Below is the full text of his speech at the BEYOND Virtual Opening. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity:

Hello, I’m David Liao, Co-Chief Executive of HSBC, Asia Pacific. I’m delighted to join the BEYOND Expo conference today.

It’s been a challenging couple of years. We’re all of us here looking, planning and moving forward. So what’s next for us at HSBC?

Technology has always been a driver of change. Even before COVID, artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain, just to name a few, we are already revolutionizing the landscape we operate in. 

Then the pandemic struck. It became very clear that digital transformation was no longer a choice for businesses, but a necessity. COVID-19 triggered a decade’s worth of change in just a few short months.

The biggest impact: payments, specifically cashless digital payments, is in play.

The pandemic accelerated the growth of e-commerce. The way people spent their money and the things they spent it on changed radically. An example would be a certain online US retailer’s second-quarter results in 2020, which recorded 40% year-on-year growth and was boosted by a tripling of grocery sales.

And overnight, volumes of food delivery services skyrocketed. Across Southeast Asia, 85% of consumers now use cashless payments. The digital payments market in the Asia Pacific is growing by more than 30% a year.

The technology and expectations are changing so fast. You might have been a digital bank yesterday and still be a dinosaur today.

So we’re running hard to stay in front. It’s challenging, but it’s also exciting.

We’re rolling out dozens of new digital products. We’ve even started taking out patents for the first time on a new technology we are developing.

But the pace of change creates new complexity for businesses. Organizations -big and small- are trying to figure out how to get ahead of the changes and understand the technologies that can help them.

In a post COVID environment, where everyone is a buyer and a seller, and a consumer and vendor at the same time, businesses need a trusted partner in their digital transformation journey in order to help provide end-to-end solutions, implement real-time capabilities for processing transactions and information at scale, gain transparency on transactions, grow their business by having ecosystem linkages connecting them to their buyers or suppliers and all this while, protecting customer data.

It’s a monumental task, but one that HSBC is well-positioned for. We were already deeply invested in digital and real-time payment infrastructure before the pandemic, and we’ve stepped up the pace and scale of our digital transformation in the months since it hit.

We’ve been working with regulators and investing in Real-Time Payment platforms available in 12 markets across Asia and APIs. We’ve built applications that help businesses make and collect real-time payments easily and efficiently. This enables companies to quickly transition from a physical to a digital storefront.

When COVID struck, we were able to use our digital payments expertise to help our clients adapt quickly.

Take KPJ, a Malaysian healthcare company. When the pandemic hit in 2020, KPJ became one of the private hospitals approved to conduct COVID-19 testing in Malaysia.

As social distancing practices and movement restrictions set in, KPJ needed to establish safer payment options for patients. Leveraging Malaysia’s national real-time payment service, DuitNow, HSBC helped KPJ implement a payment option that enabled real-time, instant, and contactless payments from a patient’s bank using the QR code.

Also, HSBC is helping the delivery service Foodpanda to revolutionize the way it pays its workers. Today, a Foodpanda rider can use the company’s app to get paid instantly after finishing a delivery shift.

That’s money earned straight into their digital pocket, ready to go back into the community and create growth.

Real-Time payments volumes were up 90% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2021 and we expect this trend to continue over the next couple of years. So we’re pushing on with cutting-edge payments innovations as we move into a post-COVID world.

Our challenge is to make them faster, cheaper, and even more secure. Payments now are digital, on-demand, and real-time. By improving the way cash flows into the economy, we’re contributing to growth and prosperity. This is the future. And it’s now.

Thank you.

The BEYOND virtual event kicked off on Tuesday as a preview of the BEYOND EXPO Macao 2021 that will be held from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4. In his keynote speech during Tuesday’s virtual event, Raymond Teh, sales & marketing vice president at NVIDIA, APAC, shares the US AI giant’s insights on a wide range of topics from Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing, metaverse, to startups.

Below is the full text of Teh’s speech at the BEYOND Virtual event. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity: 

Hello, I’m Raymond Teh. I’m responsible for NVIDIA’s business in the Asia Pacific region. It’s a pleasure to meet you at the Beyond Virtual conference and share with you some of NVIDIA’s insights. 

So what’s next? A substantial digital revolution is taking place all over the world. Innovation, agility, and market development, are all accelerated by technological advancements. The digital transition will continue. Technology is evolving faster than ever. Advanced technology will continue to change our lives and how we operate, opening up enormous opportunities for businesses worldwide. Many businesses have adopted disruptive technologies and modified their business models. Let me now share some of the exciting innovations at NVIDIA. 

AI computing

NVIDIA’s purpose is to advance this form of computing, called accelerated computing. We are an accelerated computing platform company. AI is a watershed moment for the world. We are in the process of automating intelligence so that we can augment ours. 

The thing that’s really cool is that AI is software that writes itself and it writes software that no humans can. These software-defined, hardware-accelerated stacks will take advantage of data processing units (DPUs) to accelerate networking, storage, security, and management applications. DPUs are an essential element of modern data centers. In this model, the data center is the new unit of computing in which central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and DPUs combine into a single computing unit that’s fully programmable, AI-enabled, and can deliver greater levels of security, performance, and efficiency. 

NVIDIA hardware will enable the creation of high-performance 5G RAM and AI applications to manage emerging use cases like robotics manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, drones, and surveillance. 

AI, and specifically deep learning, has become a vital tool for the production of next-generation automated vehicles, particularly because of the need to recognize and handle the nearly infinite number of scenarios encountered on the road. It is expected that the vehicles of tomorrow will be packed with more technology than any computing system today. NVIDIA’s mission is to stay rooted in developing this self-driving technology, known as NVIDIA Drive.

NVIDIA is a full-stack computing company. We love working on extremely hot computing problems that have a great impact on the world. NVIDIA is dedicated to advancing accelerated computing. Enabling developers’ success on our platform is core to everything we do. 

Omniverse

Humans have been exploiting how we perceive the world for thousands of years. We have been hacking our senses to construct virtual realities through music, art, and literature for millennia, interactivity, and the ability to collaborate. Better screens, head-mounted displays like Oculus Quest, and mixed reality devices like Microsoft’s HoloLens, are all steps towards fuller immersion. 

All these pieces will evolve, but the most important one is here already. A high fidelity simulation of our virtual world to feed the display. Omniverse is a shared virtual 3-dimensional world of worlds that are interactive, immersive, and collaborative. Just as the physical universe is the collection of worlds that are connected in space, the platform is not tied to any one app or any single place, digital or real. 

And just as virtual places will be persistent, so will the objects and identities of those moving through them, allowing digital goods and identities to move from one virtual world to another, and even into our world, with augmented reality. Omniverse is in use across a growing number of industries for projects such as design collaboration and creating digital twins, simulations of real-world buildings and factories. 

Startups

Building an innovation network to support the accelerated growth of startups is a continuous initiative at NVIDIA. A great resource for startups is NVIDIA Inception. 

Inception is an accelerated platform for startups. We leverage NVIDIA technologies, resources, and innovation networks to support startups at various stages of their journey. 

Today, over 8500 Inception startups are growing, of which China is a strong representation, ranked second in the world, and first in non-English speaking countries with over 1000 startups, 35+ industries, and more than 40 cities. 

Our focus is on supporting a global community of innovators to deliver tremendous innovation for the next decades. Join NVIDIA inception and meet our inception members in BEYOND. 

These are just some of the innovations from NVIDIA’s lenses, looking into what’s next in AI. I would like to thank BEYOND for the invitation to speak and the opportunity to present NVIDIA’s thoughts and glad to be here to join this wonderful event. 

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the day and wish the event great success. 

Thank you.

As countries find a path to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Macau, a special administrative region on the south coast of China, could serve as a key platform, connecting traditional industries with emerging industries, Foxconn founder Terry Gou said on Tuesday during the BEYOND Virtual conference.

On Tuesday, the BEYOND Expo opens online with BEYOND Virtual, a nearly month-long online conference. BEYOND Virtual will offer 18 panel discussions, featuring 40 distinguished speakers from around the world. The panels will provide deep-dive discussions on trending and critical topics in the tech sector. The Expo will host an on-site event from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4 at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity:

First, I would like to congratulate the successful opening of BEYOND Expo 2021 in Macau. I wish BEYOND every success from Taiwan.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have continued to pay huge amounts of social costs. The world is also facing the issue of transformation and is developing a new model of globalization. Therefore, at this critical moment, Macau will have the opportunity to play an important role in bridging the East and the West, linking traditional industries and emerging industries, and recreating Macau’s historical brilliance.

We have now entered the third decade of the 21st century. It is foreseeable that this decade will be a decade in which technological progress and innovation dominate economic growth and development. I think the Asia-Pacific region, mainland China, and its three regions will be one of the regions with the most potential for technological development, and it is also an important region that leads industrial tech innovation.

Therefore, we also believe that the Asia-Pacific region needs an international technology platform to promote Asia-Pacific innovation to the world, and to discover and gather global innovations.

Today, technology is affecting and transforming various traditional industries. Technological innovations that drive world progress could also contribute to the sustainable development of the global economy, society, and environment. We are on the cusp of transformation. Innovation will bring huge opportunities to various industries.

It is a pity that I cannot participate in the BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo in Macau. I believe that BEYOND Expo will bring the world’s attention to Macau, and to the power of innovation in Asia. I look forward to participating in the next BEYOND. Together, I will be working hard with you for a better future.

The BEYOND Virtual presents world-class entrepreneurs, scientists, global investors, and tech experts to share with us the trends of technology, investments, and the impact of each industry in shaping the world we live in today and the future.

In his keynote address, Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, stressed the importance of sustainability and sustainable development in doing business. For large enterprises, small businesses, or government organizations, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals can be considered a blueprint for success in unlocking new markets and ensuring longevity in business operations.

Chatterjee stresses that sustainability enhances brand trust and investor support. It is not just a lofty ideal, but ultimately both good for humanity and good for business, and it is what impact investors look for.

Below is the full text of Siddharth Chatterjee’s speech at the BEYOND Virtual Opening. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity:

Greetings distinguished guests, friends, ladies, and gentlemen.

I wish to thank the Macao Technology General Association for the opportunity to address the 2021 BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo.

On behalf of the United Nations family in China, I congratulate the organizing committee and the co-founders, Mr. Jason Ho and Dr. Gang Lu, for their initiative in raising the question – “What’s Next?” and exploring the technologies that are critically needed to address our global challenges.

Today’s world faces a series of tests in fighting poverty, rising inequalities, the climate crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, adopted by all UN member states in 2015 remains our shared blueprint to achieve a better and a more sustainable future for all, leaving no one behind.

At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, representing a set of interconnected and complex challenges that recognizes that economic growth must go hand in hand with strategies that improve health, education, the participation of women and girls, the potential of young people, all while preserving our oceans and our forests.

With less than 10 years remaining to achieve these SDGs in this decade of action, global efforts must accelerate to deliver on the ambitious 2030 Agenda, demanding action and innovation from all stakeholders, including governments, individuals, and of course, the private sector.

The SDGs are not simply a lofty ideal or the right thing to do, but a formidable instrument for companies, including state-owned and small and medium-sized enterprises looking to unlock new markers and the longevity of their operations.

Corporate and organizational success requires stable economies and vibrant societies with healthy, skilled, and educated workers.

Sustainable companies experience increased brand trust and investor support with consumers today desiring more than just the cheapest goods and services. They demand sustainability and wish to take comfort in the knowledge that the goods and services they purchase do not create negative externalities and contribute positively to the world we all inhabit.

While legislation and regulation will catch up to companies who fail this test, those that state and prove their credentials in sustainability, time and time again, will be rewarded in the marketplace. 

Sustainability is good for humanity and good for business. That’s essentially what impact investors look for.

Companies here in China and the world already contributing, offering fresh ideas to make the SDGs their own. More than 14,000 business participants from around 170 countries are lining their strategies and operations with the SDGs and the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.

Academia and civil society are answering the call, working closely with the UN University Institute in Macau to generate solutions to the 2030 Agenda through innovations and frontier technologies.

With your support, the United Nations in China stands ready to renew collaboration and multilateralism in new partnerships to achieve the SDGs.

I wish you all every success at this very important event. 

Thank you.

The future for the Asia Region with technology is incredibly bright, said Scott Beaumont, president at Google Asia Pacific, during his keynote address at Tuesday’s BEYOND Virtual event. The BEYOND virtual event is a preview of the BEYOND EXPO Macao 2021 that will be held from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4.

Below is the full text of Beaumont’s speech at the BEYOND Virtual event. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity: 

Hello, everyone. My name is Scott Beaumont, I’m the president of Google Asia Pacific.

Thank you to Gang Lu and the team for the invitation to speak today and congratulations on this BEYOND event.

I’m actually really happy and thrilled to see Asia host such an event at such an important time for technology. The impact of COVID has really been quite remarkable. From people’s needing to get the information that they need as quickly and as reliably as possible, to being able to use new services they’ve not used before to help deliver groceries or keep themselves entertained during COVID, or to small businesses looking for a way to engage with digital skills and find a way to survive, it’s clear that technology has been incredibly important to many.

Particularly when we look at the Asia Pacific, 270 million new people have come online for the first time since COVID began, which is really quite remarkable.

And so, the key things are to make sure that this technology is accessible and that people have the skills that they need to be able to use these new services. In fact, when we put partnerships in place, behind the scenes, we make sure that people know how to use the internet, know how to use these services in a way that suits and serves them.

Now, Google has actually been in Asia now for just over 20 years. In fact, we celebrated our 20th anniversary just a few weeks ago.

Our first international office was in Tokyo in Japan and since that time clearly, we’ve seen Asia take the lead in a number of really interesting areas, whether that’s payments or video or commerce, the influence of Asia can be deeply felt in the technology space. And I think that’s just going to increase.

I think the new generation coming through is going to create a groundswell in innovation and entrepreneurship. Computer science is here. The market opportunity is here. The finances are here and so for entrepreneurs in the region, there really hasn’t been a better time to come to market and there is a significant opportunity. Not just through these incredible demographics, but by the fact that the technology itself provides an opportunity for us to be able to create new services for end-users, corporate and individuals throughout the region.

Now one of the areas where I’m hoping to see technology take the lead is climate change. Google made a statement that we want to be carbon-free by the end of the decade, and we’ve done that with some nervousness but some excitement.

We’re not quite sure of everything that needs to happen to get us there. We see some of the steps but some of the steps will be revealed to us as we continue to progress.

But I think it’s important that we try and I think it’s important that perhaps we set a standard that others might have the confidence also to follow. 

We’re going to try and do our part too. We could be providing enterprises with the benefit of our cloud technology and AI and applied AI services behind that to help them get there.

We’re going to be looking with governments and some of our flood prediction tools or forest fire prediction tools as a way of helping governments respond better to crises.

We’re going to be looking at Search and Maps, for example, helping to provide consumers with better information to make better choices to enable them to be more climate aware as they think about their day-to-day.

This is an area where I think APAC can lead. Whether it’s climate change or whether it’s accessibility, or whether it’s how we deal with language, or whether it’s any number of the other potential opportunities that exist within the region.

I think the future for the Asia Region with technology is incredibly bright. Part of those demographics, part of that is the computer science capability, part of that is the natural positivity and entrepreneurship that I see around the region.

This is a great time to be embarking on the conversation that you’re having today at Beyond. I congratulate you on putting the event together and look forward to hearing some of the results of what comes out of the conversation.

Digital technologies are expected to further loosen geographical restraints and blur the industrial lines, even for professional industries, says Jessica Tan, co-CEO and group executive of Ping An Group, on Tuesday at BEYOND Virtual, an online conference leading to BEYOND Expo, an on-site event at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4.

In the opening day speech to BEYOND Virtual, Tan shared her thoughts on how the pandemic has accelerated digitalization trends and opened up new opportunities.

Please find below the transcript of the speech from Jessica Tan, co-CEO and Group Executive of Ping An Group. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity: 

I think this pandemic has shown that there’s lots of opportunities for digitalization. From a consumer standpoint, I’ve always been really amazed by how the amount of time we spend on smartphones increases every year. It reached a peak of more than seven hours per day in 2020 during the Covid. And it is still above 6 hours per day this year.

It means that digitalization is no longer just about e-commerce and buying of normal goods. Everything can be digitized, even professional services, such as the heavily-regulated services like healthcare. This is a new trend that anything can be made online and offline together.

Furthermore, this trend will transcend boundaries. Services that were only good within one country are now accessible cross-border. The lines of industries are completely blurred.

Digital economy accounts for 38.6% of China’s GDP in 2020. That’s basically RMB of 39.2 trillion ($ 6.1 trillion), up from 34% and 36.3% in 2018 and 2019, respectively. 

Many of the core industries, such as healthcare, financial services, real estate are not very digitized and there are huge opportunities. Technology’s role now is no longer about commoditised AI or big data. The next  5 to 10 years opportunities for technological developments lie in the industrialization of these digitization tools and applying it deeply within the industries to dramatically change how they are being constructed. 

Supply chains will change, how we define traditional industries will change. If you can digitize each of the capabilities out, they could reconstruct the whole ecosystem. I think that is a completely new opportunity for lots of tech companies.

Ping An has been working on not just technologies transforming our own company, but also a digital ecosystem that’s open to all partners, especially in two areas: fintech and healthcare. 

Our fintech arm OneConnect, a software solution platform now serves more than 680 banks and more than 100 insurers as well as in 20 countries outside of Asia. The group’s smart healthcare unit Ping An Good Doctor now serves over a million doctors and over 32,000 health institutions. 

We believe technology is exportable. Hopefully what we have done successfully will be exported to other parts of the country, and in particular I think the Greater Bay region.

On Tuesday, the BEYOND Expo opens online with BEYOND Virtual, a nearly month-long online conference. BEYOND Virtual will offer 18 panel discussions, featuring 40 distinguished speakers from around the world. The panels will provide deep-dive discussions on trending and critical topics in the tech sector. The Expo will host an on-site event from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4 at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center. 

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Dr. Song Xiao, Global Executive Vice President of Siemens and President and CEO of Siemens Greater China. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity: 

Dear ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to address the opening plenary of BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo.

Humanity is facing huge challenges: the ongoing pandemic, urbanization, globalization, demographic change, and, of course, climate change.

To master these challenges, we need to unlock the potential of digitalization and transform the backbone of our economies. I do believe digital transformation is imperative for all markets, industries, and societies to achieve high-quality growth, carbon neutrality, and resilience.

The potential of digitalization is huge. Let’s take public transportation, for example. Fully automated signaling technology can increase capacity by 20% and reduce energy consumption by 35% without adding any infrastructure.

In industry, 60% of manufacturing tasks can be automated and digitalized, meaning we can do more with less. This is all about collecting the real and digital worlds, creating a digital twin of your products and manufacturing process to improve quality, productivity, environmental efficiency, and shortened time to market.

Talking about smart cities, for example, commercial buildings. Digital technologies can achieve a saving potential of up to 20% in operation and maintenance. Buildings can connect, learn, and benefit from each other. For example, at Expo 2020, 140 buildings are connected by a digital platform, which analyzes 200,000 data points in almost real-time to optimize energy consumption, lighting, cooling, and fire safety. This can be a blueprint for sustainable smart cities.

As the economic cooperation link between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and the key region of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Macau is gaining importance with an open economy and a better innovation environment. This will support strong digital growth for Macau to grow into a modern international base with global influence.

Dear friends, we at Siemens, with our 174-year history, are grateful for the opportunity to grow here in the Greater Bay Area. We stand ready to contribute to further sustainable growth.

Today, no country or organization can unlock the potential of digital transformation on its own. We have to work very closely and openly together. This will lead to an open ecosystem, where everyone brings something in, and everyone is able to take more out. Let’s join our hands to build an open innovation ecosystem that benefits all.

Let’s transform every day together. Thank you again for the invitation. I wish you a successful conference.

On Oct. 29, China’s Hubei Provincial Museum sold out all 10,000 digital pieces of the famous Sword of Goujian, a tin bronze sword owned about 2,500 years ago by the Chinese King Goujian of the Yue Kingdom (2032 to 222 B.C.).

The digitized sword is a detailed 3D model, allowing buyers to zoom, rotate, and view the fine prints and patterns. Wang Xianfu, the deputy director of the museum, told local news that digital arts can help promote traditional culture and allow people to study artifacts both online and offline.

Launched on an Alipay mini-program, AntChain Fan Points, the digital Goujian sword is one example of Chinese museums and galleries seeking blockchain tech to popularize prized ancient Chinese artifacts.

As the technology brand under Ant Group, AntChain offers innovative digital solutions built on technologies such as secure computation, Internet of things (IoT), and blockchain. In late October, it launched a new initiative called the Treasure Project, helping museums and galleries to publish and distribute selected collections in digital forms on its blockchain platform.

Now, museums that are owners of intellectual property, such as the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum and Hunan Provincial Museum, are working with AntChain to digitize their valuable holdings. Integrating technologies such as 3D modeling, IoT, and augmented reality, AntChain is also developing more interactive forms of these digital collections, letting users talk or engage with the digital arts.

Exploring how to make collections more attractive to the mobile-savvy younger generation, museums and galleries in China recognized this new trend not too long ago. In late June, Dunhuang Research Academy first worked with AntChain and issued two styles of digital artwork inspired by ancient murals in Dunhuang, a site in Gansu province known for exquisite paintings on cave walls. Buyers can set the artwork as a background for the payment interface in the Alipay app. Each reproduction was limited to 8,000 pieces and priced at 10 Alipay membership points and RMB 9.9 apiece.

Unlike the non-fungible token (NFT) trading craze elsewhere, in China, NFTs are viewed more as a form of technology derived from blockchain, rather than tradable digital assets. NFTs can host a unique piece of digital information on a blockchain that represents specific photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. As each NFT is unique with an immutable and traceable ID, owners can easily prove and enjoy the copyrights they have.

Tech companies in China are exploring how NFT technology can benefit industries while discouraging speculative activities. According to Jiang Guofei, president of Intelligent Technology Business at Ant Group, “through the Treasure Project, AntChain will join hands with partners to promote the digital transformation of the culture industry, bringing new vitality to traditional cultures with innovative technologies.” On Oct. 31, a group of leading Chinese tech companies, including Ant Group, pledged to enforce more self-discipline on NFT-powered digital collectibles together with industry associations and academies.

Once users purchase digital artworks on Chinese platforms, usually priced below RMB 50 ($7.80), they aren’t allowed to resell the artworks. On Alipay, only after users have owned the digital art for at least 180 days, can they gift the artwork freely to an authenticated contact on the platform.

This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Chinese server maker Inspur on Tuesday released Yuan 1.0, one of the most advanced deep learning language models that can generate coherent Chinese texts. 

The model is trained with 245.7 billion parameters—the number of weights in an artificial neural network, according to the company. This is more than the Elon Musk-backed GPT-3 language model for English, which has 175 billion parameters. Inspur said the Yuan model was trained with 5 terabytes of datasets.

The release of Yuan is a milestone for the Chinese natural language processing (NLP) industry. NLP is an important branch of artificial intelligence (AI) and a backbone for computers to understand human language.

Inspur said in a statement that its AI Research Institute had to develop “a unique development approach compared to English” to train the model, including addressing challenges such as “the lack of a prior high-quality Chinese-language corpus.” A corpus is a collection of texts used to train language models.

Inspur said the language model is “extremely adept” at natural language generation (NLG) tasks—the processing of generating natural language text using computers. The company said in a paper published in October that “only less than 50% of the time” human testers could distinguish between text generated by the model and human-written ones.

Inspur said in a press release that Yuan can be used to generate texts including news articles and poems.

In May 2021, a group of US researchers at Georgetown University found powerful NLG tools can be used to fuel disinformation. Inspur acknowledges such a possibility and vows to oversee the appropriate use of the model.  

“Since the model can generate articles that are difficult to detect whether they are human written or not, the risk of misuse becomes higher,” an Inspur spokesperson told TechNode on Tuesday. “Therefore we need to regulate the application of the model in the future.”

The company is planning to open the model as an application programming interface (API) to developers, meaning that they can access Inspur’s platform and utilize the language model in their applications, the spokesperson said.

Jinan-based Inspur is the world’s third-largest maker of servers, according to market research firm IDC. The 72-year-old state-owned company used to be a manufacturer of electronic devices. It first entered the server market in 1995 as a partner of US chipmaker Intel. 

Clarification: The last paragraph of the previous version of this article has been removed upon Inspur’s request.

Overseas entrepreneurs are revaluing their business interests in China as the world grapples with a prolonged pandemic that shows no end in sight. During the Emerge 2021 conference held in Beijing on Sept. 19, TechNode talked to two foreign trade experts, Kiran Patel and José Roberto de Andrade Filho, on tech business collaboration between China, the UK, and Brazil.

Kiran Patel is the senior director at China-Britain Business Council. José Roberto de Andrade Filho is a counsellor and the head of tech and innovation at the Embassy of Brazil in Beijing.

The following conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Kiran Patel on UK business interests in China

TechNode: What are some of the rising opportunities in tech for the UK and China?

Patel: The tech sector is a particularly challenging sector, not least because of regulation, politics, data. There are so many challenges to overcome. But in terms of the real opportunities, for the UK and Chinese companies to work together, both for big industries and also with startups and SME (small and medium-sized enterprises), we are seeing actions in medical technology, healthcare, and life science. I would also cite other more specialized areas, such as advanced materials and composites. Graphene, for example, is one area where the UK and China have a partnership and a collaboration, as well as in AI and big data.

China is still the largest market in the world. I spoke earlier about a middle class of 400 million-plus people. That’s a phenomenal market to tap into. We spend our time trying to tell businesses that this isn’t just one market of 1.4 billion people. It’s a very nuanced market and a very specific market. 

Despite the challenge of the pandemic, the UK businesses are still very much looking towards China and the opportunities here. 

TechNode: Can you give us some examples of the collaborations that the two countries have been doing? 

Patel: I believe that since the two zones (free trade zones) have been rolled out as a key strategic policy, about 800 companies have invested. One-fifth of those are international companies. China has its own objectives to achieve, in terms of green growth, digitization, industry upgrading, so on and so forth…We find that our partners across the zones and across inward investment bureaus are very keen to work with the UK and also very keen to work with us to lead and drive events, do market promotion and guide companies to explore policy incentives, talent pool, savings on office spaces, and others. 

We have a wide range of partnerships and collaborations that enable us to put on platforms that you know a UK blockchain company or a company that’s developing AI algorithms for commodities trading, for example, can tap into. They can build partnerships and work together with their counterparts on the China side and develop commercial business partners. 

We ran a competition earlier this year in Tianjin, for example, that gave the winning British company a chance to speak at the World Intelligence Conference this year. 

José Roberto de Andrade Filho on China and Brazil tech collaboration

TechNode: What are some of the tech areas that China and Brazil are working together? 

Filho: On the level of government to government cooperation, we have been working a lot in promoting different areas such as the exchange of researchers. Smart cities and AI are key points of interest, and technology parks collaboration, which is a key element that has been functioning very well between the two countries. 

At the level of companies, the big Brazilian companies that trade with China are already present here. They have their own innovation departments. I would mention just a few, such as Embraer, the airplane company; Vale, the mining company; and Suzano, the pulp and paper company, one of the biggest in the world, actually. They have innovative collaborations with incubators, with universities. We support that to open new areas for joint projects and creating businesses. 

We are also working with a lot of universities. For example, in terms of agriculture, there is the CLAARI. CLAARI is a network of China-Latin America agricultural research institutions, led by the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou. This is a very recent network that was created a few months ago. And we have had the participation of more than 10 Brazilian universities right now.

TechNode: Why are Brazilian companies interested in coming to China, especially those from the tech sector?

Filho: China is undoubtedly recognized more and more as a key center for innovation. I see from other countries, many companies coming to innovate in China, and not necessarily for the Chinese market, but hiring engineers here, creating their own R&D centers and labs to produce products and services. Some companies are doing research for new products here in China.

I think it’s important to say in China can find talents. Every year hundreds of thousands of highly qualified engineers are graduated here in China, plus the overseas talents that come here. So you have people, you have capital. There are lots of investors. China’s the second biggest financial market in the world. So if you want to invest in your product. And you have the ecosystem, Beijing is one of the best examples, especially now with the two zones and Zhongguancun. 

The history of Zhongguancun is a very good example, renowned all over the world. It’s an ecosystem where you can find everything you need to make your business grow. Once you have a very good idea, or incrementally from the business you have today, you start thinking innovative ways. This is something that not only Brazilians but many foreigners have recognized.

TechNode has announced the winners of the first OTEC-Emerge Technology Awards. The awards were announced at the OTEC-Emerge Tech Summit held in Beijing on Friday.

Emerge is TechNode’s annual conference about emerging trends in China tech. It presents a strategic and forward-looking view of China’s tech sector in English with voices from experts and representatives of leading companies. The third Emerge conference features the theme of “What’s next for tech in the new normal?” This year, TechNode partners with the Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (OTEC) to present the OTEC-Emerge Tech Summit.

OTEC-Emerge Technology Awards shortlisted innovative tech startups in three areas of smart mobility, fintech, and e-commerce. 

QCraft, a US and China-based self-driving startup, won the Rising Star Award. Hangzhou-based vesoft Inc., a developer of China’s leading open-source graph database Nebula Graph, walked away with the Best Tech Innovation award. The Best Investment Value award goes to Evoke Electric Motorcycles, an electric vehicle maker.

“TechNode has long been an independent and reliable English media outlet focusing on China’s technology innovation. We launched the OTEC-Emerge Technology Awards by discovering startups representing China’s innovation from a professional and neutral perspective,” said Lu Gang, founder and CEO of TechNode. 

“Through this rare tech award selected by an English outlet, We hope to help the global tech industry better understand the latest technological innovation trends in China and promote more outstanding tech companies to an international platform by discovering startups representing China’s innovation,” said Lu.

Rising Star Award

QCraft – Chinese self-driving startup founded by Waymo alumni.

Best Tech Innovation

vesoft Inc. – Hangzhou-based startup devoted to developing China’s leading open-source graph database solution, Nebula Graph.

Best Investment Value

Evoke Electric Motorcycles – developer and manufacturer of light weight electric motorcycles.

Best Smart Mobility Startups

AutoX – Alibaba-backed self-driving car company with ride-hailing pilot services in a number of cities.

DeepRoute – Alibaba-backed self-driving startup focused on fully automation technologies for passenger transport and urban logistics.

Evoke Electric Motorcycles – developer and manufacturer of lightweight electric motorcycles.

Hesai Technology – Lidar sensing technologies developer for autonomous vehicles.

Horizon Robotics – startup company developing artificial intelligence chips for smart vehicles.

QCraft – Chinese self-driving startup founded by Waymo alumni.

RoboSense – developer of smart sensor systems incorporating LiDAR sensors, and perception software.

TuSimple – startup that creates autonomous trucks and advanced driverless vehicles.

UISEE – Chinese autonomous driving company focused on providing robot delivery services.

WeRide – Xpeng-backed smart mobility company creates leading L4 autonomous driving technologies.

Best fintech startups

AKTE – food safety platform leveraging automatic data collection and blockchain-based security technologies.

Hrfax – fintech startup that offers consumer installment loan-related services for financial institutions.

Ice Kredit – fintech company providing risk management solutions to both individuals and financial institutions.

imToken – multi-chain cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to use one identity to manage multiple wallets.

Kingsware – robotic process automation system committed to building an enterprise-level safe robot management platform.

Ningze Fintech – financial technology solution provider that connects banks, loan firms, and online financial platforms.

Nuanwa Technology – health insurance technology company offering customization services and risk control solutions for health insurance companies.

SphereEx – distributed data infrastructure that helps users to manage their fragmented database.

vesoft Inc. – Hangzhou-based startup devoted to developing China’s leading open-source graph database solution, Nebula Graph. The database has been widely adopted in the fintech sector.

XTransfer – fintech company that provides cross-border financial services for China-based small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Best Ecommerce and New Retail Startups

AiMall – AI company empowering traditional retail businesses by utilizing visual intelligence, emotional intelligence, and deep-learning algorithms to link customers, brands, and stores.

Benlai – Chinese fresh produce e-commerce platform.

Duozhuayu – WeChat-based second-hand book trading platform.

Floral & Life – lifestyle app offering gardening and planting tips.

ImageDT – AI retail solution offering services such as channel management, intelligent network management, and sales forecast analysis for retail and consumer goods enterprises.

Luxnow – Y Combinator-backed peer-to-peer marketplace to access luxury items.

Mmchong – Shanghai-based community group-buy platform targeting higher income groups.

SandStar– artificial intelligence company that applies computer vision technology in the retail industry to enable grab-and-go convenience, autonomous checkout, and big data analytics.

Wellcee – home rental & social platform targeting expatriates and youth in China.

Whale – digital marketing platform.

RUKA Hair Ltd is the winner of the OTEC Global Entrepreneurship Competition EU session that was held on July 28, 2021. They will continue to compete with other winning teams from other sessions at the grand finale.

The competition was held online with participants from the EU region sharing their products and services to the judges in attendance.

The judging panels consist of a select group of VC representatives, including Ms. Gu Tong from Accelerated Digital, Mr. Leon Ge from Partech Partners Ventures and Mr. Colin Tan from TusPark UK. The scoring criteria of this competition are based on project value, market potential, business and operations, team capabilities, and industry relevance.

The 9^th OTEC Global Entrepreneurship Competition was held on July 27, 2021, with live-conferencing from three locations: Singapore (the Asia Pacific session), Berlin (the Germany session), and Beijing (the Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan session).

Among the 24 shortlisted teams competing at this semi-final round, the three winning teams of their respective sessions will compete with other winning teams from other sessions at the grand finale. The winning teams are 8Chili Inc from the Asia-Pacific region; MXC-MatchX from the Germany session; and IPification from the Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan session.

The judging panels consist of a select group of VC representatives such as Gobi Partners, Cherubic Ventures, Plum Ventures, Kairous Capital, ZGC Group, CYZone, Vesalius Biocapital, Dachina Interchange Management, Headline Asia, and Plug and Play. The scoring criteria of this competition are based on project value, market potential, business and operations, team capabilities, and industry relevance.

The 9^th Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (OTEC) Global Entrepreneurship Competition is now open for application.

The Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan session of this year’s competition is co-organized by OTEC and TechNode to strengthen the connection between Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan entrepreneurs in Chaoyang District, encourage enterprises, investment institutions, and social organizations from mainland China to connect with entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and to develop economic prosperity in the three regions.

The competition will focus on these four divisions: new consumption, health tech, data intelligence, and digital economy in the Beijing Free Trade Zone Chaoyang Area. Eight candidates will be shortlisted to present their projects at the Beijing Project Roadshow on July 27, together with two other editions: Berlin, Germany, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Eligibility:

Early-stage startup:

• The founding team must include at least one overseas returnee (need proof of working/studying abroad) or foreigner (passport).
• The company must be established not more than 2 years by January 1, 2020.
• The company must receive not more than A-round funding.

Growth-stage startup:

• No requirement for the nationality of the founder(s).
• The company must be established between 2 – 10 years by January 1, 2020.
• The company must be a growth-stage startup between A-round and B-round funding.

To apply, please complete and submit the application form HERE by July 23, 2021. We look forward to receiving your applications!

If you have any inquiries, please contact Wang Juan: wangjuan@technode.com.

Mainland China Division

1. New consumption such as lifestyle, education, culture and creativity, and new sports.
2. Healthtech such as biomedicine, medical big data, and medical AI.
3. Data intelligence such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, smart travel, smart hardware, industrial Internet, and cloud services
4. Digital economy in Chaoyang District of Beijing Free Trade Zone such as digital trade, cultural trade, business exhibitions, international delivery logistics, and cross-border finance

Overseas Division

1. Overseas Talents edition

2. Berlin, Germany

3. Asia Pacific (One Belt One Road)

4. Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan

5. The European Union and the U.K.

Special Invite Division

1. Big Data Application: Hong Kong Session

2. Algorithm Best Practice: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Session

3. New Sports: Beijing Yanzhang Session (Yanqing, Zhangjiakou)

4. New Consumer Industry: Central China Session (Changsha)

5. One Belt One Road Session (Kunming)

6. Future City: Xiong’an Session

7. HICOOL Entrepreneurship Project Session

Each company can only participate in one session per division. The organizing committee reserves its rights to the final interpretation of the aforementioned terms and conditions.

Blockchain technology’s tamper-proof and distributed nature will be key to building mutual trust and enabling lower cost trade solutions that will allow small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from the coming economic recovery, Geoff Jiang of AntChain said recently.

In a speech at the Economist’s Global Trade Week conference, Jiang, President of Ant’s Intelligent Technology Business Group said that AntChain, an Ant Group technology brand, is using blockchain to simplify global trade for small businesses. The conference was held this year from June 28 to July 2.

AntChain’s solutions are already seeing wide global adoption, from cross-border trade, to artwork and food authentication, to the sporting world. 

European football authorities adopted the AntChain platform as their global blockchain partner for the Euro 2020 and 2024 championships, launching the football world’s first blockchain-enabled trophy, designed by Ant Group, at yesterday’s EURO 2020 final. Cristiano Ronaldo won the Alipay Top Scorer Gold Trophy with a record of five goals and one assist. The trophy, known in previous years as the “Golden Shoe,” carries a link to a blockchain record of goals scored during the tournament. Patrik Schick won the silver trophy, and Karim Benzema the bronze.

Blockchain can also be used to digitize the full end-to-end trade value chain, bringing certainty and trust to all participants along the chain, said Jiang during his speech at the Economist event. Blockchain technologies, including distributed ledgers, smart contracts, and encryption, can ensure trade data is trusted and tamperproof, as well as supporting automated payments and payment processing in business workflows, he said.

These features will lower the threshold to cross-border trade and allow more small businesses to take part in international trade. He cited the example of AntChain’s digital platform for international trade and financial services, called Trusple, short for “trust made simple.”

The platform allows trading partners to encode contracts, payments, and shipping data onto a secure ledger, automatically transferring money when shipping conditions are fulfilled. The system reduces the need for record-keeping and much complicated banking procedures, allowing merchants to save time and bolster efficiency. 

Ant Group also shared the story of one of Trusple’s first customers on its official Medium page.

Yuan Jing’s China-based company, Jingcan Glass Products, specializes in glass crystal ornaments and semi-finished products that are often incorporated into clothing and accessories. 

Most of her company’s clients are located overseas in markets such as India, Pakistan, Central America, South America, Europe, and the United States. In the past, Yuan had to bear the risk if customers failed to pay on time, as well as spending time on administrative steps like confirming orders, confirming invoices, and confirming bank remittances. 

With Trusple, Ant said, all she has to do is sign the contract, and the ensuring steps will run automatically. Trusple’s technology allows the buyer’s and seller’s banks to process payment settlements automatically through smart contracts. This process not only automates the intensive and time-consuming processes that banks traditionally conduct to track and verify trade orders, it also ensures information is tamper-proof.

“Business owners don’t need to understand blockchain hash rates or smart-contract oracles,” Jiang said. “Instead, they can focus on running their businesses more efficiently, while Trusple provides them with the guarantees and management to ensure timely payment and delivery.”

Jiang compared blockchain technology to global communications and trade revolutions such as the telegraph and shipping containers. Like these technologies, he said, the application of the blockchain to the real world economy will revolutionize international trade by transforming the global movement of all digital commerce.

“The future we are building will be exciting for SMEs. Buyers, sellers, and their banks will have near frictionless processes and settlements through smart contracts,” Jiang said. “The future will be more complex, but we believe technology can continue to improve to tackle the complexity.”

Editor’s note: This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

The Labor Ministry of Taiwan has told local recruiters to remove all listings for jobs in mainland China, especially those in critical industries such as semiconductors, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday.

Why it matters: The island is a hot destination for Chinese firms to hire chip talent. Taiwan is home to companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker; and smartphone chip designer MediaTek, a major rival to Qualcomm.

• As China’s semiconductor industry races to catch up with international standards, talent is one of its highest hurdles. The China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), an industry body backed by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, estimated that the industry faces a shortfall of around 220,000 skilled workers as of the end of 2020.

READ MORE: Where firms are looking to fill China’s chip talent gap

Details: The labor ministry banned recruitment platforms and headhunters from helping or representing any company hire individuals for work in mainland China, according to Nikkei, citing a government notice. The regulation is effective as of Wednesday, according to the report, which cited a local recruiter who informed clients of the new rules.

• “Due to geopolitical tension between the US and China, China’s semiconductor development has suffered some setbacks and as a result, China has become more aggressive in poaching and targeting top Taiwanese chip talent to help build a self-sufficient supply chain,” said the ministry in the notice.
• The ministry said headhunters may face fines if they violate the regulation. “If the recruitment involves semiconductors and integrated circuits, the penalty will be even higher,” the notice said.
• Taiwanese workers are still allowed to work on the mainland, including in the semiconductor industry.

Context: On March 9, Taiwanese prosecutors raided two local recruiters who allegedly broke the law by recruiting semiconductor workers from the island to work for a Chinese chipmaker, according to local media reports.

• Previously, there were no government bans on the hires of local workers for Chinese firms. A 1992 local law which forbids Chinese firms from doing business on the island without government approval has been used to restrict recruiting on the island previously.
• In August, Nikkei Asia reported two Chinese government-backed chip firms had together hired more than 100 veteran engineers and managers from TSMC. One of the firms was the now-notorious failure Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (HSMC), which also hired former TSMC vice president for research and development vice president Chiang Shang-Yi as its chief executive.

On March 9, Taiwanese prosecutors raided two local recruiters that allegedly broke the law by recruiting semiconductor workers from the island to work for a Chinese chipmaker. 

The New Taipei Prosecutors Office said the two firms, WiseCore Technology and IC Link, had illegally hired “hundreds of Taiwanese engineers” through a joint venture set up with a Chinese chip design company over the past three years, according to local media reports. A 1992 Taiwanese law forbids Chinese firms from doing business on the island without government approval.

The action by the Taiwanese government is a response to a long-term trend of deep-pocketed Chinese firms coming to the island for semiconductor engineers. 

China’s semiconductor firms are hunting everywhere to fill a talent gap. That includes recruiting graduates, paying over market rates for overseas talent, and buying companies to get their experienced workers.

In 2020, cash flowing into China’s semiconductor firms amounted to RMB 227.6 billion (around $34.8 billion) through the capital market, a 407% increase from the previous year, as we saw last month.

Where did graduates go?

Every year, millions of Chinese young people graduate from universities and join the country’s growing educated workforce. The number of workforce entrants (including BA, MA, and PhD graduates) was 8.4 million and 8.2 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

158,000 graduates of all levels majored in microelectronics in 2018, a field that teaches the “design, manufacturing, packaging, and application” of integrated circuits, according to Shanghai University (in Chinese). Of these, only 30,000 graduates joined the semiconductor industry in 2018, representing only 19% of 158,000 microelectronics graduates that year, according to CSIA. In 2019, the ratio dropped to 13%. 

Semiconductor companies are finding it difficult to hire fresh graduates around the world. A 2018 Deloitte report found that “attracting millennials and recent graduates” was the top recruiting challenge for US semiconductor firms.

For more detail, we looked at the graduation report (in Chinese) released by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), one of the country’s most prestigious universities for semiconductor training.

In 2020, 5,280 graduates of UESTC joined the workforce after finishing programs from undergraduate to doctoral level. Some 1,991 of those graduates studied semiconductors-related majors such as microelectronics; materials science and engineering; and optoelectronic engineering. 15.3% of UESTC’s graduates, or around 808 people, entered the semiconductor industry in 2020, while more than 50% of the university’s students end up working for “information technology and software” companies—think China Mobile or Alibaba—according to the report.

Huawei is one of the top employers of UESTC graduates, according to the report. The company has a chip-designing subsidiary called HiSilicon, but is best known as a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and consumer gadgets. It’s not clear how Huawei hires were counted for purposes of the semiconductor total mentioned above. 

Other top employers of UESTC students include internet giants Tencent and Meituan, smartphone maker Oppo, and state-owned telecom company China Mobile. Only a few among them are semiconductor-focused firms, such as Chengdu-based Verisilicon Microelectronics, a chip designer; and Shenzhen-based Goodix Technology, a manufacturer of sensor chips.

Can study fill the talent gap?

The government is taking steps to encourage more people to study semiconductor engineering.

In January, China’s Ministry of Education decided to upgrade the “integrated circuit major” into the nation’s “first-level discipline,” meaning institutions teaching the major will receive better funding and more teachers, state-owned news agency Xinhua (in Chinese) reported.

The policy may fix the “bottleneck” problem that restricts the development of China’s semiconductor industry, Xinhua predicted.

The policy is part of China’s broader plan to push for the development of its semiconductor industry laid out in a central government initiative announced (in Chinese) in July 2020. The initiative also pledged to cut taxes for semiconductors educational institutions by up to 30%.

But more graduates won’t help much with a key dimension of the talent gap: experienced engineers.

Around 32.1% of semiconductor companies’ job postings demand three to five years’ experience, while postings that require less than one year’s experience are “on the decline,” according to the CSIA report.

Some recruiters say better training could make fresh graduates more employable. “China’s education used to be more focused on teaching the theories, lacking the training of collaboration and practical skills,” said Chen Lei, a semiconductor consultant at a headhunting agency. “Because the integrated circuit industry requires lots of collaboration and practice in the production environment, schools need to improve and strengthen those areas in the future training of talents.”

But Jodi Shelton, chief executive officer of Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), says the talent gap is a “worldwide problem.” “All countries are concerned about the lack of students focused on STEM [Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] that are necessary to produce the next generation of innovation,” she told TechNode.

“The recent government plans and investment will help China become more competitive, but it will take time to catch up.”

Looking overseas

With limited options at home, Chinese semiconductor firms often turn to overseas markets. Taiwan, which shares a language with mainland China, has long been one of the most popular sources of talent for mainland chip firms. South Korea and the US are also popular destinations.

Taiwan is home to companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker; and smartphone chip designer MediaTek, a major rival to Qualcomm.

Ahead of Taiwan’s crackdown on illegal hiring, Taiwanese DRAM maker Nanya Technology’s president Lee Pei-ing said in 2018 that his company had lost more than 500 engineers over the previous two years to Chinese competitors. He said that some of his engineers were being offered three to five times their current salaries by Chinese firms. Taiwanese engineers are not forbidden to take jobs in China.

In August, Nikkei Asia reported that two Chinese government-backed chip firms had together hired more than 100 veteran engineers and managers from TSMC. One of the firms was the later failed Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (HSMC), which also hired the former research and development vice president at TSMC Chiang Shang-Yi as its chief executive.

In addition to headhunting talent from neighbors, Chinese companies have paid top dollar for acquisition and merger (M&A) deals targeting foreign semiconductor firms. 

In June 2020, Chinese contract smartphone maker Wingtech Technology completed its acquisition of Dutch semiconductor firm Nexperia Holding, paying almost the amount of the company’s market cap. The RMB 25.2 billion acquisition is the largest M&A deal in China’s semiconductor industry to date.

Analysts said the acquisition had turned the low-tech manufacturer into a “semiconductor leader” in China overnight. Wingtech said in a filing (in Chinese) to the Shanghai bourse that one of the reasons it wanted to buy Nexperia was that the company needed “high-end semiconductor talent” from overseas. The acquisition more than quadrupled the company’s share price from 2019 to a historical high in June, highlighting the value of semiconductor talent and technology. 

Of the 57 semiconductor M&A deals conducted by Chinese firms between 2015 and 2019, around 86%, or 49 deals, were outbound, or targeting foreign firms. By comparison, the ratio is 56.5% in Japan and 43.5% in Taiwan, according to a report (in Chinese) by Deloitte China.

The competition of talent

The talent gap is a problem worldwide: Global Semiconductor Industry Outlook report by GSA and KPMG ranks talent risk as a top-three industry issue, only behind territorialism and supply chain disruption. 

But for China, it’s especially grating. China is trying to scale up its industry in a hurry to achieve semiconductor independence and overcome US technological sanctions. “The competition between China and the US is essentially the competition of talent,” Zhou Zucheng, a microelectronics professor at the prestigious Tsinghua University, told Chinese media. If China is going to build this industry quickly, it’s going to need a lot more people to run it.

After eight months working with Fintech leaders and experts, global software engineers, computer graphic designers, digital artists, event and media professionals, Hong Kong Fintech Week (HKFW) will attract over 25,000 attendees from over 70 economies and present you the year’s most-anticipated industry event, with exceptional virtual content and business networking opportunities.

What to expect from the year’s most-anticipated Fintech event?

1. Hear from some of the greatest minds on the planet

Over 350 Global CEOs, founders, investors, and regulators will join from over 35 economies to share their visions and insights on what’s happening in the industry.

Participants will hear from some of the most influential global leaders, some of whom rarely appear at Asian conferences, such as:

You can even meet Sophia, the world’s most famous humanoid robot, by Hong Kong’s Hanson Robotics!

2. Dive into 100+ hours of content with 180+ sessions and 50+ workshops

Participants will have access to five live streaming channels over three days of the main conference, packed with world-class content on important industry developments such as:

• Virtual banks and a new generation of online insurers
• Regtech, Insurtech, and Wealthtech companies
• The evolution of central bank digital currencies and trade finance innovation
• Digital assets and blockchain applications in capital markets
• Artificial intelligence and big data and their latest applications in Finance
• Innovations in payments technology and remittances
• Open banking and open APIs
• Investments in Fintech startups and corporate VC funding trends
• Mainland China’s Techfin giants and unicorns
• Fintech development in the Greater Bay Area

No need to worry about missing a session, as you can re-watch all content on demand within 30 days after the event.

3. Explore and watch demos for 175+ Fintech startups among the 500+ Exhibitors

Connect with over 500 prominent exhibitors globally and learn about their cutting edge technology products and solutions across the financial services industry. Major sponsors include the Strategic Partner AMTD Group and Diamond sponsors Citi, Confirmation by Thomson Reuters, and OSL, as well as many global innovators.

Participants will also meet the 170+ most innovative and fast-growing Fintech startups across the world and seven finalists of the FintechHK Global Competition and witness the final pitches and the birth of the winners!

4. Not just another webinar

The virtual Hong Kong Fintech Week 2020 will deliver a superior remote conference experience. Trying to find the right business contacts among 25,000+ attendees seem impossible—but an AI-powered digital platform will solve this problem, bringing the virtual content and business networking experience to an unprecedented level across multiple devices from your home or office.

5. Network with 25,000 attendees globally and enjoy our lifestyle events!

While nothing can compare with face-to-face meetings, the HKFW organizer will offer efficient virtual networking channels to meet like-minded attendees from across the globe and achieve your business goals with our AI-powered matchmaking event app. Drop a message and you will be able to make meaningful connections with thousands of potential buyers, clients, investors, startups, and regulators!

Don’t miss this chance to keep up with the latest Fintech trends around the world and be a part of the global Fintech community. The fully virtual event will be held from Nov. 2 to 6 in Hong Kong. For a full overview of the program and speakers, visit www.fintechweek.hk.

Editor’s note: This article is supported by Hong Kong Fintech Week. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

From Washington to Berlin, New Delhi to Shanghai, Chinese tech companies remain entangled in geopolitical conflicts this week. In the US, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app Tiktok just won an initial success in its legal challenge against the Trump administration. White House officials renewed pressure on Europe to ban Huawei from their next-generation 5G networks after German Chancellor Angela Merkel refused a full ban on the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker. A new round of export bans were imposed on China’s largest chipmaker SMIC by the US. In India, banned Chinese apps are trying to re-enter the market with revised names and logos.

Tiktok’s initial win

On Sunday, a US judge halted a looming Tiktok ban at the last minute. The ban, announced by US President Donald Trump last Friday, would have removed Tiktok from American app stores starting from midnight Sunday.

• The injunction granted by US District Judge Carl Nichols gave Tiktok a temporary reprieve amid ongoing deal negotiations to meet with Trump’s demand to sell Tiktok’s US operations. 
• However, the judge didn’t consider Tiktok’s appeal to block an executive order from Trump demanding the company to divest from its American assets, according to court documents. The order, requiring Tiktok parent Bytedance to either spin off or sell the app’s US operations within 90 days, will go effect on Nov. 12.
• Bytedance has applied to the Chinese government for a deal that would give American software maker Oracle and retail giant Walmart a combined 20% stake of Tiktok’s proposed US business. Beijing hasn’t yet made a final decision, but smoke signals from state media indicate opposition.
• In the past week, the party mouthpiece People’s Daily published three editorials commenting on the Tiktok deal. One of which (in Chinese) reads: “The ‘Tiktok deal’ is based on unfairness… If the forced deal finally goes that way, American stakeholders would earn tens of billions of dollars…then why do they need venture capital and entrepreneurship in the country when they can just mug Chinese companies?” (our translation).
• “China won’t swallow its tears when its core interests are endangered, and Chinese companies are not lambs to the US slaughter,” said another editorial (in Chinese).

US renews campaign to ban Huawei in Europe

On Tuesday, Keith Krach, the US undersecretary of state for economic affairs, said Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson were the only companies that European governments should choose for the 5G network rollouts. Huawei is “an arm of the CCP surveillance state and a tool for human rights abuse,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

• Krach’s remarks came as Germany and Italy are deciding whether to allow Huawei to participate in building their 5G networks. Last week, Merkel refused to compromise on her position that Germany shouldn’t single out Huawei with a targeted ban, Bloomberg  reported. Her government finalized draft regulations for the security of Germany’s 5G network, which would tighten the government’s scrutiny over equipment vendors.
• Before Germany made its 5G decisions, the UK and France had adopted a de-facto ban on Huawei, vowing to phase the company’s products out from their 5G and 4G networks in the next few years.

SMIC on Huawei’s heels

Shares of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) tumbled more than 6% this week after reports that the US had imposed restrictions on exports to the Shanghai-based chipmaker. The decision was made by the US Commerce Department on Friday upon the conclusion that SMIC’s products could be used for military purposes and therefore pose “unacceptable risk,” Reuters reported Saturday.

• The Commerce Department said in a letter to some suppliers of SMIC that they will now have to apply for individual export licenses to ship to the Chinese company.
• On Monday, the Shanghai-listed company said in a statement (in Chinese) filed with the Shanghai bourse that it had not received any official notifications about the restrictions from the US government. The company also said it had no relationship with the Chinese military and had never produced products for military end-users.
• Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbing told reporters Monday that China opposes (in Chinese) US restrictions on SMIC and that the country would take necessary measures to safeguard the interests of Chinese enterprises.

Chinese apps launch second offensive into India

In India, several Chinese apps previously banned by New Delhi are trying to reenter the market with rebranded versions, local newspaper The Economic Times reported.

• Chinese video app Kuaishou has launched video-sharing app Snack Video, a Tiktok lookalike. Kwai, an international version of Kuaishou, as well as Tiktok were both banned in India in June.
• Hago, another Chinese social media app banned in June, has been replaced by an app called Ola Party, which allows users to log in using their Hago credentials, according to The Economic Times.
• The Indian government has banned a total of 177 Chinese apps from the country in two rounds of app bans imposed in June and September. The most high-profile apps banned including Bytedance’s Tiktok, Kuaishou’s Kwai, Tencent’s instant messaging app Wechat and the popular mobile game Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? You are cuter and more restrained.”

Shakespeare didn’t write that—maybe because he didn’t have help from an artificial intelligence-powered proofreading tool made by Chinese search engine Sogou.

The company recently rolled out the Sogou AI Writing Assistant, which it says uses “optimized AI algorithms” for its grammar- and spell-checking features. AI also powers its suggested replacements for terms it identifies as “Chinglish,” an English writing or speaking style influenced by the Chinese language and criticized in China for not being “native.”

Sogou said in a statement that the tool is accurate 96.83% of the time. When I saw that, I felt concerned about my editor’s job security.

Its performance reflects how Chinese tech companies treat artificial intelligence as the technological panacea. It is promoted as a “secret ingredient,” over-hyped for its ability to solve problems beyond its capabilities.

I tested the tool using an article I wrote last week about Tiktok CEO Kevin Mayer’s resignation from Bytedance (which had already been edited), and it turned out that Sogou’s AI is so smart that it corrected Bytedance, the company Mayer worked for, to “Bidens.” (Which Bidens? Which Biden?)

The AI algorithms identified the word “Bytedance” as a typo so it suggested an alternative which is a type of daisy, also known as “beggar-ticks.” It also happens to be the surname of a pretty well-known American. 

Let’s try another TechNode story about Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng’s US initial public offering (IPO) last week.

This time perhaps the tool didn’t find the term “Xpeng” in its corpus, which the company says contains more than 100,000 English sentences (equal to about 31 books) and upwards of 10,000 pieces of “high-quality human correction data,” so it replaced it with “Peng,” a common Chinese last name. 

What a smartypants.

The tool also changed the phrase “backed by,” which originally expressed that Xpeng had received funds from Alibaba and Xiaomi, to “with the support of,” creating the implication that Alibaba and Xiaomi may have helped it with the IPO.

I then input Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 into the assistant. 

A Sogou spokesperson declined to comment on my findings but said that the accuracy mentioned in the press release was calculated based on “real-world data from users.”

When the product first launched, local media compared it (in Chinese) to Grammarly—the popular grammar checker software run by a company based in San Francisco, Calif.

To compare, I checked some TechNode sentences with Grammarly. And, to be fair, it also gave me some unreliable suggestions. You still have to review all of its suggestions yourself and make decisions on whether to use Grammarly’s corrections. But overall, it didn’t try to dig into the meaning of sentences, an area that current AI technology is really bad at. 

Here is how Grammarly corrects Sonnet 18.

Grammarly seems to have an issue with the old-fashioned expression of “ow’st,” but other than that it gives Shakespeare a score of 98 out of 100. Well done, William.

According to a Grammarly blog post, it also uses AI for its grammar corrections. Specifically, it uses machine learning, which enables systems to learn and perform tasks by feeding it with plenty of data, and a variety of natural language processing (NLP) approaches, which teach machines to understand and process human language.

Software engineer and tech analyst Ben Dickson wrote in an article published in 2019 that Grammarly’s success was “largely due to its focus on a narrow application of AI NLP: grammar assistance,” because it knows “the limits of current AI technologies.“

According to Dickson, currently, the deep-learning and neural network technologies are terrible at solving “problems that require common sense.”

“When dealing with the meaning of sentences and the semantic relations of words, deep learning algorithms fail miserably,” he wrote.

Accordingly, Sogou’s AI writing assistant fails here. We can see there is a pattern with the tool where it attempts to interpret the author’s meaning and rewrite the sentence using its own logic—which sounds like something that AI could do but is actually just not good at. 

As a result, China has AI teachers, AI doctors, and AI poets—one of which wrote this verse (which disgusted an actual Chinese poet): 

“The rain is blowing through the sea/ A bird in the sky/ A night of light and calm/ Sunlight/ Now in the sky/ Cool heart/ The savage north wind/ When I found a new world.“

I think my editor is safe for now.

Update: This article was edited on Nov. 18 to restore a paragraph removed owing to good, old-fashioned human error. Touché, Sogou AI Writing Assistant.

Hong Kong users will not be able to access Tiktok after the short video app withdraws from the autonomous city in the coming days, a spokesperson of Tiktok parent company Bytedance told TechNode Tuesday.

Details: Reuters reported Tuesday that the app “will exit the Hong Kong market within days,” as a controversial national security law comes into effect in the autonomous city.

• “In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the Tiktok app in Hong Kong,” a Tiktok spokesman told Reuters.
• Tiktok is also not accessible from within mainland China. Users in the country can only use Douyin, the version of Tiktok tailored for Chinese users.
• Bytedance is working on making Tiktok unavailable in Hong Kong, the company told TechNode. The company declined to reveal how that would be achieved or how it defined “Hong Kong users.”
• The company added that it does not plan to bring Douyin to Hong Kong. Douyin is currently available only in mainland China app stores, but a source cited by Reuters said Douyin has more users in Hong Kong than Tiktok.
• “Douyin has lots of users in Hong Kong and will continue to serve the users there,” Bytedance China CEO Zhang Nan told Reuters.

Context: Tiktok’s move came after China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, which includes a provision mandating local authorities to take measures to regulate the city’s internet.

• Tiktok has previously said it would not hand over user data to the Chinese government or censor content at Beijing’s request. 
• US tech companies, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, have suspended processing Hong Kong government requests for user data in the wake of the new law.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include comment from Bytedance.

There appears to be a fight on for control of UK semiconductor IP company Imagination Technologies.

The April 4, Sky News headline “State-owned Chinese investor to seize control of chip designer Imagination,” might have sounded scary depending on your geopolitics. But only two days later, the plans were reportedly scrapped, with Chief Revenue Officer David McBrien officially stating “With regards to recent media speculation about the future of Imagination Technologies, we can confirm that there are no changes being made to the Board, which remains Imagination CEO Ron Black and the three Canyon Bridge partners, or the Executive Management of the company.”

With these people gone, at least for now, the company’s interim CEO is Ray Bingham, Chairman and co-founder of Canyon Bridge. Joining him are Canyon Bridge partners Jon Kao and Peter Kuo. It’s hard to say which way this one will fall. Chinese companies have failed before when taking over foreign semiconductor firms, but the UK government has also failed to block such moves before as well. A capitalist would say Imagination is already Chinese and the UK government shouldn’t interfere; a nationalist might say the opposite.

What’s at stake here? Would such a move change much, given Imagination is already technically owned by a Beijing backed company? What does China want with Imagination anyway?

What is Imagination Technologies? What does it do?

The UK has two major semiconductor IP powerhouses. One is Softbank-owned Arm; the second is Imagination Technologies. The original company was founded in 1985. I won’t go into its entire history here (we have Wikipedia for that), but traditionally it has been famed for two things: its PowerVR GPU technology, and the MIPS CPU technology it acquired in 2012.

The company has had a rocky time since 2016 though when Apple stopped using its GPUs in its phones. When Apple makes up half of your revenue, this is a problem. Imagination’s share price plummeted, and the company was removed from the London Stock Exchange. It sold off MIPS to US AI company Wave Computing the next year. This is where its China connection began.

The China connection

In November 2017, the entire company was sold to Canyon Bridge. While this private equity fund is Cayman Island-based, it is part funded by China’s central government. The US has previously blocked Canyon from acquiring US Lattice Semiconductor for this very reason.

However, the fund was able to purchase Imagination. The Daily Mail reports that “ministers nodded through the deal after assurances that China Reform would be a passive investor and that Imagination’s intellectual property and business would stay in the UK.” It helped that Canyon Bridge was bound by US law—that is, until it moved from its US HQ to the Cayman Islands.

After acquiring Imagination, Canyon almost immediately placed Leo Li, who had been an executive at Chinese companies Spreadtrum and Tsinghua Unigroup, as CEO. Leo was a US citizen at the time, but this was already a clear sign of the direction Imagination could be heading. Li lasted only around eight months before returning to China. Imagination’s China office also began describing the firm as a “Chinese company.”

This brings us to the news from this past week. Sky News reported that China Reform Holdings, a state-owned investment holding company, was looking to “take control” of Imagination by placing four representatives as directors onto Imagination’s board. China Reform Holdings is the largest investor in Canyon Bridge.

It was rumored that the new board would look to redomicile Imagination to China. While ownership would not have changed, the move seemed aggressive to some and may have worried some people at Imagination and in the UK government for reasons of technology transfer and potential job losses.

Why is Imagination attractive to China?

I can think of two reasons, although there could be more. Imagination is on a stronger business footing than in previous years, and IP is an area China needs to improve on its path to semiconductor independence.

In January 2020 Imagination won back its business with Apple, signing a new multi-year, multi-use license agreement. The size of the deal was not disclosed, but such an all-encompassing deal would provide an extremely strong footing for Imagination to grow its business. Such a deal usually includes a large up-front license fee, as well as ongoing royalty payments based off Apple phone sales. Owning and controlling a company Apple relies on is definitely an attractive position to be in and could potentially force Apple to go back to developing its own GPU, when it clearly had decided to move away from this strategy. Of course, owning and controlling a successful company is attractive in its own right as well, despite its recent rocky history, Imagination is now in a strong position, licensing its A-series GPU not just to Apple, but also to other companies in the mobile and automotive markets.

Meanwhile, transferring IP using Imagination Technologies would be by far the fastest way to get world-class GPU technology into China.

IP is an aspect of semiconductor independence in which China really struggles. The core CPU IP is all foreign, although RISC-V is helping out in this regard. But it’s not just CPU core IP. Whether its memory, DRAM controllers, communication IP, DSPs, on-chip monitoring, or security, none of the key global players are Chinese, and in some cases, there aren’t any Chinese companies. Chinese GPU makers exist, but not major ones.

Becoming more independent means innovating yourself or acquiring from abroad. RISC-V may fill the CPU gap in the long run and controlling Imagination could be key to filling the GPU gap. While VeriSilicon’s Vivante GPU range fills some of the gap, it isn’t a globally recognized consumer device GPU brand yet, whereas Imagination can fill the handset, tablet, automotive GPU gap with ease. Whether the world is going to license a GPU from a completely mask-off Chinese SOE is another matter.

What now?

Chinese companies have been rebuffed in previous efforts to gain control of IP in the semiconductor industry, usually at acquisition or investment stages, be it Lattice Semi as mentioned above, or Tsinghua’s previous attempts to acquire or invest in Micron, Western Digital, and several Taiwanese chip assemblers. But of all governments, the UK is usually the least likely to push back.

With the UK distracted by Covid-19 and Prime Minister Boris Johnson recovering from Covid-19, one might expect London to be focusing on other, more important things. But once the board fight made headlines, politicians made time.

It’s not clear what the state of play is now, but expect strong US pressure against the Imagination move, as it directly effects Apple, coupled with growing skepticism toward China in the UK government itself. There are rumors that GCHQ objected, and that the UK government and even Boris himself are angry at China over the virus situation. With this change in attitude, Huawei’s access to the UK’s 5G network is also uncertain.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I expect China to continue to acquire key technologies going forwards, whether they fail with this takeover or not, in addition to innovation efforts. Since the fast track to control is always to acquire, I can’t see it stopping.

For companies like Imagination independence is key. It is always a difficult balancing act between looking to investors to scale up the company faster and making sure that investment doesn’t lead to loss of control to one player in the geopolitical tug-of-war that the semiconductor world has become. Winning one country increasingly leads to friction with another.

Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, is suspending users who speak Cantonese on its livestreaming platform, according to a Guangzhou-based livestreamer. The company attributes the suspensions to issues with their content safety mechanisms.

Why it matters: This shows the measures Bytedance has to take to comply with China’s strict online content regulations.

• China’s internet watchdogs accused Bytedance in 2018 of hosting “vulgar” content on its popular news aggregator Jinri Toutiao and the company has since stepped up efforts to moderate content on its platforms.

Details: Bing Cong, a liverstreamer based in Guangzhou, told TechNode on Thursday that his livestreams on Douyin have received three 10-minute suspensions over the past three weeks. Along with references to livestreaming rules, the app also prompted him to speak Mandarin “as much as possible,” Bing added.

• Douyin cited the app’s “livestreamers’ conduct code” as a reason for the punishments on March 18 and March 25, according to screenshots provided by Bing.
• The code bans bare skin, smoking, and violent content. It doesn’t include rules on the use of dialects or languages other than Mandarin, according to TechNode’s review.
• Bing’s livestream was suspended for 10 minutes again on Wednesday. The app’s reason for that suspension was “using language that cannot be recognized.”

• In a statement to TechNode on Thursday, Bytedance said Douyin is “building out content safety capabilities” and that Cantonese is currently not “fully supported.” 
• A Bytedance spokesperson did not explain what the company’s “content safety capabilities” are and why they don’t yet support Cantonese.
• The Cantonese ban on Douyin’s livestreaming platform was first reported by Guangzhou-based news site Yangcheng Net on Monday. A Twitter thread about the Cantonese ban on Douyin posted on Wednesday has been retweeted more than 1,000 times on the social media site as of Thursday.

• Bing operates a Douyin account with more than 120,000 followers that promotes Cantonese culture. “Dialects are part of the Chinese culture and there is no law banning the use of dialects,” he told TechNode.
• “Content moderation is the platform’s job, they can’t just deal with [dialect streaming] in a one-size-fits-all way,” Bing said.
• He said many other Cantonese speaking bloggers he knows are also having the same problem when livestreaming on Douyin.

Context: Cantonese is a Chinese dialect spoken by more than 60 million people around the world, including in financial hub Hong Kong. However, the Chinese government is pushing the nation to speak the country’s only official language, Mandarin. Bytedance is facing increasing attention for its content moderation policies as well.

• The authorities’ attempts to restrain the use of Cantonese have sparked wide resistance in Guangdong province, where it originates. In 2010 there was a 1,000-person protest against a proposal to force a local television network to abandon Cantonese.
• Bytedance has engaged in a protracted battle for its image overseas for Douyin’s overseas version TikTok, facing scrutiny outside China for its content moderation practices. US lawmakers are accusing the popular short video app of censoring content to please the Chinese government and say that it poses a threat to national security.
• It was reported in December TikTok has curbed the number of times short videos featuring disabled, overweight, or LGBT individuals—those deemed “highly vulnerable to cyberbullying”—could be viewed.
• The Intercept reported last month TikTok has instructed moderators to suppress content created by users deemed “too ugly, poor, or disabled” for the platform, citing internal documents. The company also told content moderators to censor content that harmed “national honor” or about “state organs such as police.”
• The Guardian reported in September that TikTok instructed its moderators to censor videos that are deemed politically sensitive by Beijing, citing leaked documents detailing the platform’s guidelines. The company said in November that the guidelines were retired in May.

As the Covid-19 epidemic that has killed over 1,500 people spreads across China, so do rumors.

Ever since Chinese officials confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus late last month, rumors about it have appeared on China’s social media and gained circulation. They include bogus suggestions that smoking or drinking alcohol can help to kill the virus, some Chinese medicines could cure the illness, or cats and dogs can be infected by the virus, which leads to massive abandonment of pets in some cities.

These rumors are spread via online groups on WeChat or posted by bloggers on Weibo or as videos on Douyin, as well as other online platforms. 

While the central government has called for “full transparency” about the epidemic that has sicked 72,528 and killed 1,870 as of Tuesday, online platforms have been struggling to balance between containing rumors and giving the public the right to know.

Online platforms such as microblogging site Weibo, instant messaging app WeChat, and short video app Douyin have stepped up efforts to contain misinformation and fake news. But there is also growing concern that they may have silenced people who tried to spread the truth.

Getting the facts straight

Some online platforms, such as Dingxiang Doctor, a popular health information exchange app, have been trying to set the facts straight as rumors become rampant.

Dingxiang Doctor has published over 100 articles fact-checking statements related to the outbreak.

One article examined claims that taking antibiotics can prevent people from being infected by the virus. Dingxiang Doctor deemed it to be false and said that the medications are designed to destroy or slow down the growth of bacteria and that it has no therapeutic effect on Covid-19 infections.

The app also publishes numbers of confirmed cases, the death toll, and their trends on a daily basis. The database and the column have been viewed more than 2 billion times as of Tuesday.

To refute rumors circulating on the app, WeChat has launched a mini program that collects that clarifies false statements. The mini program cites sources from professional institutes such as the China Academy of Sciences and official agencies such as cyber police departments in different cities.

Weibo has been using a feature since 2012 to label unconfirmed information on the platform. Questionable posts will be marked below it by labels such as “controversial” or “false.” The social media site said (in Chinese) on Feb. 10 that it had labeled 6,123 untrue posts related to the Covid-19 outbreak.

By comparison, the platform marked only 1,811 posts in 2018, according to its disclosure documents (in Chinese).

Accounts banned

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s internet content watchdog, said in a notice (in Chinese) published on Feb. 5 that it had ordered short video app Pipi Gaoxiao pulled from app stores because it had published videos that “spread panic” related to the outbreak. The department didn’t say whether the removal is permanent or temporary, but in previous cases, removed apps have been able to return to the app store after completing “rectification” plans.

The CAC said it had also launched a campaign to directly supervise companies including Weibo, WeChat parent Tencent, and Douyin owner Bytedance.

WeChat, the most popular social media app in China, said on Jan. 25 that it would suspend or permanently ban (in Chinese) accounts that spread rumors about the epidemic.

Douyin, which has 400 million daily active users, said in late January that it had removed (in Chinese) some 24,922 videos from the platform that spread fake information on the disease outbreak and that the app had deleted or suspended accounts that posted those videos.

The true ‘rumors’

However, the content affected goes beyond rumors about home remedies.

Li Wenliang, the whistleblower doctor who died earlier this month because of the virus, warned fellow medics on Dec. 30 about the spread of a “SARS-like disease” in Wuhan, when local authorities were trying to downplay the seriousness of the disease.

Four days later he was summoned to the local police station where he was told to sign a letter, admitting that he had “posted false remarks” online and that they had “severely disturbed the social order.” 

Li’s death sparked outrage on China’s internet, with many users believing that local officials’ efforts to cover up the public health crisis in the initial stage had let the best opportunity to halt the spread of the disease slip.

Politically incorrect information is often deleted under the rubric of “rumor,” said Jo O’Reilly, a data privacy expert at digital privacy advocacy group ProPrivacy.

A report suggesting a higher death toll published by Caijing Magazine on WeChat’s Official Accounts Platform, a blog-like feature, was deleted within one day after publication. 

The story, which amassed more than 100,000 views on the platform before it was taken down, claimed that some people in Wuhan died after showing symptoms of Covid-19 but were not included in the official death toll because they passed away before their infection of the virus was finally confirmed.

WeChat said on the webpage that hosted the article that it had “violated the Management Regulations on Online Public Accounts,” a rule issued by the CAC in 2017 that demands bloggers regulate their content. The app, however, didn’t give details about which clause of the rule the article had violated.

“There definitely appears to be a concerted effort underway to restrict the spread of genuine information for the purposes of deterring panic,” said O’Reilly.

However, panic is not gone. It is unclear whether the authorities have achieved its goals of containing rumors despite all the efforts. Both plausible and preposterous rumors are still circulating widely, in a sign that people are still skeptical about the government’s commitment to transparency.

On a Weibo post of a state media article that warns people spreading rumors may have their accounts banned, one user commented: “If the rumors were finally proven true, can we seek compensation from the state?”

Editor’s note: On Jan. 13, we published a story about an unsecured Megvii server that allegedly contained data from millions of public surveillance cameras in China. We believe that data privacy is an extremely important issue and one that, especially with Chinese companies, doesn’t get enough attention. As we dug into this story, it changed from one about data privacy into something different. We realized that the topic was so technical that it would be difficult for our small, independent newsroom to reach conclusions quickly, so we decided to give what we know now its own treatment while we continue to work on a fuller story.

Our mission is to inform the world about China through the lens of technology. We do that by providing neutral and accurate coverage about the companies and people that are changing the landscape of the country’s economy and society. The original story contained ambiguities that we felt did not do our mission justice.

We believe there is an important conversation about China and its companies that doesn’t happen often enough. In order to push that conversation forward, we’ve decided to replace the original text of this story with the text you are reading now. We will be writing more about this in the following weeks. Look out for our members-only weekly newsletter where we will explore this story in more detail. Sign up now so you don’t miss it.

This week, China Voices brings TechNode Squared members a timely report VIPKID’s early promise and current troubles, translated by courtesy of LatePost. TechNode has not independently verified the claims made below. Additional reporting by Emma Lee.

VIPKID, an online English language teaching platform, occupies a unique place in US-China tech relations. Since its founding in 2013, CEO Wendy Mi has grown the company to the point where tens of thousands of Americans daily teach hundreds of thousands of Chinese. LatePost charts the growth of the firm, outlining how strategic decisions to focus on upmarket customers, create a strong sales culture, and prioritize growth over all else gave VIPKID an early advantage as the market for online education mushroomed. Yet of late, the technology backend and managerial shortcomings have hampered VIPKID’s progress. The firm has also struggled to create a product as appealing as its core offering of one on one online classes.   

This core offering, however, struggles to make money. This past June, founder Wendy Mi set the goal of making RMB 1 (about 14 cents) per class. In this week’s translation, LatePost reports that the company has bought size at a high price, reporting operational numbers based on an anonymous “former mid-level manager.” In a statement to TechNode, factoring in VIPKID’s extensive marketing, LatePost reports, customer acquisition costs are as high as RMB 6,000. Since profit per unit is about RMB 42, and the average customer takes seven classes per month, a customer has to spend two years on the VIPKIDS platform just for the company to break even on sales and marketing costs. Recent layoffs, moving employees to tier-two cities, and the disappearance of afternoon snacks speak to the firm’s efforts to aggressively cut costs as investors lose patience with companies that sacrifice profits for size. 

The following is an abridged translation of a long form article by Chen Jing and Song Wei, first published on November 15 in LatePost, Caijing’s new magazine outlet.

The story of VIPKID: growth and bumps on the road

Chen Jing and Song Wei, LatePost

Nov. 15

As a fast-growing company enjoying an industry halo, VIPKID simultaneously faces four of the most difficult problems of entrepreneurship: fundamental growth, creating new business lines, turning a profit and upgrading internal management.

Growth is one hell of a road

VIPKID is a Chinese start-up company valued at $4.5 billion. Starting from “One-on-one English classes with North America foreign teachers”, it has attracted 700,000 students. In merely four years, VIPKID has reached an annual revenue turnover of RMB 5 billion (about $700 million)—it took 19 years to New Oriental Education to gain as much.

VIPKID Founder, Mi Wenjuan, didn’t graduate from an elite college, but has extensive experience in teaching and recruiting. Co-founder Zhang Yuejia, who joined in 2015, is business-focused and more goal-oriented. 

In 2014, the company’s primary goal was to establish a business model. Mi did two things: unlike other online education platforms that hired teachers from Southeast Asia countries, VIPKID recruited North American teachers. Her familiarity with the market proved handy: she knew American and Canadian teachers were underpaid. In doing so, she quickly gained market share. 

Furthermore, instead of simply introducing foreign English textbooks, the company took their time to make self-developed learning materials better suited to Chinese students.

In 2015, the company focused more on building a sales and marketing system. Zhang Yuejia put RMB 40 million into brand advertising, while other companies spent their money strictly on customer acquisition. In October that year, VIPKID’s iconic orange advertisement, “American elementary school at home,” began popping up on subway and bus billboards in Beijing. As it turned out, they got it right again. It was the perfect time to build brand awareness before the market ballooned in size—these brand advertisements improved user recognition and penetration.

The difference between educational products and Internet products is that the former has a higher unit price and a longer decision-making cycle for users, thus customers will inevitably compare prices. In this process, brand recognition plays a decisive role. Internet products instead, often adopt a strategy of low price or even free of use since, when it comes to early-stage customer acquisition, traffic that reaches customers is more vital.

Zhang Yuejia transformed VIPKID from a teaching-oriented education company to an internet-oriented one, with growth becoming the most critical goal. As an advocate of quantitative indicators, he brought a team of corporate planners from zhaopin.com [trans: a Chinese recruiting website] to lay down detailed indicators for every part of the company’s business. In 2015, VIPKID’s sales revenue grew at a rate of 30% per month, and in 2016, the cash flow turned positive.

VIPKID’s extreme focus on sales is reflected in its 8% commission for salespeople—the highest in the industry. With the market taking off, the company’s number and quality of user leads were excellent—most salespeople who joined in around 2016 saw VIPKID as the easiest company to make money in the industry.

Under such strong sales orientation, the growth rate exceeded everyone’s expectations. When Mi was raising a B round in 2016, she promised investors RMB 150 million revenue; eventually, it reached RMB 1 billion. Revenue rose to RMB 5 billion in 2017 and RMB 7 billion in 2018.

 It was the right time for VIPKID since highly educated Chinese parents were more willing to pay for high quality education through the internet for their kids. 

In 2015, there were 3,000 students enrolled, and two years later, under Zhang’s leadership, the number exceeded 200,000. On customer side, VIPKID spent up to RMB 10 million on brand advertising. To improve the referral ratio, they created a promotion in which a user would get 25% of their class hours free if they posted links on a WeChat page. In 2016, the referral ratio doubled. 

Meanwhile, the foreign teacher team led by Mi Wenjuan and Chen Yuan grew from 5,000 to 20,000 at the end of 2016. It was also in 2016 that VIPKID far surpassed Da-Da in terms of revenue, ranking first in the industry. 

Speed or quality?

It is difficult to keep up with the most advanced technology in a rapidly changing business, especially under pressure to scale. VIPKID chose to prioritize growing its business over technology upgrades. So naturally, when business lines expand, product quality will drop, even if only temporarily.

Growth masks problems, and starting in 2016, those issues grew ever more glaring. 

“When a plane’s engine is on fire, is it better to bring the plane down to change the engine, or try to fight the fire while still flying? VIPKID always chose the latter,” a VIPKID investor told LatePost.

 As the founder’s managerial reach expanded, managerial skills did not. In the early days, the most obvious weaknesses were in technology and products, in which the two leaders found themselves incompetent. In 2016, the low conversion rate was caused by backward technology, and 10 out of 100 courses were lost due to technical reasons. 

Most employees described VIPKID’s company culture as a sales-oriented one and, even though Wendy Mi wanted everyone to love education as much as she does, the truth was taht most people’s passion came from hitting sales goals. 

However, the high growth rate covered up deeper problems. “VIPKID didn’t even have a sound budget management system and strategic plan”, a former executive told reporters. Strategy existed mainly in discussions among the three founders, and most so-called strategic meetings turned into discussing small business details.

How to diversify

In June 2019, at a management conference, Mi Wenjuan said their goal would be to earn one yuan per class by 2020.

A former mid-level manager gave a LatePost reporter a window into the numbers: the unit price of one-on-one classes is RMB 14,000 for 72 classes. During a heavy promotion period, users can get 23 classes for free if they successfully refer a new customer, which would bring down the unit price of each class to around RMB 140.

Meanwhile, for each class, the teaching cost is RMB 70 [trans: at about $10 for a standard 25-minute class, this lines up with the company’s advertised $20/hour pay]. Service costs, including supervision, customer service, teaching assistants, etc, total about RMB 24, and network costs are about 4 RMB. 

Under large-scale deployment, the customer acquisition cost is about RMB 6,000 per student, and the gross profit per unit is RMB 42. According to internal data, the average customer takes seven classes per month, so a customer has to spend two years learning to cover the cost of customer acquisition. 

If VIPKIDS lowers spending on large-scale advertisement and reduces the number of free classes, the process can be shortened to one year. 

VIPKID has started to reduce labor costs after putting forward the idea of earning 1 RMB per order. Some teaching and research teams have been relocated to second-tier cities such as Dalian, Wuhan, and Chengdu. Instead of 200, one head teacher now needs to monitor 500 students. The company also no longer serves afternoon snacks to its employees. 

At the same time, they have increased the importance of the renewal rate target. At present, VIPKID is trying to reduce acquisition costs by raising renewal rate and conversion rate. The goal is to achieve 70% renewal rate and new customer conversion rate next year.

According to the Financial Times, VIPKID reported a net profit loss of RMB 2.2 billion on revenue of RMB 3 billion in the first ten months of 2018.

But investors are divided on the trade-off between market size and profitability. Internally, VIPKID believes that its growth rate has reached a ceiling in first and second-tier cities—the annual income of VIPKID’s target family is between RMB 150,000 and 200,000. Currently, the market of first-tier and second-tier cities is limited, accounting for 70% of total revenue. 

With a relatively high price, it’s hard to attract customers in lower tier cities. In 2018, 40-50% of VIPKID’s total revenue came from first-tier cities, and only 5-10% from third-tier and fourth-tier cities. 

Diversification is probably a more practical option.

VIPKID began to test diversification options in 2017, expanding its user base from primary and middle school kids to preschoolers and the elderly, and offering subjects ranging from English to mathematics and Chinese. The mentality at the time was to prevent competitors from overtaking in other models. However, none of these offerings has generated a reliable product with high growth. 

Concentrating on large classes has become an industry norm. In March 2019, Bee School [an online group class product taught jointly by Chinese and foreign teachers which employed AI to correct errors] was established for more than one year before it became officially independent and focused on English and math classes. 

Compared to other competitors, Bee School keeps a low profile. Its main strategy is to rely on the pool of users generated from one-on-one classes. VIPKID expects Bee School to be its second source of growth, so it still has a lot of growing to do. 

Wendy Mi is bold enough to realize on her own ambitions, but she now has two co-founders, more than a dozen investors, 10,000 company employees, 700,000 parents, not to mention competitors with similar business models. Now she needs to be tougher, faster, and more confident than ever.

TechNode has been chosen from nearly 500 applicants for inclusion in the second-phase roll-out of WordPress’ new platform designed especially for small to medium-sized newsrooms. The Google News Initiative is a key backer of the project.

WordPress parent Automattic included 34 organizations in the second batch of users of the Newspack platform, joining the initial group of 11 newsrooms announced in March.

Newspack describes itself as “an open-source publishing and monetization platform, designed to provide a powerful solution for local and niche news organizations.” WordPress aims to “free publishers from the burden of selecting, deploying and maintaining complex software systems,” allowing greater focus on journalism.

“It’s a real honor to be accepted into one of the first groups to help test and optimize Newspack,” said TechNode Editor-in-Chief John Artman. “We’re looking forward to working with their teams to create tools and systems that will be useful for smaller newsrooms like ours around the world.”

“The next wave of journalism is local and niche. We’re proud to be working with Newspack on solving problems for the next generation of journalists,” Artman added.

Key funders of Newspack include the Google News Initiative, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, ConsenSys, Civil Media, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The group also provides technical and advisory assistance.

It’s all aboard the US IPO train for Chinese firms this month. At least 10 filed in October, compared to just 23 finished listings during all of 2018. 19 Chinese firms have completed IPOs stateside this year to date.

Drone maker Ehang, podcast site Lizhi, and NetEase edtech arm Youdao are all among those that filed in October.

The US IPO boom came as China hoped to bring listings home with Nasdaq-style tech board the STAR Market, launched in July. The STAR Board, based at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, offers a number of concessions to attract tech companies to list domestically, including registration-based listing and allowing loss-making firms to list.

Bottom line: Politics matters, but businesses go where the money is. Beijing is trying to bring Chinese hi-tech listings home, while Washington is growing hostile to them. But uncertainty in Hong Kong seems to be driving firms to New York, not Shanghai.

An IPO every two business days: At least 10 Chinese tech companies filed IPOs in the US in October, and one went public in Hong Kong. 

• Oct. 8: FangDD.com, a Chinese online real estate marketplace, files for Nasdaq IPO.
• Oct 15: Gaming giant NetEase’s learning services and products unit Youdao updates its filing to the SEC for its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), specifying a fundraise amount of up to $115.9 million.
• Oct. 25: Chinese apartment rental platform Qingke, a rival to Danke Apartment, files an IPO to Nasdaq.
• Oct. 28: Hangzhou-based Canaan, the world’s second-largest maker of bitcoin mining machines, files for a US IPO.
• Oct. 28: Chinese online residential rental marketplace Danke Apartment files for IPO on NYSE.
• Oct. 28: Chinese interactive podcast platform Lizhi applies to list in the US.
• Oct. 28: Reuters reports that China’s homegrown version of WeWork, Ucommune, filed a prospectus with the US securities regulator in late September as it prepares to go public by the end of the year.
• Oct. 31: Meiliche Financial, an online auto finance company, files (in Chinese) for IPO on NYSE.
• Oct. 29: Shanghai-based I-Mab Biopharma files for Nasdaq IPO as it looks to accelerate its China-based drug commercialization process.
• Oct. 31: Guangzhou-based drone maker Ehang files for IPO on Nasdaq.

Nasdaq Shanghai?: China’s STAR Market is a bid to make mainland capital markets friendlier to tech firms, borrowing a number of practices from US markets not previously seen in China. These include:

• Registration-based IPOs allow companies, not regulators, to decide pricing and valuations. Other markets use an approval-based system in which stock regulator China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) must vet every application, making it unpredictable for companies to list.
• Allows companies that are not profitable to list.
• Allows listings of companies with dual-class shares or weighted voting rights. These grant more power to certain shareholders like founders and high-ranking executives.
• No limits on stock prices for the first five days of trading. One of the first companies debuted on the board saw its shares rose as much as 448% an hour after trading began. If the company had listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, it would have been capped at 20%.
• Gives issuers and investors more control over the pricing and timing of IPOs.

US closing the door? The wave of filing followed reports that Nasdaq, a major destination for Chinese tech companies seeking US IPOs, changes its listing rules that require raised the average trading volume requirements for a stock in late September.

• Ahead of the Nasdaq alteration, Reuters reported that the US President Donald Trump was considering ordering the delisting Chinese companies from US stock markets, triggering a tumble of shares of Chinese firms. 
• The White House later clarified that delisting Chinese companies traded on US exchanges “is not on the table.”
• The Trump administration, however, said it is pushing for greater transparency and compliance with a number of laws by Chinese filers for the sake of “US investor protection.”

Political factors: Politics have played more decisive roles in Chinese companies’ IPO plans in the past few months under the shadow of ongoing US-China trade conflicts.

• A warm welcome in China—The STAR Market is part of China’s efforts to mobilize private capital into high-tech sectors, associated with Made in China 2025, the industrial policy at the center of the country’s trade dispute with the US.
• And a cold shoulder from the White House—President Trump’s remarks on delisting Chinese companies were made days ahead before trade talks between the world’s largest two economies resume.
• Situation too hot in Hong Kong—monthslong political turmoil in Hong Kong, another popular destination for Chinese firms seeking painless listings, has scared many of them off.
• Artificial intelligence startup Megvii is reportedly considering a delay to its Hong Kong listing plans after the company was added to a US trade blacklist last month over alleged participation in human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.

Why STAR flopped: As of Friday, some 50 companies are being traded on the STAR Market and 165 are on the pipeline, according to the board’s website (in Chinese). 

• This is partially due to the painful auditing process that could last months that companies have to go through before they can successfully go public.
• The sectors the STAR Market intends to aid also excluded internet companies, at least for now. The CSRC said in January that the STAR Market would “mainly serve” companies in high-tech and strategic emerging sectors such as new-generation information technology, advanced equipment, new materials and energy, and biomedicine.
• The lock-up period, a predetermined amount of time following an IPO where particular shareholders are restricted from selling their shares, for controlling shareholders and actual controllers of a STAR Market-listed company is 36 months while that of ordinary shareholders is 12 months, according to Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese).
• The lock-up period for US IPOs usually ranges from 90 to 180 days after the date of listing.

STAR board: A New Hope? The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that China will “reboot” the STAR Market in a second bid to get companies interested. Changes predicted by the article include:

• Lowering of the market-capitalization threshold for overseas-listed companies to RMB 100 billion (around $14.3 billion) or less, halving the threshold set last year.
• Easing of capital controls for that hamper investors from moving their money abroad.
• Under the new system, foreign companies and Chinese businesses that are incorporate abroad will be able to list on the STAR Market.
• Reduced lock-up period for investors.

The mighty dollar: James Hull, professional investor and co-host of the China Tech Investor podcast (powered by TechNode), told TechNode that companies may be pushed by their investors to go to US markets. A Chinese listing means cashing out in renminbi—and potentially seeing your money stuck in China.

• Strict foreign exchange controls make it difficult to move money out of China.
• “If you are a tech investor, and you have invested in these companies, you would prefer to receive Hong Kong dollars or US dollars, because you can take that money and reinvest it anywhere in the world. Whereas if you list in the STAR Market, you will get Renminbi. And then you can reinvest it in China, but it’s harder to reinvest anywhere else,” said Hull.
• From an investor’s perspective, Hull also attributes the preference of US markets to the higher liquidity there and the shorter lock-up period for investors to exit. 
• “They [Chinese tech companies] might choose the US because they think there are more public market investors in the US who will understand their business. There are a lot of tech companies listed in the US and a lot of investors are familiar with technology in the US,” Hull added.

Apple on Wednesday has removed from its App Store an app that helps protesters in Hong Kong track police activities, two days after Chinese state-run newspaper the People’s Daily blasted the tech giant for helping pro-democracy protesters.

Why it matters: Apple is the latest foreign company to be caught in the rising tide of Chinese nationalism amid the months-long anti-government protests in Hong Kong after allowing the HKmap.live app on its App Store last week.

• Some Chinese tech companies, including Tencent and Alibaba, have suspended ties with the National Basketball Association this week following a tweet from a Houston Rockets executive in support of the Hong Kong protests.
• On Tuesday, the People’s Daily said in a commentary (in Chinese) that by allowing the app, Apple was “assisting rioters in Hong Kong” and sought to be an “accessory” of protesters.

Details: The real-time map, which was officially launched in early August, shows a map of Hong Kong with crowd-sourced updates on the location of police, as well as water cannons and tear gas deployment.

• In a statement on Thursday, Apple said the app had been used “in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.”
• The company said that Hong Kong’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau (CSTCB) verified the app was being “used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement.”
• “This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store,” said Apple.
• The app’s developer said on Twitter that it disagrees with Apple and the CSTCB’s claim that the HKmap.live endangers law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong, saying the move was a political decision to suppress freedom and human rights in Hong Kong.

Context: Apple has a history of acquiescing to the strict internet regulations in China, the company’s second-largest market after the United States.

• The company has removed hundreds of apps from the Chinese App Store in recent years, including those from The New York Times in 2017 and news outlet Quartz this week.
• Earlier this month, Apple removed the Taiwanese flag emoji from its iPhone keyboard for users in Hong Kong in a recent update of its iOS operating system.

The US Commerce Department on Monday placed 28 Chinese government agencies and companies, including video surveillance gear maker Hikvision and artificial intelligence firms SenseTime and Megvii, on a trade blacklist over Beijing’s alleged treatment of Uighur Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Why it matters: The move came just three days before the visit of Chinese vice-premier Liu He to restart high-level trade talks with Washington to end a yearlong trade war between the world’s biggest economies.

• The Commerce Department, however, said the announcement was not tied to this week’s resumption of trade talks with China.
• Being added to the trade blacklist bars entities from buying components and technology from American companies without US government approval.
• A similar move against Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei has forced the companies to lower revenue forecasts by $30 billion in the next two years and made it difficult for the company to sell new smartphones in overseas markets.

Details: The organizations added to the so-called “Entity List” include the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region People’s Government Public Security Bureau, 19 subordinate government agencies, and eight commercial firms across China, according to a Commerce Department filing.

• The companies include Hangzhou-based Hikvision and Dahua Technology, two of the world’s largest manufacturers of video surveillance gear.
• The list also includes some of China’s largest artificial intelligence startups such as Sensetime, the world’s most valued AI private company, Alibaba-backed facial recognition firm Megvii, and another facial recognition software maker Yitu, as well as iFlytek, a Shenzhen-listed voice recognition software maker.
• A US Hikvision spokesperson said on Monday the company “strongly opposes today’s decision by the US government” and that the move could “hurt Hikvision’s US business partners and negatively impact the US economy,” according to Reuters.
• Hikvision, with a market value of about $42 billion, receives nearly RMB 15 billion (around $2.1 billion) in revenue, or 30% of its total revenue, from overseas. The company said in May that it retained a human rights expert and former U.S. ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper to advise the company regarding human rights compliance.
• Beijing-based Megvii said in a statement (in Chinese) on Tuesday that the company “vigorously protests the decision” made by the US Commerce Department and it will keep communicating with the agency.
• Sensetime said in a statement (in Chinese)Tuesday that the company “strongly opposes” the decision and urged the US government to reconsider the case.
• Yitu shares Sensetime’s attitude towards the US sanctions, adding that the company wishes to be treated by the US government fairly, according to a statement by the company on Tuesday.

Context: The move comes as two of the AI startups have started their plans to go public on China’s Nasdaq-style tech board and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

• Megvii has in August filed in Hong Kong to conduct an initial public offering targeting proceeds of at least $500 million, according to Reuters.
• Shanghai-based Yitu is also considering a listing on China’s Star Market as early as this year, Bloomberg reported last month, citing people familiar with the matter.
• New York-based Human Rights Watch said in June that its review of the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) app, one of the mass surveillance systems used by the police and other authorities in Xinjiang, found that Megvii “seems not to have collaborated” in the development of that app, reversing the organization’s initial description that the IJOP app used a “facial recognition functionality” made by Megvii to “check whether the photo on the ID matches the person’s face or for cross-checking pictures on two different documents”.
• Sensetime has opted out of operations in Xinjiang by selling out its 51% stake in a security joint venture in the region, the Financial Times reported in April.

The story has been updated to include Yitu’s statement in the Details section.

Hangzhou audience saluting attendees at parallel sessions in Tokyo, Jakarta, and Sydney during the 2019 Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurship (Image credit: Alibaba)

After working in the technology sector for more than a decade, Miffy Chen still remembers the early days of her career when she was the only female on her team and was constantly bombarded with the question “Are you really a computer science major?”

Now as a vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Alibaba AI Labs, Chen proves women are just as capable as men, even in technical fields where the latter are overrepresented.

Women in various roles from business owners to researchers are a force to be reckoned with in China and around the world. With female labor force participation at around 63% in China, the country’s women contributed 41% of GDP in 2017, a higher percentage than in most other countries including the US, according to a report by Deloitte China and women’s professional support network Lean In China.

Improving the economic empowerment of women could have more significant impacts on a global scale. Melinda Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke in a video message during the Alibaba 2019 Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurs held on August 28 that the global economy could add $28 trillion by 2025 if women participated in the labor force to the same degree as men.

At the Hangzhou conference (picture above), which was created to hold dialogues on challenges and opportunities faced by females in different cultures and regions, we talked to women entrepreneurs and those in the tech sector to see how their lives are being impacted by the ongoing changes.

Woman in the digital era

Rapid advances in digital technologies and artificial intelligence are shaping China’s economy as well as its landscape for innovation. Several speakers at the event have already identified the transformation and development of technology as a major force in driving gender equality and empowering female entrepreneurs in China.

Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma, who has been very vocal about hiring females, told a packed house at the conference that women are going to be very powerful in the 21st century as people focus more on their wisdom and experience.

With their distinctive characteristics, including empathy, altruism, inclusion, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail, female entrepreneurs are reshaping how the world functions in the digital era, he added.

Ma believes women can integrate their distinctive characteristics into the design and development of products and services that would bring more “warmth” to the world.

Ma also pointed out that, based on purchase trends of female shoppers on Alibaba’s platforms, women often shop from multiple categories such as menswear, toys, and home supplies. Such pattern demonstrates that when women shop, they tend to shop for the entire family.

In addition to being a consumption power, women are also expected to make great advancements in the workplace.

More jobs will be created for women in the AI era. Take the voice assistant industry, for example, most AI-powered voice assistants, including Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, use female- voices, Miffy Chen points out. This is creating a new position for female voiceover artists.

Although the research and development units of AI assistant services are overwhelmingly staffed by male engineering teams, around half of design and testing teams at Alibaba are women.

Women are also much needed in AI tagging, a position that teaches machines to pronounce a word, to talk, and to identify pictures, in a similar way to how a mother teaches their kids to learn, Chen noted.

CTO of Cainiao Logistics Gu Xuemei (L), Alibaba Group Vice President Miffy Chen (R) (Image credit: TechNode/Emma Lee)

Gu Xuemei, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba’s Cainiao Logistics, believes her gender has had minimal impact on her career.

“Technology is a broad term. R&D workers at tech firms are usually stereotyped as male, although it’s improving,” Gu said. “In the future, the ratio of females in the tech sector will be higher given that creation and imagination, which females are known for, are two desired traits of future tech workers.”

Chen and Gu are far from the only females that have climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. An increasing number of women are heading senior positions in China’s tech firms as well as within the research field. For example, at Alibaba, one-third of the partners are women.

Self-made businesswomen

Chen Yan and her guide dog (Image credit: TechNode/Emma Lee)

Forty-year-old Chen Yan started her Taobao store in 2015 as the first blind female piano tuner in China. Now, she has trained nearly 100 blind people who would have little means of supporting themselves otherwise.

Chen was born with several visual impairments and completely lost it all in a car accident in life. Being blind, life has not been easy. “I wouldn’t have started a business if I had other choices because entrepreneurship is a tough journey,” she said.

For Chen, an online presence lowered the threshold for starting her own business, saving on costs when operating offline outlets and reaching more customers. In addition, AI-powered optical character recognition technology available on Taobao makes it easier for her and those in the blind community to shop and do business online. The technology reads the product description out loud, thus eliminating the need to read the text.

Ma Lingmin, a post-95 college graduate from southwestern China’s Yunnan province, spotted her entrepreneurial potential in livestreaming farm products. Over the past year, Ma Lingmin visited 36 counties and villages, helping farmers in poverty-stricken areas to sell their quality produce at decent profit margins.

Famous for her fruit-peeling skills, Ma Lingmin helps the farmers living in a village located in the mountainous Mengzi City to sell hundreds of tons of yellow ginger, native produce that was once very difficult to sell to the rest of the world. One of Ma Lingmin’s beneficiaries is Xiong Yilin, a disabled farmer who is the sole dependent of the family. Xiong is building up a new house for his family, instead of living under the same roof with livestock.

Ma Lingmin has attracted five million fans on Taobao by sharing beautiful rural landscapes as well as local treasures straight from mother nature, such as plums and sweet cucumbers.

Livestreaming is an effective marketing tool to introduce and recommend products to potential consumers. According to Taobao, sales generated by livestreaming on the platform exceeded RMB100 billion in 2018.

“Working six hours for 25 days per month as a livestreamer is stressful and needs lots of perseverance,” said Miffy Chen.

Similar to Jack Ma, Uju Uzo-Ojinnaka’s entrepreneurial journey started from her dedication to facilitating the online sales of peanuts, her hometown’s specialty. The Nigerian was hit by frustration in 2017 after she failed to find enough peanut suppliers in her country, the biggest peanut producer on the African continent. Inspired by the entrepreneurial story of Jack Ma, she started Traders of Africa (TOFA), now one of the most prolific online B2B shopping platforms in Africa.

A report, called 2019 Global Research Report of Female Entrepreneurship & Employment, unveiled by Alibaba Research and China Women’s University Research during the event concluded that many female entrepreneurs are finding it easier to run their own businesses in the digital age. Ordinary women, even without a background or any special selling points, can also make similar achievements.

49.3% of the entrepreneurs on Alibaba’s platforms are female, according to the report. The percentage of women shop owners on Alibaba’s online global retail platform AliExpress reached 53.7%。

Instead of focusing on niche and high-quality products that are particularly well suited to vertical markets, the e-commerce businesses of female entrepreneurs on Alibaba platforms are scaling up across sectors at exponential speed.

Industry-wise, female shop owners are expanding to traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as car maintenance, auto parts/accessories, and smart electronics.

The average turnover of Taobao stores run by female entrepreneurs surpassed RMB 200,000 in 2018, doubling the figure for 2014 and 30% higher than that for stores by male owners in the same period, the report added.

Editor’s note: This article was sponsored by Alibaba. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Huawei is reportedly laying off thousands of employees in China as the Shenzhen-based telecommunications equipment maker continues to struggle with a US trade ban that has cut it off from American suppliers.

Rumors about the layoffs have been circulating on an anonymous message board on Chinese professional networking platform Maimai over the past week. One post published by a verified Huawei employee on September 5 asking other laid off Huawei employees to join the discussion elicited 284 responses, 166 likes, and 135 shares.

Why it matters: The impact of the US sanctions on Huawei is forcing the company to cut jobs in its home country after company founder Ren Zhengfei warned of a $30 billion revenue dip in June.

• The US government granted Huawei an extended reprieve on August 19, allowing it to purchase from US suppliers for its existing customers.
• The company reported 23.2% year-on-year revenue growth in the first half, but company chairman Liang Hua warned of significant headwinds to come for its consumer business, which contributed 55% of its revenue during the time period.

Details: “It’s said that 6,000 people will be ‘optimized’ in September,” said a Maimai user who is verified as a Huawei employee, on a thread of the above-mentioned post, referring to a euphemism for layoffs.

• “Employees who were persuaded to resign will be offered an ‘N+4’ severance package,” commented another Maimai user claiming to be a Huawei employee. “N+4” is a calculation for the severance payout, with “N” representing the number of years employed by the company.
• “Huawei is reducing staff, and I’ve received lots of resumes [from Huawei employees],” wrote another anonymous Maimai user on Saturday. The post drew 70 comments and 58 likes.
• None of the Huawei employees based in Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Kuala Lumpur that TechNode reached out to on Monday said they were aware of the matter.
• A Huawei spokesman told TechNode on Monday that the company doesn’t “have any comment at this moment.”

Context: Huawei has been cutting jobs at its US and Australia affiliates following the US ban in May.

• In July, Huawei sacked more than 600 workers at Futurewei, Huawei’s US-based research and development subsidiary, which the company attributed to a “curtailment of business operations” caused by the US restrictions.
• Huawei has laid off 100 of its Australian employees since its telecom equipment was banned from participating in the country’s 5G network rollout, and warned that the number of redundancies could grow to more than 400 over the next two to five years if the ban continues.

TechNode, one of the most influential technology innovation and entrepreneurship platforms in China, has announced the completion of its pre-B funding round of tens of millions of RMB. UCommune and XCGT Holding Group both participated.

Started in 2007 by Dr. Lu Gang, TechNode began as one man’s attempt to tell the world about what’s happening in China’s tech and startup ecosystems. Since then, TechNode has grown into a trusted and respected information outlet, event organizer, and an integral part of the tech and startup community, both inside and outside of China. To date, TechNode’s media is available in four languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian. Approximately 40% of its millions of monthly readers reside in 160 countries and regions worldwide.

With a vast network in global innovation and entrepreneurship, China-based TechNode is at the center of a unique worldwide tech ecosystem of startups, venture capital firms, industry resources, and corporate partners. As such, in 2018, TechNode expanded its core offerings to include six business units: TN Media, TN Inno (corporate innovation services), TN Global, TN Events (branding and event services), TN Data (startup ecosystem database) and TN VC (venture capital and financing services). Through these initiatives, TechNode supports and connects the startup ecosystem between China and the rest of the world.

After this round of funding, TechNode aims to increase its global outreach with international technology innovation as its core strategy, as well as accelerating the expansion of its international influence through media, branding, and data-sourcing. The company is also committed to becoming the number one innovation platform connecting international companies with Chinese innovation.

TechNode has worked closely with many key players in various industries, including CITIC Group, Fung Group, BMW China, Merck Group, and Unilever. This new round of funding will put TechNode on the list of China’s top technology platforms.

UCommune was established by Dr. Mao Daqing in April 2015 and is the first co-working unicorn in China. With working space as part of the platform, UCommune aims to build a world-class co-working space and provide comprehensive support and services in their office chains for innovative enterprises. TechNode’s services, including industry consulting, entrepreneurship training, business incubation, venture capital financing, and others, are highly consistent with the needs of the UCommune customer base. Through this investment, the strategic cooperation between UCommune and TechNode will be strengthened. TechNode will help enhance UCommune’s dynamic and entrepreneurial innovation environment. For international collaboration, UCommune and TechNode will complement each other by forming an O2O (online-offline) technology ecosystem to connect China and the international community.

Mao Daqing, the founder and chairman of UCommune, said: “The strategic partnership between UCommune and TechNode will diversify our space offerings and accelerate the interconnectedness and innovation between domestic and international entrepreneurs.”

“TechNode’s strategy has always been global. Over the years, we have built a great reputation in the global technology industry. This partnership with UCommune will be built upon an online-offline global strategy to benefit the global innovation and tech ecosystem for both parties,” said Lu Gang, the founder and CEO of TechNode.

China is inevitably at the center of attention when it comes to technological advancement and innovation, and the country is determined to expand its technology beyond its national border. As such, TechNode is committed to building the most influential technology innovation platform in the world. TechNode is planning for the next round of funding to accelerate its global strategy through its business units.

Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma said on Wednesday that distinctive characteristics are helping female entrepreneurs in the digital era. These traits include empathy, altruism, inclusion, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail.

Woman entrepreneurs are not only adapting to the quickly evolving global landscape but also becoming the drivers behind fundamental changes, Ma noted as he addressed a crowded room at the 2019 Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurship in Hangzhou.

“The digital era is a challenge for everybody. While everybody is equally scared and worried, the right way for us is to embrace the era by changing ourselves,” Ma added.

Digital technologies are shaping the modern world, and female figures are becoming a major force in pushing through change. The state has held for years that woman makes up 55% of entrepreneurs in the vaguely defined field of “internet businesses.”

Using Alibaba as an example, Ma explained that women make up 50% of the company’s design and customer service teams.

More than one-third of Alibaba’s founders were women while a similar percentage hold senior management roles. Women are well-represented within Alibaba. Ma said women employees were a major force behind Alibaba’s high-speed growth rate in the beginning years.

With the goal of encouraging women to pursue their professional and personal ambitions, Ma was among a lineup of speakers that included prominent female figures including Melinda Gates, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations undersecretary and executive director of UN Women, Japanese Parliament member Tomomi Inada, Olympic diving champion Guo Jingjing, model, and fashion designer Lv Yan.

Speaking to participants via video message, Gates drove home the message that investing in women’s economic empowerment, including entrepreneurship, is “not only the right thing to do but the smart thing to do.” She emphasized the global economy could add $28 trillion by 2025 if women participated in the labor force to the same degree as men.

“When we remove the barriers that prevent women from participating in the economy, the benefits don’t extend just to the women themselves. They extend to families, communities, even entire countries,” said Gates.

Tomomi Inada, a member of the Japanese Parliament, led a group of female politicians joining the Hangzhou event and offered insights on how to promote gender equality in her culture.

“In the political world, I have always believed that men and women should be promoted solely based on their ability,” she said. “That is true in a sense. However, this year marks my fifteenth year as a politician, and I have come to feel that ability alone is not enough to help women advance in the political field. That’s why I set up a parliamentary association with my friends here today [to promote this idea]”.

This year’s theme –“The World She Made”– highlighted the positive changes the world has seen and will experience, thanks to the female trailblazers who dared to break the glass ceiling they faced.

For the first time, the biannual conference was held simultaneously in four different cities around the world–Hangzhou, Tokyo, Jakarta, and Sydney–to allow participants to hold deep-dive discussions on issues and progress particular to their region and culture.

Editor’s note: This article was sponsored by Alibaba. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Douyin and TikTok are unquestionably Bytedance’s biggest successes. As of July 2018, the two short-video apps have attracted more than 500 million monthly active users (MAU), one-third of the 1.5 billion total MAU across all platforms that the company announced in July.

The two apps are often referred to as versions of one another—Douyin is the domestic Chinese version and TikTok, the global—and they are managed by the same person. According to the company’s latest leadership shuffle in June, the team managing both TikTok and Douyin is now led by Zhu Jun, the co-founder of TikTok’s Shanghai-based predecessor Musical.ly.

Despite Bytedance’s efforts to convince people that TikTok and Douyin are the same product, they are actually two separate apps. The two share the same logo, layout, and even some stickers and filters, but they are strictly segregated in accounts and content. This means it’s impossible for a TikTok user to log in to the Douyin app using their TikTok credentials, and vice versa.

Content: Distribution is not always entirely dependent on algorithms, at least in regards to the Douyin app. Douyin has promoted a fair amount of content produced by state-run media and government agencies for propaganda purposes. This content features recent news or stories with “positive energy,” a phrase that describes topics that align with government policies.

In recent weeks, these “positive energy” short videos have focused on stories that discredit the protesters engaging in pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong.

Conversely, on the TikTok platform, recommended content featuring news or politics-related is minimal. Everything in the app is designed to be fun. A commentary published in the New York Times said that TikTok might be “the only truly pleasant social network in existence.”

Advertising: Bytedance has started monetizing Douyin by using online ads, while TikTok remains ad-free.

On Douyin’s “Recommended” feed, a short-video ad appears after every 5-10 videos. These ads are labeled as sponsored content and contain a link to their offerings.

While TikTok currently features no ads, the app has left the possibility open in its privacy policy, which states that the app uses cookies and other technologies to collect information from users and to provide them with “targeted advertising.”

Content segregation: Bytedance’s account segregation ofTikTok and Douyin differs from the way that tech titan Tencent has constructed the domestic and international versions of its mega messaging app Weixin (known as WeChat abroad). Weixin and WeChat share the same account system and can communicate with each other. Of course, there are limits to the shared functionality. For example, international WeChat users cannot use the Wallet mobile payment function, and Chinese Weixin users don’t have “WeChat Out,” a VOIP service which allows users to call mobile phones and landlines around the world.

By comparison, TikTok and Douyin users exist in different worlds, meaning that content cannot be accessed across platforms. For example, one of TikTok’s most popular accounts is Jacob Sartorius, an American singer who has 20.9 million followers on the platform. However, the “Jacob Sartorius” found on Douyin is an “unofficial” account with 36 followers.

Regulation compliance: Separating users and content in order to comply with China’s strict internet controls has been a tricky problem for internet service providers that operate both in China and abroad. WeChat uses a system that blocks any politically sensitive messages that are sent via the app. LinkedIn, the business social network that has some 41 million users in China, also blocks content that authorities consider politically sensitive.

The short-video sector, however, is subject to special scrutiny from China’s internet watchdogs. In January, the China Netcasting Services Association—an industry group under the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television—issued a list of rules for short-video platforms, requiring them to set up review teams with a “strong political sense.”

The rules also require short-video platforms to adhere to several other measures to ensure compliance with government controls, including actively promoting accounts belonging to “mainstream” news outlets, government agencies, military agencies, and affiliates of the Communist Party of China; promoting “positive energy” content; and vetting all videos before they are published.

Under pressure from authorities, Bytedance has taken it a step further by completely segregating the TikTok and Douyin platforms, freeing the company from any potential breach of China’s internet controls while providing its international users with a relatively censorship-free platform.

Huawei has become the latest brand to face public outcry in China after internet users spotted that the Chinese handset giant listed Taiwan as a separate country on its phones.

Why it matters: Several global brands have issued apologies in recent days after Chinese netizens launched campaigns against them for implying that Taiwan and Hong Kong are not part of China on their websites or products.

• These brands include Italian luxury fashion company Versace, as well as US marques Calvin Klein and Coach.
• Huawei handsets have become the “patriotic choice” for Chinese consumers since the Shenzhen-based company was put on a trade blacklist by the US government in May.

Details: China’s online community found that Taiwan is listed as a country, rather than part of China, in the time zone settings on Huawei phones when the user interface is in traditional Chinese language, commonly used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

• Internet users launched a campaign on China’s Twitter-like social media site Weibo with the hashtag #HuaweiGetoutofChina, calling on Huawei to apologize.
• The hashtag has drawn over 300 posts associated with it and received more than 300,000 views.
• Huawei didn’t respond to requests for comment at the time of publishing.

Context: Online outrage against companies perceived as not supporting the one-China policy emerged as demonstrations in Hong Kong continue.

• “Especially during the ‘sensitive period’ when ‘pro-Hong Kong independence activists’ are creating trouble, this kind of mistake is even more serious,” People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s Communist Party, said in an editorial on Monday.

TechNode has announced its expansion to the Russian-language market. TechNode Russia will cover Asian technologies and startups, especially those in China and Russia.

TechNode was launched in 2007 as an effort to tell the world about China’s technology and startup ecosystem. Now the company includes six business units: TN Media, TN Inno (corporate innovation services), TN Global (cross-border FA and consulting services), TN Events (branding and event management services), TN Data (startup ecosystem database), and TN VC (venture capital and financing services). With these initiatives, TechNode is truly engaged with the local ecosystem and supports and connects China’s startup ecosystem with the entire world. The company has been recognized by the global industry as an authority representing the latest development of the technology in China. TechNode is also the China partner of TechCrunch and has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, and Hong Kong

Andrei Prokhorovich, the owner of Eurasia Development Limited, a company specialized in technology transfer to China, has become the partner and investor of the TechNode launch in Russia. The amount of investment was not disclosed.

“One of the stop-factors of cooperation with China is fear, caused by the lack of knowledge and understanding of this country. For a long time, we have been told that China is excellent in copying and unable to create anything, but now we can see this is completely untrue. TechNode Russia will compensate the lack of information and will push the development of new interesting projects and business between CIS countries and China,” said Prokhorovich.

Lavrentiy Klimov was appointed to the position of TechNode Russia Editor-in-Chief. He received his master’s degree in Technology Management from one of the best universities in China – Harbin Institute of Technology, and then worked as COO at Eurasia Development Limited.

“Russia and CIS countries are a very attractive market for us. We understand that there is a lot happening in this massive market related to digitalization, technologies, and startups. We want to add our understanding of China and Asian markets and industrial resource to Russian speaking VC/startup society. We won’t just report about what is happening in the technological sector here, but also connect the local ecosystem with China and global tech space. We hope this mutual effort will lead to new business and projects,” said Dr. Lu Gang, the founder of TechNode, at the launch.

Website: https://ru.technode.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/technoderussia/

Telegram: https://t.me/TechNodeRu

Editor’s note: This article is supported by Alibaba. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Luohan Academy, an open-research initiative by Alibaba Group, celebrated its first anniversary in Hangzhou this week, gathering Nobel Laureates, renowned economists, social scientists, tech pioneers, and professors from leading universities to tackle the disruptions and other issues we face from rapid digitization of the global economy.

The Academy was established last year to address the economic consequences and social disruptions caused by a tech-driven economy. Complementing Alibaba’s DAMO Academy, a global research program for cutting-edge technologies, Luohan Academy examines the implications that digital technologies will have on societies in the future.

Over two full days of presentations and panel discussions, participants aired their views on how to deal with the widening digital gap in the global economy and challenges in the job market caused by digital technologies. Other topics included whether a platform economy can be beneficial to all participants, whether we need new governance and regulations tailored for the digital age, what the new ethics underlying emerging technologies are, and how to ensure the changes we’re seeing make the global economy more inclusive.

Chen Long, director of the Luohan Academy, commented: “It was exciting to have over 200 renowned academics, including Nobel Laureates and economists, gather together, discussing and sharing their valuable insights on how to address universal challenges arising from the rapid development of digital technologies.”

“By drawing on the wisdom of global academics who come from different backgrounds and cultures, we hope the Luohan Academy can promote thought-provoking discussions on controversial, yet critical, issues facing society. These discussions could serve as a guidepost for social scientists, economists, educators, policy makers, and private sector leaders to examine what roles they can play to bolster inclusive growth. As such, we hope to shed light on the path toward  a more dynamic, balanced, and fair digital economy.”

In Chinese’s Buddhist teachings, “Luohans” are enlightened and empathetic beings who are willing to take actions to alleviate the world’s suffering.  Below are some issues discussed during the conference, with the intent to inspire more dialogue to maximize the benefits of technology in the digital age:

• Should we first embrace digital technology or first address and attempt to control potential risks? It took 46 years for electricity to reach 50 million users, 14 years for computers, seven years for the Internet and 19 days for Pokémon Go. Decision-making time is getting shorter, and the cost of missing out by failing to make a decision or by making the wrong one has never been larger.
• Will technology widen the gap among people around the world or provide a level playing field? The technological revolution we’re undergoing has increased the number of people the earth can support from one billion to more than seven billion. But it has also triggered two world wars. Today, the key is to narrow the disparity in wealth, so we ask ourselves how we can benefit as many people as possible at the fastest speed,
• How will automation affect employment for humans? iWill the ongoing tech revolution lead to new jobs and shorter working hours? What is the future of work? 
• How will technology affect money transfers and payments across borders? Will digital financial services lead to more risks, even as they become more popular? What uncertainties will we face from purely digital money?
• What are the ethics of artificial intelligence? When you have an autonomous driving system using AI, and the driverless car has to make a split-second decision, should an algorithm make the unconscionable choice between hitting an old man on the left side of the road, or a child on the right, if impact cannot be avoided?
• Who owns data in the digital world and who should benefit from it? The records of car drivers aren’t particularly meaningful to most individuals. But, if shared, they make navigation software more accurate. Sole ownership doesn’t create as much benefit as pooling data, provided privacy is protected.

Editor’s note: This article is supported by Alibaba. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

This week, as Luohan Academy celebrated its first anniversary, Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang took to the stage in Hangzhou to share his views on the platform economy and how it could be a great equalizer, making global commerce more inclusive. Below are excerpts of his panel discussion with members of the Luohan Academy advisory committee, renowned academics, and a highly engaged audience.

Question: What’s special about a “platform” in the digital age?

Daniel Zhang: First of all, the notion of “platform” is not new. It has been here for many years. But why are people talking about platform now? It is because the world is changing, thanks to data technology, the internet, and data. As a platform empowered by technology, you get a chance to be more scalable. You can cover more areas, more markets.

Technology makes all things happen. The advantage of digital technology is that it is transparent and has no boundaries. Before this, in the industrial age, or even in ancient times, people might have thought about trading without boundaries, but they couldn’t make it happen…so they focused on certain markets and certain countries and built their local platforms. Now, platforms have become more globalized, and that’s is a fundamental change. Because of technology, we get a chance to redefine the platform, make it even bigger, stronger, and more impactful.

Question: Nowadays, when we talk about platforms, we refer to them as a company. From your perspective, how should we define a platform? Who owns the platform? Who benefits the most from it?

Zhang: Today if you look at trading platforms, they are far more than about just information-sharing. That’s what we refer to in Alibaba’s history as “Phase I—Meet @Alibaba.” You come and learn information about China and what can be sourced from China. Whether or not you can get a real deal depends on the effort you put into it.

That’s why for Phase II, which we called “Trade @Alibaba,” it was all about our retail commerce platforms. When we built the Taobao and Tmall platforms, we saw that just providing information wasn’t enough. People weren’t coming for information, but for real products. They wanted quality products and services; therefore it was important to have a good team to provide that kind of experience.

And then, it wasn’t just about products on our platforms. It was about efficiency in payments and logistics. So we asked, “how can we make it work?” The answer was—through marketplace infrastructure. That’s what Alibaba has built up over the past 15 years.

Today, we realize even that’s not enough. That’s why we are working on cloud and big data. Because we believe online is not a separate world, we cannot only empower people to have one more web store online and deals for customers. We need to help them transform their entire business into a digital operation. That is what we are doing right now. We are trying to redefine the platform economy. That’s what we do as a platform and how we create value for our customers.

Question: If platforms grow bigger and bigger, what responsibilities does the platform operator bear in terms of governance and responsibility?

Daniel: At Alibaba, I always tell my team we are not the owner of the platform. We are operating the platform. And we’re but one participant on the platform. And we, together with our buyers, sellers and service providers, form this ecosystem. We form this platform. That’s why we need to understand their concerns, the opportunities and how to facilitate so that large numbers of people can pursue this opportunity.

The key is to provide the efficiency to facilitate trading, facilitate consumption on a platform. If we pull that off, people would think this is a good platform and will stay with us. If buyers or sellers find it difficult to locate what they want, or if buyers only see the same things they bought before and don’t have the fun of discovery, they might leave.

This efficiency is not only created by the platform operator, but together with all other players on the platform. For example, the seller needs to innovate its products to ensure there are new products available for fans. They need full supply-chain management, to equip themselves with good technological support via their CRM, to make the whole sales and marketing process more efficient.

Question: What should be the governance approach for a platform ecosystem, if it doesn’t belong to the platform company?

Zhang: A key governance mechanism for a platform is to listen to as many platform participants’ voices as possible. You listen, but do not act on everything. If you do, you’ll go nowhere. We have 700 million consumers…so it’s not possible to listen to everyone. But we must find a way to represent the vast majority’s interest. On the platform, we believe the vast majority are good consumers, good business people.

Question: Do you anticipate that certain platforms will eventually go beyond geography or country? And what’s the distinction between a financial platform and other platforms?

Zhang: For your first question, my answer is yes, and we certainly will see that. There is a real opportunity to create global and digital platforms. Trading is all market-driven. If you can help people trade more efficiently, you have an opportunity to build a global cross-border platform.

That’s why we announced our eWTP initiative, the Electronic World Trading Platform. Buyers and sellers have the chance to trade. And they are not only in China, but all over the world. This is one of the areas where we see opportunity.

The financial sector is a quite sensitive sector. We have to think about it more, specifically about financial governance and monitoring financial risks by market and by country. That may be the challenge financial platforms have to face, but at the end of the day, if one country throws full support behind this technology, building up a digital or financial ecosystem, and others don’t, those other countries will fall behind in the digital transformation of the whole world.

Editor’s note: This article is supported by Alibaba. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Digitization and globalization are scary and disruptive to some, but those who try to halt their progress will be left behind and miss out on the benefits they inevitably bring, Jack Ma said this week.

Speaking at a Hangzhou event to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Luohan Academy, Ma—who also co-chairs a United Nations panel on digital cooperation—stressed that there’s no need for a headlong rush into the future without time to contemplate and address concerns about what a global digital economy will look like.

The Luohan Academy is an Alibaba-initiated open research initiative that invites social scientists, researchers, and technology experts to collaborate and come up with possible solutions for some of the world’s toughest and most divisive issues as a result of technological advancement.

“At Luohan Academy, we will continue to support exchanges between governments, academia, and the private sector, and we will continue to share our experience,” Ma said. “The purpose is to rally more people and promote more public good in society.”

Luohan is a Buddhist term for “beings who have achieved a higher state of consciousness.”  It also refers to empathetic thinkers who put great efforts toward resolving the pressing issues facing the world.

The academy’s advisory committee include six Nobel laureates, tech pioneers, and professors from a who’s who of the world’s top universities. Earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the academy unveiled a paper titled “Digital Technology and Inclusive Growth.”

The report examined the relationship between digital technology and economic growth, underlining how digital technology can foster inclusive growth in a way earlier technology revolutions did not, provided all stakeholders stay involved.

“We believe that the digital economy is a good opportunity for inclusive growth in the world. Secondly, there are many threats to the to the problems of now, but no one is an expert on tomorrow,” said Ma. “Our governments, academia, and the private sector should work together to solve the problems. Thirdly, we should formulate sound policies using today’s wisdom, instead of solving tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s practices.”

Ma said a key to making the vision into reality is for all parties to take responsibility for shaping the future, rather than naysaying or standing on the sidelines.

“The world has a big problem today, and I’m worried about it. The world needs leadership in digital technology,” said Ma. “The speed of global change is bound to be faster and faster, which will cause many social issues.”

Alibaba stepped up as a leader in e-commerce long ago, sticking to a mission and vision that have enabled it to make the digital world more inclusive, Ma said. Since then, it has pushed out the boundaries of inclusiveness across the tech sector, into cloud computing, payments, health, delivery, sports, entertainment, and other areas.

“Alibaba grew up thanks to the digital revolution. We also want more people to enjoy digital technology and make it more affordable,” said Ma.

Ma acknowledged differing views of the future, suspicions about technology, biases, demographics, data privacy and control, and geopolitical tensions make “everyone nervous, but those of us who are involved love technology and believe there are solutions.”

Information, he said, needs to flow as freely as goods did when goods trade initially took off. And while nobody is certain what the future will bring, he’s sure that “today people dislike artificial intelligence, but the future will not work without AI,” said Ma.

“No one can stop the development of technology. How can human beings find the right vision and ways to solve problems in cooperation with the government, academia, and the private sector?” Ma said.

As he has done with pretty much every Alibaba unit, Ma has set lofty goals for Luohan Academy.

“On the 10th anniversary of Luohan Academy, I believe that we will become Davos of the technical community,” said Ma.

Ma, of course, will no longer be Alibaba’s Executive Chairman when that day arrives, nine years from now, as he will retire from his chairman’s role on Sept. 10 this year. But he expects the think tank “to let us know what Alibaba can do to better benefit the world.”

Huawei Personnel Worked With China’s Military on Research Projects – Bloomberg

What happened: Several Huawei employees worked with members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on research projects from artificial intelligence to radio communications, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. At least 10 papers Bloomberg found on online academic databases were co-authored by Huawei employees and members of various organs of the PLA out of thousands authored by either party. A company spokesman said that Huawei was not aware of the joint projects and it did not have any research and development partnerships with PLA-affiliated institutions.

Why it’s important: The US has long been suspicious that the Shenzhen-based company may plant “backdoor” access into its 5G equipment so data can be accessed by Chinese intelligence agencies. This distrust spurred the ongoing crackdown on the company. The jointly published papers do not provide a clear link between Huawei and the military because tech companies worldwide including Google and Microsoft have collaborated with military agencies for decades. But Huawei’s response—claiming ignorance—does little to mitigate the suspicions.

Huawei says 5G network security is a technical issue and not a country one, responding to Prague proposals – South China Morning Post

What happened: Security officials and experts from more than 30 western countries gathered in Prague last week and issued on Friday a set of proposals for 5G network deployment guidelines. The non-binding Prague Proposals warned governments about equipment supplied by vendors that might be vulnerable to state influence. The proposals did not contain the names of any specific 5G equipment suppliers. Huawei responded to the proposals by saying that cybersecurity was a technical rather than an ideological issue.

Why it’s important: Neither Chinese delegates nor Huawei representatives were invited to the meeting in Prague, although participants stated that no country or company was being singled out. Besides the US, participants included member countries from the European Union and NATO, and US allies such as Japan and South Korea. Europe has become a key battleground in the dispute over the US-led Huawei ban as countries prepare to auction 5G licenses this year. By end-March, Huawei had secured 40 5G contracts around the world, and over half of them come from Europe, according to the company.

A recent research paper examining Huawei’s ownership structure published Monday refutes the company’s claim of being wholly owned by employees and says that the identity of the actual owners is unknown, and may potentially include the Chinese government.

Authored by Donald Clarke of George Washington University and Christopher Balding of Fulbright University Vietnam, the report states that Huawei is wholly owned by a holding company, of which 99% is held by an entity called a “trade union committee.” The trade union committee, the authors said, if it is run as a typical such organization in China, could mean that the telecom equipment giant is owned and controlled by the government.

Trade union decision-makers in China are not selected by or accountable to the employees, according to the report which was published on research platform Social Science Research Network (SSRN). On the contrary, they owe their loyalty to superior trade union organizations, all the way up to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is controlled by the Communist Party, whose head belongs to the Politburo, the highest policy-making entity in China’s Communist Party.

“Given the public nature of trade unions in China, if the ownership stake of the trade union committee is genuine, and if the trade union and its committee function as trade unions generally function in China, then Huawei may be deemed effectively state-owned,” said the paper.

Huawei’s employee ownership claim is untrue because its employees have no control over the trade union’s decisions, the paper says citing China’s Trade Union Law. The employees actually hold “virtual stock” which allows for participation in a profit-sharing scheme, which are canceled when an employee leaves the company and allow no voting rights over the company, it said.

Huawei said in a statement to TechNode that the report was “based on unreliable sources and speculations, without an understanding of all the facts.”

Its trade union fulfilled shareholder responsibilities and exercised shareholder rights through a representatives’ commission, which was also Huawei’s highest decision-making body, the company added. Members of the representatives’ commission were elected by shareholding employees that had the right to vote.

“They do not report to any government agency or political party, nor are they required to do so,” said the company.

Huawei asserts in its 2018 annual report that it is a “private company wholly owned by its employees,” a pillar of its defense against recent claims by the US government about its potential to be influenced by the Chinese government. Its ownership structure was established as an “employee shareholding scheme” limited to employees, and involves 96,768 employee shareholders. The company specifies that “no government agency or outside organization holds shares in Huawei,” a statement that is absent from its 2017 annual report.

Ownership has become a sensitive topic for the telecom giant following a US government ban on its equipment on the basis that Huawei’s networking equipment could be used for espionage by the Chinese government. The US has embarked on a campaign to persuade its allies to exclude Huawei equipment from their 5G network rollouts.

Editor’s note: This promotional article was supported by the Guangdong Industrial Design City. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Foshan’s Shunde held the 2018 Shunde Creative Design Week and China Design Day on December 9 to start a “design wave” in the Greater Bay Area, a move to upgrade the industry by creative design, to promote quality economic development.

Top design studios from China, US, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey attended, sharing the latest information and ideas in design and synergizing innovative design achievements, to empower the manufacturing sector in the province.

A local government official said the conference is expected to integrate global high-end resources of design, technology, and industry to open a new starting point for Shunde’s design industry and make the city famous for “Design in Shunde,” enabling it to launch a path of quality development for the province and even the entire nation.

Building the new engine for a strong manufacturing zone

Innovation by design is the core value of the industrial economy, also an important criterion to measure the competitiveness of a country. Over 20 countries in the world have already brought the industrialization of industrial design into their national development strategies. Conforming to the wave of transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, Shunde, based on its solid manufacturing foundations, has built China’s first industrial park featuring industrial design in 2009 after cooperating with the provincial government, serving as the trendsetter of optimization and upgrading of manufacturing.

A total of 250 well-known design studios from Germany, US, France, Japan, Sout Korea, Sweden, Turkey, and other countries have been introduced to the GIDC until the end of 2017, with more than 8,000 designers to generate a design services industry of 700 million yuan and some 1,000 design patents. At the same time, GIDC efforts on outputting designs, designers, public service and construction standards of industrial parks, contributing to the national industry via its wide business scope at home and abroad.

Exploring new paths of high-quality development

The conference, themed “Design in the AI Era: Empowering high-quality development,” is hosted by GIDC and under the direction of Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province and Foshan government. Co-organized by TechNode, Guangdong Industrial Design Association,  Shunde Industrial Design Association, and Guangdong Totin Investment, the conference is also jointly supported by Guangdong Industrial Design Innovation Services Alliance, Midea, Country Garden, Beijing Taihuoniao Technology as well as other organizations.

The conference was attended by top academics and scholars from the World Design Organization, Korean Institute of Design Promotion, Porsche, Midea, JD.com and Royole to exchange views on the four main agendas: “Design + AI”, “Design + Intelligence Manufacture”, “Design + Intelligence Experience” and “Design + Investment.” They also had an interconnected innovative brainstorming following the prospect of the integration of design and technology to figure out new ideas and paths of the high-quality development of the industrial economy.

More than a hundred enterprises from 8 countries—China, US, Germany, UK, France, Japan, S. Korea and Turkey – attended, including world famous companies and institutes such as IDEO, Porsche Design, Harman Kardon, Royal College of Art, Sloan School of Management at MIT, World Bank, Samsung Design Department, Y-CITY and Seoul Design Center. Domestic leading organizations such as JD, Xiaomi, Midea, Country Garden, Low- Carbon Design Society of Hong Kong, and Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association (SIDA) also debuted. Plus, a congratulatory video for the opening ceremony was presented by the president of World Design Organization Luisa Bocchietto.

The “Shunde Design” committee is a new measure to further promote the development of industrial design in Shunde, a move to build a decision-making consulting mechanism for high-quality operation and development.  The appointed experts are expected to seize the penetration and fusion of industrial design and manufacture, as well as the overall direction of their integration with science and technology, to facilitate the whole industry to into high level, internationalization, and branding.

At the same time, Shunde Industrial Design Association unites famous business incubation platform Huotainiao Technology and TechNode to issue a call for an “international technology industrial cooperation alliance,” converging science and technology, design and manufacturing industries to promote the integration of tech and design. Targeting to enhance the industrial competitiveness, the alliance will focus on “innovation-driven transformation and upgrading” and use the market mechanism to collect all creative resources to enlarge the value of design and to ensure the successful completion of technical projects for all the local leading enterprises. The establishment of the alliance is expected to boost the transformation of technology and deepen creative cooperation between Shunde and foreigners, to further accelerate Shunde’s win-win situation on opening up and development.

The Sino-Korean (Shunde) Design Center was also announced at GIDC. As Shunde’s the first project in collaboration with Korean Institute of Design Promotion, this marks another milestone of the internationalization of GIDC. The center is expected to advance Shunde’s cooperation with S. Korea on innovative design and promote the “seamless joining” of excellent Korea-designing products and Shunde’s manufacturing market, for the further optimization and upgrading of traditional industries in Shunde and high-qualify developing of industrial design.

Four sub-forums to promote achievements

Themed “Design in the AI era: Empowering high-quality development”, the conference also held a series of events such as design sub-forum, a special session for cooperation, a seminar and the Designers’ Night, to brainstorm ideas for high-quality development.

A forum entitled “Embracing International Design” is scheduled to be held on Dec. 10, with keynote speeches from MIT, World Bank and Y-CITY to have in-depth exchange on how industrial design connects international innovation with Chinese manufacturing, how to activate innovations of comprehensive industrial parks and how cutting-edge technology can empower industries, while focusing on the optimization and high-quality development of industries via “Design + Manufacturing”.

The “International Design Registration via the Hague System International Seminar” will open at Huaguiyuan in Shunde on Dec 13.  It is co-sponsored by the World Intelligence Organization (WIPO) China Office and Guangdong Administration of Market Supervision and organized by Shunde Market Supervision and Administration Bureau.

Following the conference, four special sessions for cooperations achievements on technology, creative design, entries of the competition and “Design in Shunde.” Spanning an area of 2,500 square meters, the sessions will welcome some 200 projects from tech unicorns and designing brands to release and showcase products.

A series of significant policies and planning over “Design in Shunde” will be announced, and four design parks with total square meters of 300,000 will be introduced at the same time to invite investment from the world. They are Chendajiao Creative Design Park, Guangdong Home Design Valley, Shunde Creative Jewelry Design Park, and Lecong International Creative Home Design City.

Plus, a Designers’ Night Gala was held on Dec 9 at GIDC to demonstrate the elegant demeanor of designers.

Showcase the development of industrial design in Shunde

As another highlight, a “Design in Shunde” exhibition was inaugurated in GIDC on Sunday and trial approaches were provided to the guests.

The industrial design in Shunde has just gone through a ten-year development since firstly set up in 2009. Starting from scratch, huge achievements have been realized in the past ten years. The GIDC is considered as the epitome of the development of industrial design after successively awarded “Demonstration Base for Neo- Industrialization” by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, “Demonstration Base for Industrial Design and Creative Industry” by the State Intellectual Property Office, “Demonstration Base for National Industrial Design” by China’s Industrial Design Association.

Therefore, the “Design in Shunde” museum will feature industrial design and display the best-design products panoramically. The exhibition is expected to reflect the history of China’s industrialization and the design wisdom behind through the mass-produced industrial exhibits of various periods.

A 1.5-billion-yuan investment

The Shunde government has formulated an action plan for Shunde’s development in the next three years, to define the blueprint of the boomtown and build “Design in Shunde” its new city card.

An investment of over 1.5 billion yuan was pointed out the action plan, as a special fund for the construction of “Design in Shunde”. The fund, invested by state-owned and social capital, will be used on six fields including expanding of the industry, innovation ability promotion, integration of different industries, importing and training of high-end talents and environment construction for the internationalization of industrial design.

Vital resources will put into a themed industrial park, to enlarge its floor area by 200,000 square meters in three years. Besides, the most important part is to further consummate the development planning of the GIDC. At the same time, a series of national industrial design institutes will be built to encourage leading design companies and to invent innovative original products.

Shunde is striving to build GIDC as the capital of industrial design in 2020, with a total of ten blocks in the boomtown all developing carriers and platforms for industrial design, and form a talent pool of over 10,000 industrial designers, to  shape a batch of leading design brands and enterprises and develop dozens of industrial design-led creative industrial clusters.

Editor’s note: This promotional article was supported by the Guangdong Industrial Design City. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here. Click here to buy tickets to the event.

China’s Shunde is going to host the 2018 DTech International Design and Science Conference on Sunday, December 9 to explore industrial design.

Co-organized by the local government, famous tech giants and media agencies, the industrial design feast will explore four core issues – “Design + Artificial Intelligence (AI)”, “Design+ Intelligent Manufacturing (IM)”, “Design + Intelligence Experience” and “Design + Investment” – for in-depth discussions among attenders including Hu Qizhi, Secretary General of Guangdong Industrial Design Association, Li Qiang, General Manager of Midea Smart Home, Christian Schwamkrug, the Design Director of Porsche Design, Soon-In Lee, Chair of Asia Design Network, David Waterman, Chief Designer of AT&T/VTECH, Du Baonan, CDO of SINGULATO, Gao Zheng, general manager of JD Product Crowd-Funding Division and other designing top guns.

When we talk about industrial design, we refer to the design of industrial products based on the designers’ own interpretation of engineering, aesthetics and economics. Can soda sales be affected by the refrigerators storing them? One company in Shunde successfully improved cola sales by over 13 percent by re-designing the traditional aluminum freezers to a glass one with AI technology. Their keen sense of life has redefined the freezers from a container to keep things inside cold to being a way to promote products. After intelligent upgrades on the system and outlook, the freezers can provide a better shopping experience for customers, as well as a showcase of products and their brands.

This is the charm of industrial design, with which a common freezer can be imbued with magical power, to bring a change to users’ experience, more profits of the products and more market shares to the vendors.

Located at the center of southern China’s Pearl River Delta, Shunde is one of the top three manufacturing regions in China. The dense industrial conditions have driven up the demand for industrial design, and mushroomed the prototypes to relevant business. In the 1990s, China’s leading home appliance builder Midea established a series of design centers in Shunde and absorbed the first group of talents here, after which Shunde started developing and exploring. In 2004, dozens of industrial design companies such as East Innovation set up in Shunde, enabling the district to step into cluster diversified development. In 2009, the booming technology has changed a lot of sectors, leaving a huge impact on the way products being designed and manufactured. The Guangdong Industrial Design City (GIDC) was created then and the industrial design industry in Shunde has entered a new stage thanks to the support from the local government. Following the sprouting of new industrial enterprises, designing talents poured into the boomtown

After ten years of development, the GIDC has become not only the home of the Shunde manufacturing industry, but also a wide platform of great aggregation effects. Spanning over 2.8 square kilometers with an investment of over 2.1 billion yuan, the GIDC is now a base for a large public-service cluster featuring industrial design, and has built a one-stop service outsourcing system involving market research, creative design, pilot plant test, manufacture, trade, exhibition, communication, training, hatching and public services. The industrial design enterprises born in cradle goad each other and grow up together, benefiting from the help and support of its six main platforms including trading, financing, intellectual property transforming platform, talent introduction and training, generic technology research and brand building.

Till now, over 300 industrial design headquarters have taken roots in Shunde, with nearly 50,000 designers and over 40 hi-tech design enterprises protechnicalhnology support to the entire industry. A document issued by the Shunde government in September said a 1.5-billion-yuan investment is planned for the area, a move to build the “Designed in Shunde” label. As the core of “Technical Shunde” construction, the new plan will focus on technology to develop a creative industrial cluster featuring industrial designs.

The new plan is expected to fill the gaps in intelligent manufacturing in China’s Pearl River Delta and become a superior innovative force for the national manufacturing industry, with a high-end platform and outstanding talent and government support. On December 9, the DTech conference will be held in GIDC after vigorous support from the World Design Organization, Korea Institute of Design Promotion, Guangdong Industrial Design and Innovation Services Alliance, Taihuoniao Technology, Midea, Country Garden and other companies and organizations.

Furthermore, human resource is another fuel to power the development of industrial design in Shunde. The Shunde Industrial Design Institute has signed an agreement with Shantou University in 2016 to train postgraduates unitedly and offer them R&D opportunities, trying to transforming the professional knowledge into practices. More cooperating with well -known associations and universities are being planned, together with other moves such as building a technical intelligent industrial park to gather more enterprises and organizations on smart manufacturing, to enhance the manufacture capital’s world influence and achieved world-class development.

Here’s the agenda:

At 2018 TechCrunch Shenzhen 2018, Huami Corporation’s Chairman and CEO Wang Huang, spoke on the future of wearable devices. Huami, a Xiaomi eco-chain company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange in February this year. As of last year, Huami shipped 18.1 million units of smart wearable devices globally, and had recorded a total register use base of 56.1 million.

Wang Huang told participants that Huami has produced smart bands since 2014. The third generation Mi Band 3 is equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that can be used on bus and subway networks in over 160 cities across China, and can also open smart locks.

“Wearable devices have rapidly entered the ecosystem, most significantly in healthcare,” he said. “I believe that one day smart watches will take the place of smartphones.”

While it is true that there has been a craze for smartwatches has gone up over the years, but still when it comes to making a style statement a watch under $200 is more than sufficient to bring out class and complete an attire of a person.

Wang Huang introduced Huami’s self-developed smart wearable AI chip, Huangshan-1, created using open instruction set architecture ISA RISC-V.

“This chip enables Huami to deliver heart rate monitoring, and check for a number of heart complaints,” Wang said. It draws on cloud-based AI to screen for diseases on something as small as a wristband or watch. Even when you are not online, it updates your health stats, he added.

Wang discussed Huami’s market positioning as a company that collects physical data on its clients. As a user-oriented smart device business, Huami collects health data and suggests further services in a closed loop business model.  He said that until the recent Singles’ Day (November 11) shopping festival, Huami had sold more than 30 million units of its Mi Band 2. In the last five months, it has shipped more than 10,000 Mi Band 3s.

Wang said Huami had grown even faster overseas than in China. Europe is now the company’s second largest market. Europeans’ love of sport is a key contributing factor, he said.

Huami is seeking out various partners across the world. The company is working with Israeli firms to develop algorithms, and with Norwegian university research institutes to develop med tech. On a global level, Huami collaborates with Google and other top firms, and is able to leverage channels opened by its partner Xiaomi.

In China, Huami focuses on cooperation with investors and app developers. Wang Huang talked about a maker of smart watches and bands that can monitor elderly care home residents, and about marathon runners who use Huami to monitor their progress at 3-kilometer intervals.

Wang spoke of Huami’s relationship with Xiaomi, its second largest shareholder and main market channel.

“Huami positions itself as a sports and health sector big data firm. Xiaomi positions itself further upstream, as a major IoT platform,” Huang said referring to Internet of Things. The companies work closely together, and have interconnected ecosystems.

Wang said the tech world should watch out for a “revolutionary” new wearable smart device that Huami will launch in 2019.

This story is a translation from TechNode’s Chinese-language sister site. Translator: Heather Mowbray. With contributions from Runhua Zhao. 

On September 17-18, ORIGIN by TechNode had its official launch during the Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SWITCH). Tech leaders and industry elites from ASEAN and China gathered in the lion city to talk about the latest developments in ASEAN-China’s tech and startup scene, delivering a unique experience for all tech enthusiasts.

This year, in collaboration with SWITCH, TechNode focused largely on ASEAN-China’s synergy, uncovering insights on the latest trends and developments in China’s vibrant tech scene and SEA’s rapid growth landscape. At the VC Meetup, we had close to 30 VCs and over 100 startups participate.

Here are some highlights from the event.

On Blockchain and ICOs

Michelle Yeo, Co-founder of DATAVLT, opined that while ICOs are all nice and glittery at the moment, all this hype will eventually die and the companies that have focused on the technology will come to the main stage. According to Ng Yi Ming, Partner at TRIVE Ventures, the dying crypto craze is a good sign for the market. Ng, adding that from a VC investor’s point of view, the more important aspect is where blockchain technology will go in the next five years.

A group of institutional investors comprising of MainNet Capital, LD Capital, BIBOX Singapore, and NEO Global Capital gathered to discuss the future of blockchain, ICOs, and the many tokens that appeared during the past year.

Liu Guojie, Managing Director at BIBOX SEA, shared that the crypto and blockchain markets are going through a normal market cycle, similar to the early stages of internet development. Li Xi, Regional Head at LD Capital in Singapore, added that prices have dropped because some early players achieved more than 100 times return and are cashing out.

Elon Huang, Founder of MainNet Capital, shared skepticism towards the rise of so-called “shitcoins.” He believes that we may see more serious ICO projects in the future coming from bigger institutions.

Shedding some positive light was Piyush Chaplot, Partner at NEO Global Capital, who believes that ICOs have shown us the potential that we don’t have to follow the conventional venture capital path.

Kyle Lu, CEO of Dapp.com, spoke about decentralization in game development. He shared that decentralized gaming will disrupt the traditional gaming industry sometime soon. He revealed that the number of transactions on decentralized applications increased fivefold from the first quarter to second quarter this year. What’s more is that the development of blockchain technology is advancing and new platforms are popping up where transactions can be done faster and less-costly, meaning user experiences on decentralized platforms are improving.

On Mobile Payments

Jocelyn Ang, COO of NETS, and Jeremy Tan, CEO of LiquidPay, spoke about the development of mobile payments and adoption of QR code payment in Southeast Asia. Tan noted that when comparing Southeast Asia with China, it is important to bear in mind that Southeast Asia is a very dynamic region and not one country or one market. It is going to take a while (certainly, a lot longer than what it took China) for QR code payment to be adopted across ten different countries with ten different languages.

Ang shared some key takeaways on whether Southeast Asia can emulate China’s QR code success. First, the pervasiveness and acceptance of mobile payments. Second, the confidence and trust between users and service providers. And third, interoperability of mobile payment services.

On New Retail

Paul Wong, Vice President of Fung Group Explorium, opined that consumers in China are fully digital and a lot of brands and retailers are sort of analog. He believes that the future is going to be data-driven. Companies who can manage data and make sense of data will have the upper hand. He revelaed that offline retailers and traditional retailers have to learn how to capture data along the supply chain and how to deploy AI and other new technologies to optimize and shorten their processes.

Wong, a believer of startups as catalysts, shared that to speed up the processes of improving ERP, CRM, and POS, Fung Group Explorium works with incubators to bring the startup ecosystem into the equation.

On Mobile Marketing

Daisy Wu, Vice President of Chinese mobile marketing agency YeahMobi, revealed that mobile should be first if one wants to do marketing in China. Wu shared that many foreign brands who want to enter the lucrative Chinese market don’t realize how highly competitive the market is that even one percent market share isn’t easy to secure.

Wu added that brands and companies are required to become more data-driven. While collecting data might not be the most difficult part, conducting audience study based on behavior and interest, is crucial and challenging.

On Electric Vehicles

Justin Sim, CEO of QIQ, and Maneesh Tripathi, CEO of Sevak Limited, spoke about the opportunities and challenges of electric vehicles. Both Sim and Tripathi agreed that EV tech is largely mature and ripe for commercialization. Finding that sweet spot is still proving elusive and major players such as Tesla, NIO, and others have also yet to crack that puzzle. However, both are optimistic about the future when asked about the direction the industry is heading.

Sim revealed that a future where electric vehicles are more commonplace than combustion engines might not be too far off and taking a conservative approach, it could be as soon as 2040.

Tripathi added that the transformation from fossil fuel-based vehicles to electric vehicles will only come once players in the economy decide that they have reaped enough returns from fossil fuels and have identified the new money-makers in the clean energy sector.

From VC Meetup

One of the highly anticipated segments at ORIGIN was the VC Meetup where startups had 10 minutes to “speed-date” with VCs. We had close to 30 regional VCs such as Gobi Partners, Vertex Ventures, Openspace Ventures, and more than 100 regional startups participating at this 3-hour VC Meetup session.

TechNode’s vision is to be the #1 platform bridging Chinese and global tech ecosystems. Recognizing that Singapore’s startup ecosystem is booming and that the country also acts as the gateway to Southeast Asia, TechNode was thrilled to come onboard as an event partner of SWITCH this year. We are humbled to have had such great minds join us here at ORIGIN by TechNode, and we’d like to thank our speakers, volunteers, sponsors, and partners who have helped us make this a successful conference.

On October 10, 2018, the Grand Finale for Asia Hardware Battle (AHB) will be held in conjunction with the National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week. Asia Hardware Battle is a regional hardware-tech competition, wholly owned and proudly organized by TechNode. It has been selected to take the main stage at the Shanghai national-level event for two consecutive years.

Showcasing amazing innovative projects, this is the hardware battle of the year you don’t want to miss! Click here to read more and get your tickets today!

What used to be Copy To China has now become Copy From China. Since the launch of the ‘One Belt One Road Initiative’ (OBOR), countries along the belt have since been rejuvenated and awakened, hoping to benefit in multiple areas; economy, technological advancement, and the unique successful business models that gave birth to the unprecedented numbers of unicorns China has showcased to the world. These countries seek to learn from the sudden and rapid rise of the once ‘factory of the World’ to one of today’s superpowers. In line with the OBOR scheme, the government has conscientiously and continually supported the National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week, a week of celebration and focus on the catalyst that speared China to its illustrious status today.

This year’s AHB traversed 9 Asian countries and regions including China, and opened its door to 16 cities, attracting more than 500 applications within a month of its commencement in July. As the name suggests, applicants hail from different places and diverse cultures but harbor the same passion, goal, and dream: to better the world with their innovative hardware-tech solutions. More than two-thirds of the applicants came from outside of China.

After the application phase began a 2-month-long city pitching that covered the following cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi’an, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai. With stringent qualification and evaluation criteria, AHB ensured that only the best 15 teams would represent their respective cities/nation at the Shanghai Grand Finals.

Here’s a quick look at the startups that made it to the Grand Finals:

Beijing: Ling Technology

Product: LUKA – Smart Reading Bot

Shanghai: AUVI Inc

Product: Auvi crystal clear music (AR-M200)

Shenzhen: Roborn

Product: Roborn Robots

Xi’an: BQI Innovation

Product: DTing wristband

Taipei: LUCID

Product: 3D VR Camera

Korea: KITTEN PLANET

Product: Brush Monster (AR Educational platform)

Japan: Triple W Japan K.K.

Product: DFree

Japan: Toletta

Product: Smart Cat Health Monitoring

Thailand: Edison Motors Co., Ltd

Product: Edison Volta (Electric Scooter)

Singapore: EcoWorth Tech Pte. Ltd.

Product: Carbon Fiber Aerogel (Wastewater management)

Indonesia: Neurabot

Product: AI

Malaysia: Atilze Digital Sdn Bhd

Product: Atilze Sensor Hub

India: Tesseract Inc

Product: Holoboard

India: Fabheads Smart Automation

Product: Carbon Fiber 3D Printer

Prominent guests from diverse backgrounds and experiences will be participating as judges and invited partners of the event. They include: Dr. Markus Seidel, Vice-President, Head of Technology and Innovations of BMW Group China; Ms. Anna Arndt, Innovation platforms and partnerships of Volkswagen Group China; Mr. Andrew He, General Manager of Bosch Innovation China; Mr. Max Hu, Founding Partner of LightHouse Capital Management; Ms. Grace Gu, investment principal of Zhenfund; Mr. Paul Wong, Vice-President of Explorium; Mr. Chen Xin, Head of Operations at Hi.Taobao; Mr. Mauricio Estrella, Senior Lead Designer at IDEO Shanghai; and a number of regional guests.

Last week, TechCrunch International Innovation Summit brought the heat to Hangzhou. Tech leaders and industry elites gathered there to talk about future trends, and international tech giants made an appearance, delivering a unique experience for all tech fans.

The two-day summit attracted more than 150 exhibitors and more than 8,000 attendees. NetEase, Tencent, Sina, Sohu, and Phoenix, together with CNN, LinkedIn, FT, PRNewswire and over 200 top international and local media were on-site to report on the event. Chairman of the Technical Committee at Alibaba Group and Founder of Alibaba Cloud Dr. Wang Jian, Representative Officer and Managing Director of Greater China World Economic Forum David Aikman, Microsoft China CTO Wei Qing, iQiyi CTO Liu Wenfeng, and over 100 top industry investors joined us on stage. At the VC Meetup, we had 50 VCs and over 100 startups participate.

Here are some highlights from the event.

On Blockchain and Fintech

Zhang Hui, Director of Blockchain Department at Ant Financial, revealed the company’s initiatives in blockchain technology, specifically its focus on developing the consortium chain. Blockchain’s use cases in the financial sector include high-performance blockchain-based platform to support high-frequency transactions and cross-border payments, a development which still remains a challenge. He expressed his hopes that blockchain will create new business models for the company rather than simply provide value-added services.

Hu Xi, Deputy CTO of Ant Financial and Partner of Alibaba Group, shared with us the new layout and global plans of Ant Financial. He also shared what he thought was the core capability of fintech in the finance industry: the ability to solve the communication link for users, the ability to solve problems related to risk and, most importantly, the ability to build trust.

Emi Yoshikawa, Director of Joint Venture Partnerships at Ripple, spoke about how Ripple is using blockchain technology to improve today’s expensive and time-consuming payment process. It is not uncommon for people to view blockchain as a threat to existing banks and financial services, but when asked about whether Ripple is also seen as a threat, Yoshikawa explained that some innovative banks are actually turning to blockchain technology in the face of fierce competition from fintech companies like TransferWise and Paypal. In China, she believes that Ripple’s services can help improve the lives of migrant workers who rely on cross-border transfer services to send money back home.

On AI and Robotics

Wei Qing, CTO of Microsoft China, spoke about the “small” objective of Microsoft: AI for All. With AI being one of the most significant developments of this era, AI for All aims to empower people with AI for the betterment of human society, to help companies become more competitive, and to help people find more opportunities for development.

Liu Wenfeng, CTO of iQiyi, talked about AI and entertainment. AI has been widely applied in mainly two areas, as tools or entertainment. He believes that empowering entertainment with AI will bring more happiness to people, the most enjoyable part coming from people’s participation in its construction and formation.

Master Xianxin from Longquan Monastery discussed Buddhism, technology, innovation, and staying true to oneself. The fundamental value of Buddhism is not based on economics, but rather on one’s heart. A religious group must stand on its own values to be able to provide true values to the society. Master Xianxin believes that innovation won’t get lost as long as there is guidance from Buddhism. So, based on these values, Buddhism and technology complement each other.

CEO of Catalia Health, Cory Kidd, Chairman at RoboUniverse and EIR at TechStars Ping Wang, and Partner of Promus Ventures, Gareth Keane, gave us a taste of what the evolution of the robotic and AI industry looks like from a Silicon Valley viewpoint. According to Kidd, China and the US are moving closer to each other with exchanges between experts, including scientists, investors, big companies, and entrepreneurs. Wang broke down the ecosystem into three parts: hardware, innovation and entrepreneurial. He pointed out that although China dominates the hardware ecosystem, it lags behind in the innovation ecosystem. He also sees differences in way of thinking between entrepreneurship and accelerators in China and the US; while US accelerators are collaborative and mentorship-driven, China is much more competitive. Keane added that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs tend to be more individualistic and that the US tech hub still has some advantages like a large talent pool. They all agreed, however, that China is catching up to the Valley in robotics.

On Venture Capital

One significant takeaway from the VC Session is that institutional investors are increasingly demonstrating unprofessional or random investment behaviors due to emotional investment driven by fierce competition, putting many VCs’ survival at risk. Nevertheless, the panel, which included James Chou, CEO at Microsoft for Startups Shanghai, Garnett Ge, Head of Cross-Border Ventures at Plug and Play, and Vivian Law, Corporate Innovation Director at Chinaccelerator, expressed optimism about the future of VCs in China’s startup ecosystem.

From Startup Alley

More than 100 startups gathered at Startup Alley to showcase their revolutionary products, services, technology, and talents. We found that there were people from all corners of the world and all walks of life, each with their unique story about what inspired them to embark on their entrepreneurial journey.

Deniz Tekerek, co-founder of Portier, a provider of mobile guest services for luxury hotels, shared his story. He often traveled to places where he felt he became very familiar with, but only through a tourist’s eyes. He knew that there had to be another way to appreciate the city, to feel like he was not just another outsider. So, one day when traveling to Bangkok, he decided to gather a bunch of editors who showed him a different side of the city. That’s when he came up with the idea of developing customized mobile phones, which has a lower barrier to entry than creating an app, to be deployed to hotels so that guests can easily communicate with hotel staff and access hotel guest services systems. The company is composed of a global team of locally-based journalists and tastemakers who provide daily coverage on activities and venues, art, culture, and entertainment to serve guests’ interests.

Maggie Varland, Chief Learning Officer at BuzzBuzz, an online kids learning community operated “of the kids, by the kids, and for the kids,” revealed that the idea for connecting Chinese kids with American kids came from their CEO, Shirley. As a mother, Shirley realized that kids like talking to kids and that forcing kids to sit in a classroom and listen to teachers is ineffective. The simple idea that kids learn the most and remember the most when they’re talking to their friends has been the inspiration of their work.

With each unique company, there will be unique challenges, followed by unique solutions.  Hoi Yeung, Founder and CEO of pGrab, a startup focused on solving information asymmetry for the global crypto market, shared with us what strategy the company uses to overcome challenges. They use what is called the TenX Challenge, sort of like a brainstorming exercise, based on the idea that if you do it right, you’ll be ten times faster. They have what they call “How-Might-We’s”, as to say “how might we take on this challenge?” Using Post-Its, the challenges are categorized on a wall, with the most emphasis placed on the most popular challenges. These challenges are broken down again and again, asking the question of how might we accomplish this goal each time.

From VC Meetup

As one of the more popular attractions at TechCrunch Hangzhou, VC Meetup enabled hundreds of VCs and entrepreneurs to engage with each other over the two-day period.

After eight years, we continue to stand by our mission to bring China tech insights to the world, to help decompose and make sense of a rather complex and fast-changing space.

We are humbled to have had such great minds join us here at TechCrunch Hangzhou, and we’d like to thank our speakers, volunteers, sponsors and partners who have helped us push through for another successful year.

Ant Financial Service Group has recently raised $14 billion in what is believed to be the world’s largest-ever single fundraising. The company has gained attention from global media and capital markets. But the as the company offers a plethora of financial and mobile payment tools, one may ask, is it a financial company or a technology company?

At TechCrunch Hangzhou 2018, Hu Xi, Deputy CTO of Ant Financial and Partner of Alibaba group, spoke about Ant Financial and the company future plans for globalization.

Hu says that Ant Financial Service Group currently has about 63% of the technical personnel, which includes those in research and development, AI, algorithms, data, and key decision makers. Nearly 25% of the technical staff focuses on building fundamental infrastructure.

The company’s president and co-president who lead the company’s two global-facing business units that people are more familiar with—Alipay and Ant Financial—are both from the technical background. From this point of view, the company can be regarded as a technology-driven company, said Hu.

For example, “Double 11” (Singles’ Day), one of China’s largest online shopping festival, has brought on great challenges for the financial business and payment to provide users with reliable, sustainable, stable and secure shopping experience. It requires high-tech solutions to support 256,000 transactions per second, Hu explained. The team needs to figure out how to use big data and AI to solve this problem.

Hu also mentioned the Ant Financial’s loan services for small and micro businesses was initially a solution to provide loan services to buyers on Taobao. Eventually, the company used big data and AI algorithms to achieve something called the “310” model: 3 minutes to apply for credit, 1 second to approve, and 0 people involved in the decision.

Ant Financial Services Group expects to serve more than 1000 financial institutions in the next three to five years, and accelerate the pace of opening up all Ant Financial Services Group businesses including Ant Check Later and Yu’e Bao and so on. “Ant Financial Services Group’s first mission, vision, was to use technology to address inequality in this society,” said Hu Xi.

Ant Financial Services Group has been open to the outside world since 2015 and has gradually launched the Internet Propulsion Program. The company expects to serve more than 1000 financial institutions in the next three to five years. And accelerate the pace of Ant Financial Services Group including loans, micro-loans, and Yu’e Bao. In addition, they want to open up some of the traditional trade-related capabilities and risk-control AI capabilities.

“Ant Financial Services Group’s first mission and vision are to use the idea of technology to address inequality in society,” Hu Xi says.

What is the core capability of the financial industry in the field of digital finance?

• How to reach the users
• How to solve the risk problem in a better way
• The most important problem is the trust problem. The core ability of Ant Financial Services Group in financial aspects, including payment, wealth, insurance and small and microloans.
• Resolve trust, security, and reliability issues. Blockchain is the solution to this problem, so the first layout is blockchain technology.
• The company expects to serve 2 billion users in the next 5 to 10 years, but Ant Financial Services Group staff is less than 10, 000. From big data to AI, there needs to be a more efficient way to serve customers.
• Besides blockchain and AI, the capability at the core of financial services is security. How to provide customers with better safety wind control. The biggest challenge in the digital world is identification, which includes data privacy, encryption protection, and security.
• IoT—to better connect users and to link up the digital world and the real world. Transportation services and fare payment is also an area to tap into.
• Computing capability, not just cloud computing, but capable of providing financial computing capabilities, which should be trusted and reliable.

Serving 2 billion consumers

Ant Financial Services Group is expected to serve 2 billion consumers around the world. The biggest problem is: how to go overseas?

“A lot of people have mentioned blockchain-based remittance,” Hu said Ant Financial’s latest effort to expand overseas is the new blockchain-based cross-border remittance service that is capable of sending money from Hong Kong the o Philippines in less 3 seconds. Hu said Ant financial is working with local partners to expand their services globally.

“We have a strategy to win together with local partners. They have a good local financial license. The whole compliance process is very strict and formal, cooperating with them, giving them empowerment, forming a service mode. We hope to win together with our partners and give them the skills of technology,” Hu concluded.

New retail is no longer fresh now.

When Jack Ma first proposed the new retail concept at the company’s annual Yunqi Conference in October of 2016, he said: “There is no e-commerce in the next ten years or twenty years, there’s only new retail.” As a result, almost all businesses began to call themselves new retailers. Some say new retail is the combination of big data and retail, some say it is the merge of AI and retail, while others say O2O is new retail. So what is new in the new retail sector? What does the future of new retail look like?

Wang Xiruo, CTO of Hema Xiansheng, discussed the role of technology in the future of new retail on stage at TechCrunch Hangzhou 2018. Wang has been working in Alibaba for ten years. Wang was part of the team that built Tmall from the ground up. After spending some years in the online retail sector, Wang decided to join Hema Xiansheng (Hema) where she witnessed the transformation of the traditional retail sector.

Wang said the essence behind new retail is “to apply the idea and technology of the Internet to restructure people, products, and place in an all-around way—from the place of origin to the hands of consumers.” For people, Wang said, consumer’s online and offline behavior and consumption habits will all be digitalized. And through big data analytics, retailers will be able to customize their services according to their customer’s needs. For products, “by restructuring the supply chain system and service system, we can reduce costs, improve efficiency and provide more quality-assured products.”

As for the place, “the principle is to separate the online from offline, and consumers get the same shopping experience through different means.” Wang said these three elements—people, products, and place—will be digitalized based on the consumer experience and the supply chain. And the foundation behind it is the architecture of the internet, cloud technology, big data, IoT, and algorithm.

In the age of new retail, the consumer’s consumption footprints online need to be recorded and analyzed. Wang Xiruo says Hema is based on a distributed architecture, “and this architecture is combined with a decentralized traffic and a decentralized logistics system.”

Wang explains that Hema is using technology to digitize the entire process from membership to commodities, supply chain, logistics, and distribution. After restructuring the system, a new retail operating system is formed—this new system called “retail cloud” which is highly integrated with businesses. Wang said this new technology can benefit traditional retailers and help them upgrade their businesses to join the new retail bandwagon.

From the angle of data algorithms, Wang Xiruo said that the Hema has realized the fully automatic supply chain replenishment using algorithms and data to make intelligent predictions and sales forecasts. Through data and visual records of consumers in store, Hema is capable of making personalized suggestions. Wang said Hema’s 30-minute delivery service is an example of how they are utilizing algorithms and data.

IoT, currently a hot industry, is also one of the closest ally of the retail industry. Wang Xiruo said the essence of the IoT is to establish a seamless connection between the digital and the physical world. Whether it is consumer experience, supply chain or delivery—all require a large number of smart IoT hardware equipment. Hema has explored in this area, Wang said, for example, behind Hema’s self-service POS is actually an intelligent hardware system that “acts as the consumer’s intelligent shopping assistant,” which improves the efficiency of the checkout process.  Wang added that Hema’s electronic shelf label is capable of making real-time price changes via the cloud, which lets consumers see real-time prices online and offline.

New technologies are disrupting the traditional retail industry. Large retailers are forced to adopt the new retail business model. What will happen to the new retail business in the future? Wang Xiruo, who has been in the business for years, is unsure. Wang summarized her thoughts into the following three points: First, “the future will be more open and data sharing will bring about resource sharing.” Second, data itself needs to undergo a transformation—from data to algorithm to AI. Data will have to undergo several phases from being “identifiable, definable, operational, optimizable, to scalable. Third, the age of data has just begun. The ecosystem has not yet formed. Cloud technology, smart hardware, smart chips and AI technology are still in their early stage of development. The era of data technology (DT) in the future is when digitalization and businesses are highly integrated, and so, Wang said, this is a new era full of opportunities and challenges.

On the afternoon of July 4th, the AI World 2018 was held in the Press Office of Shanghai municipal government. At the press conference, Wu Qing, Deputy Mayor of Shanghai introduced the conference.

AI World 2018 will be held in Shanghai from September 17 to 19 of this year by National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Internet Information Office, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government with the approval of the State Council under the background of the historic exchange of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change and the high-quality development demand in China.

The conference, with the theme of “New Era of Artificial Intelligence,” with the “High-end, Internationalized, Professionalized and Marketable” policy, consists of forum summit, special activities, display applications and innovation competitions, focusing on the combination of “investment in production, learning and research”.

2018AIWIN, AI WORLD INNOVATION was been launched on June 13th. With the theme of “enlightening intelligence and setting sail for the future,” the competition, based on globalization, specialization and high end, aims to encourage artificial intelligence, accelerate the talents, find excellent projects, and expand the international influence of China’s artificial intelligence.

This year’s competition has set up the four competitions: human-computer interaction, unmanned driving, medical innovation and intelligent robot. Human-computer interaction is hosted by iFlytek and will select the human-computer interaction products based on the technical ability of iFlytek platform that can represent the future direction.

The unmanned driving competition relies on the Shanghai International Automobile City in Jiading and focuses on the comprehensive application of intelligent automobile network union, and selects the top-notch team of technological innovation.

The medical innovation competition, held by Shanghai Jiaotong Institute of Artificial Intelligence and many domestic hospitals, adopts the combination of clinical and medical practical applications and focuses on three major fields of electrocardiogram, diabetic eye fundus complications, and pathology.

Intelligent robot competition focuses on industry, commerce, service and special robots, plays the experience of international competition with mature micro energy under the guidance of Intel and recruits intelligent robot innovation projects all over the world.

2018AIWIN also collects the mature artificial intelligence industry solutions from the international and domestic artificial intelligence enterprises, and grants the SAIL (Shanghai AI Leader) award to the best artificial intelligence project with the highest quality and the most valuable application value. The SAIL award will be the highest award in this innovation competition decided by the review group from the academic, enterprise, top investment institutions and famous scientific and technological media.

SAIL solutions will be officially launched in August, the corresponding evaluation work will be completed in mid-September through the strict preliminary trial and retrial process, and the award winner will be officially announced at the world AI conference.

Vague, unimaginable, and thrilling. This is our future. With all the uncertainty and unpredictability that the world has to offer, TechCrunch has set out to define what it means to be human, through exploration of the relationship between man and machine.

It’s quite natural for people to talk about the beginning of a period in history with words like “emergence “ and “subversive.” Often times, however, it’s difficult to pinpoint at what particular time has one such phenomenon occurred. Is time and space—the past, present, and future—really linear? What does it mean to define the future?

Human beings have, for a long time, searched for ways to make sense of the world. TechCrunch aims to help people better understand the role that technology has played in shaping our past and our present, so that maybe we can predict how it will shape our future.

The internet, once doubted by even the industry’s smartest leaders, has become essential to our lives. Now, people are talking about how blockchain technology can transform the internet and improve—or destroy—our lives.

Improving healthcare is a timeless effort. Currently, people are looking for ways to apply blockchain technology to optimize health and medicine. LifeCODE.ai, built by TechCrunch Hangzhou after party sponsor WuXi NextCODE, is a blockchain-based data platform that integrates data search, intelligent transaction, distributed accounting, and cloud computing. It aggregates and mines scattered health data, maximizing efficiency in medical record keeping. LifeCODE.ai uses globally recognized data encryption technology combined with blockchain technology to solve privacy and security issues in data storage.

In the first half of the after party, John Gu, Chief Digital Officer of WuXi NextCODE, will introduce the company’s background, its vision for the future, and the overall structure of its blockchain medical database. Duan Tao, former warden of Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital and Founder of Chuntian Medical, and Chen Gang, Microgene Co-founder and CTO, will then discuss how blockchain data banking can be applied and developed in clinical medicine and genetic health.

The rest of the night will be open for mingling!

Don’t wait for the world to change. Come change the world with us.

TechCrunch International Innovation Summit 2018, held in Hangzhou, is co-hosted by reputable US tech media company TechCrunch and its official China partner, international innovation platform TechNode.

Layout

Agenda

July 2-3

Alibaba Cloud Town International Conference Center Phase II, Exhibition A

Top local and overseas entrepreneurs, investors, startups, and cross-border innovation pioneers will make an appearance on the main stage of TechCrunch International Innovation Summit, and share their insights for the future development of technology from AI, e-commerce, intelligent hardware & IoT, biomedicine, gaming & entertainment, intelligent transportation, enterprise services, as well as Internet security.

How far will the shared economy go? Who will lead the future of autonomous driving? What does the future hold for technology? Will AI “change” or “replace”? In the age of IoT, how much space in the market is there for AI sensing? How to run the race in new retail? The answers to these questions and more will be revealed at TechCrunch Hangzhou!

July 2

As we all know, machines are able to operate far better than humans; but when it comes to driving, which involves object recognition and complex decision-making, machine performance falls short. Since the advent of deep learning, however, these capabilities that would otherwise have been impossible or far-fetched have suddenly become more accessible.

Although autonomous driving is still at the road test stage, most major car manufacturers have already set their timeline for launching autonomous cars by 2020.

Therefore, at the upcoming TechCrunch Hangzhou, we are dedicating a side stage to discuss autonomous driving. We invited outstanding companies in this field, all from diverse backgrounds, from chip algorithm and sensors to high precision mapping and capital flows, to deconstruct the past, present, and future of autonomous driving.

July 3

As the “Great Leap” startup wave loses momentum, there are fewer quality projects. Perhaps it is time to slow down and really think about what steps must be taken and how capital should be managed to survive and grow in the maturing investment fund environment.

At TechCrunch Hangzhou, you will have access to investment info sharing from the finest investors in China.

July 2-3

This year, TechCrunch Hangzhou is dedicating an entire stage to blockchain. Get ready to hear about innovative startups breaking up industries run by centralized corporations. Artificial intelligence integrated into blockchain. The exploding hype around EOS and who is stepping up to challenge it. Social networking built on blockchain. Find this and more at the blockchain side stage.

The future is decentralized. Are you ready to be a part of it?

VC Meetup

VC Meetup is a tradition at TechCrunch China events. It allows for more efficient pitching and discovery of new ideas, as it brings together hundreds of entrepreneurs and VCs. Are you ready to be discovered?

VC Meetup: Blockchain

We will set up a blockchain themed meetup on July 2^nd, inviting startups in blockchain as well as local and overseas investment companies.

Rules:

1. VC Meetup is a one-on-one format, participating entrepreneurs will connect with investors with matching interest.
2. Entrepreneurs can find their matches according to their fields at VC meetup
3. Besides signing up, entrepreneurs should also upload BP and marketing materials(ppt/pdf). You will receive official confirmation after being verified.
4. Please plan to arrive at designated area early. Each investor and entrepreneur will meet for 10 minutes. Each team has 3 chances to meet investors. Once a meeting finishes, please stand in line to meet the next investor.

VC Meetup PRO

This year, we are introducing a featured VC Meetup Pro section. VC PRO will add a concentration to the former format. We will invite executives from many organizations to enter an independent area. Those startups the impressed their investors within 10 minutes will be chosen by relevant investment organizations for further discussion.

How to join: Please sign up through the link below if you intend to join VC Meetup PRO.

Startup Alley

Startup Alley this year contains 150 cool technology creative booth, and covers the moment’s six hottest themes, namely blockchain, smart life, AI, intelligent transportation, and will include an international pavilion and product launch zone. TechCrunch International Innovation Summit has over the years been committed to hosting a gathering of entrepreneurs and presenting front line media and investment companies.

Many innovative ideas and innovative companies representing the future in VR/AR, robot, artificial intelligence, industry 4.0 and other fields will be exhibited here with the most creative products and ideas!

Exhibited products

BuzzBuzz、NUSIC、Rocket、Judolaunch、VR & 360º virtual tours、Portier Technologies、Muddy, Your Personal Networking Buddy、niHUB、ABLE、Real Estate Doc、Real Estate Doc、Caohejing Innoclub、ATMdroid、Dbrain、Game X Coin (GXC)、Le Wagon 2 Month Coding Bootcamp、RightPrint、AI Technology Network (ATN)

New product launch

As the leading technology innovation indicator currently, TechCrunch International Innovation Summit has great influence and marketing effect both locally and internationally, and many innovative companies have taken TechCrunch as the new product launch outpost.

Workshops

At this year’s Startup Alley, three guest speakers from Le Wagon will speak to the participants in these interactive workshops, revealing the unique appeal of product development and design through different angles, including, product development and operation, UI/UX design, and building a website in 2 hours for beginners (EN).

How to craft and define your product: product development and operation

July 2 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

UI UX design 101

July 2 3:00 – 5:00 pm

How to Build Your Own Website in 2 hours!（EN）

July 3 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Specials

• Hear from local and international entrepreneurs at the stage in front of Startup Alley. Rewards and surprises are waiting for you!
• We will be selling TechCrunch Official T-shirts limited versions at info tables
• After Party will be on the evening of July 2^nd, there will be opportunities to meet and talk with many local and international guest speakers about the next hot topic in tech trends.

Guidelines

Summit has 7 check-in entries: Media, student, VIP, Standard(3 entries), purchasing tickets on site.

Check-ins will require QR code or phone numbers, emails; or purchase tickets.

Media and student tickets check-ins will require relevant IDs ahead of time, and

Please go through designated entries.

Hangzhou, a city located in China’s eastern coast, has over the years transformed from a second-tier city famous for tourism to a central city home to a number of the country’s most prominent players in tech innovation. Traditionally overshadowed by metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, Hangzhou is finding itself more and more in the forefront of every entrepreneur’s mind. While the rest of the country was experiencing a slowdown in growth, Hangzhou saw steady growth in its high-tech and service sectors, particularly in the information industry.

In recent years, Hangzhou has been committed to building a digital economy and providing comprehensive ecological advantages to create a favorable environment for breeding unicorns. There is a Dream Town in the west of Hangzhou people call “a fantasy island born with dreams,” where more than 7,000 entrepreneurs have settled and 700 projects have taken root. Alibaba, Hikvision, H3C and Mogu Street are just a few examples of Hangzhou success stories. The city has become a magnet for domestic and overseas talent, technology, and innovation, capital, and entrepreneurship. That’s why, in the upcoming TechCrunch Hangzhou, many local VCs will be gathering here in search of the next unicorn.

The cultivation of unicorns is by no means an overnight process. However, the difference between a smooth process and a messy process can be attributed, in part, to the difference between a good VC and a bad VC. Good VCs often lead with clear goals, cooperative teams, shared vision, and determination. A good investor has their finger on the pulse, and is ready to share both opportunities and risks with entrepreneurs. Our speakers, comprised of the VC leaders of Hangzhou, will share their thoughts on how to judge a good project and what it takes to become the next unicorn.

Pang Xiaowei

Founding Partner of Tisiwi

Pang Xiaowei graduated with a bachelor’s from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1995 and continued on to earn his master’s from Zhejiang Gongshang University Hangzhou College of Commerce in 1998. In 2000, he founded the e-commerce website Lianshang. In 2004, he founded “Edushi,” a Chinese online media platform. Pang Xiaowei founded Tisiwi in 2010 and has focused on angel investment in the internet industry since. In 2012, he was awarded the title “Top 10 Angel Investors in China.”

Since its inception, Tisiwi has been focused on angel investments. As founder Pang Xiaowei put it, “It’s like a sugar cane. We focus on the bottom. It’s harder but also sweeter.” Pang Xiaowei, with prior experience in building startups, chose only to invest in the “minority” entrepreneurs who are outstanding and who have dedicated their lives solely to entrepreneurship. In the eyes of some investors, Tisiwi is a bit “wild”. It currently invests in about 20,000 startup projects a year, and the success probability is 1/500, which is far more rigid than the average 1/100. At TechCrunch Hangzhou, Pang Xiaowei will reveal Hangzhou’s rising entrepreneurs.

Jennifer Zhang

Managing Director, Huadan Venture Capital; Founder, Bay West

After graduating in the class of 2002 from Zhejiang University Chu Kochen Honors College, Jennifer Zhang led Huadan Venture Capital and founded Bay West. She was awarded the title “Outstanding Angel Investor in Zhejiang” in 2013, “Top 10 Startup mentor in Hangzhou” in 2015, and “Top 10 Angel Investor Favor by Student Entrepreneurs.”

She has been featured in the New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitungs, and various other international media. She has been an investor judge on CCTV 2’s We are the Hero and CCTV Focus Interview. She has invested in mobile e-health platform Mingyizhudao, travel destination management SAAS Dingdandao, recruitment platform Qingtuanshe, Hangzhou Enter Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., and online language-learning platform Waijiaojun.

Some look to Jennifer Zhang of Huadan Venture Capital as a “queen.” In her “territory,” more than 20 CEOs have thrown themselves at her feet, as she is the most active and one of Hangzhou’s few female investor representatives. The New York Times described her work ethic to be not unlike a “mother hen” and “stern instructor.” It’s true that startups, like newborn babies, require a lot of attention, and her timely guidance has helped many achieve rapid growth. Huadan Venture Capital has invested RMB 50 million in over 30 projects. At TechCrunch Hangzhou, Jennifer Zhang will talk about what it takes to become Hangzhou’s next unicorn.

Xiang Jianbiao

Co-founder, Incapital

Known as “Da Xiang” (Big Elephant), Xiang Jianbiao is the co-founder of Hangzhou InCapital Management, founder of popular investment media B12, as well as the founder of Liang Cang Accelerator.

He holds an MBA from the University of Quebec, has a deep understanding of the internet and rich investment experience in the internet industry, as well as unique perspectives of traditional industries, new business ethics, and humanities.

He has authored an analysis of internet thought and new business models from more than 40 case studies. He has invested in China’s largest credit card service startup 51 Credit Card and leading open source cloud platform solution provider EasyStack, among other projects.

Xiang Jianbiao, known to many as Big Elephant, came up with a company slogan as full of personality as his nickname: Only invest in the world we want. In the past two or three years, the company has invested in more than 70 projects. From Xiang Jianbiao’s perspective, when it comes to investments, timing and direction are equally important. Entrepreneurs must find sustainable solutions with accurate and precise timing, as do investors. At TechCrunch Hangzhou, Xiang Jianbiao will discuss how to anticipate new trends and plan for changing times.

For internet giants, advancing in technology is synonymous with advancing into the future. In just a little over a decade, Jack Ma managed to lead a revolution in China’s internet industry. He built a multinational e-commerce, retail, internet, AI, and technology empire. Its subsidiaries include Ant Financial, Alibaba Cloud, Dingding, and Hema, among others. According to a recent report by KPMG, many tech executives have recognized Alibaba as the industry’s most disruptive and innovative company, exceeding even widely popular names like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. In the face of many new endeavors in AI, blockchain, new retail, cloud computing and IoT, Alibaba’s progressive mentality, advanced technology, and large capital continuously place it ahead of the game. At the upcoming TechCrunch Hangzhou, strategists from the Alibaba team will gather to discuss the future of retail, AI, finance, cloud computing and IoT.

Min Wanli

Chief Data Scientist, Alibaba Cloud

Displaying vast experience in AI, Min Wanli used machine learning to predict the winner of China’s popular reality TV show I Am a Singer, and helped city planners in Guangdong develop a sustainable mobility system through the optimization of real-time traffic data. At Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, Min Wanli led the ET Brain project, an ultra-intelligent AI platform created to improve and transform established systems, from urban traffic flow and environmental management to healthcare. Min Wanli is also a member of the AI Strategic Advisory Committee established by the Ministry of Science and Technology as part of their “Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan,” which articulates an ambitious agenda for China to lead the world in AI

The rise of industrial AI

July 3rd 9:30 – 9:55

Artificial intelligence is finally being integrated into our everyday lives. There’s an extremely high demand for AI across industries, and Alibaba is looking to meet that demand. 

Currently, Alibaba is building an “industrial AI” that can be implemented across industrial fields. Alibaba hopes to see cities, finance companies, cars, supermarkets, and more utilizing their AI. Alibaba Cloud has become a pioneer for artificial intelligence as they show us what this new technology can offer the world.

What changes will AI bring to our lives? What jobs will it create, and which will it replace? How can we expect AI to be implemented in these industries? Hear Min Wanli tell us at our TechCrunch Hangzhou event!

Wang Xiruo

CTO, Hema Xiansheng

Wang Xiruo holds a Master’s in Computer Science from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the National University of Defense Technology. She was the former Chief Product Officer of Alibaba’s B2B website alibaba.com and President of Alibaba’s Business Division in addition to being a Tmall founding member and Tmall Product Technology Lead. Most notably, she was responsible for developing the sales model for Tmall’s “Singles’ Day,” China’s most popular shopping date, and successfully drove its sales revenue to a record high of RMB 168.2 billion in 2017. Before joining Alibaba, Wang Xiruo was Head of R&D at Oracle. She joined Alibaba in 2008 and is now Vice President of the company, as well as Director of Sanjiang Shopping, a supermarket chain that Alibaba bought into in 2016.

Embracing New Retail

July 2nd 14:20 – 14:45

After two years of user online data accumulation, Alibaba’s Hema Xiansheng was born. It joins the other members of the “Alizoo,” a set of Alibaba subsidiaries whose names are Chinese homonyms for animals. Some examples include the Tmall “cat,” “Ant” Financial, the Alitrip “pig,” and the Cainiao “bird.” In Chinese, hema is a homonym for the Chinese word for “hippo.”

Hema Xiansheng wants to revolutionize retail. The retail industry has always been about providing customers with really meaningful goods and services, and Hema Xiansheng wants to take that further. Cutting-edge technology will link every aspect of their logistics planning, from organizing their supply chain to store management. They hope to provide supermarkets that blend customers’ offline and online shopping habits to be as convenient as possible. This is New Retail.

It’s that convenience that’s allowed Hema Xiansheng to explode in success. Their message to fellow supermarket companies is blunt: Adapt or die. Companies have to completely overhaul themselves internally and externally in order to keep their company a part of new retail. It’s not just about having an app or a website; it’s about integrating technology to drive their business’ development. Traditional supermarkets are going to become a thing of the past, and it’s time for these businesses to get ready for the future.

Hema has become a leader in the supermarket industry, and we’re excited to have their chief technology officer Wang Xiruo join us at our TechCrunch Hangzhou event! She’ll talk more about this “new retail” Hema has created, and how this will make supermarkets more convenient and accessible for consumers.

Hu Xi

Deputy CTO, Ant Financial; Partner of Alibaba Group

Hu Xi is the head of the Infrastructure Technology Department and the Chief Technical Architect of Ant Financial. He joined Alipay in 2007 and became the main designer and developer for every generation of their core payment platform infrastructure. As Ant Financial’s Chief Technical Architect, Hu Xi has led efforts to build a platform to provide financial institutions with cloud computing services. Currently, he is focused on the design and development of the next generation of TechFin infrastructure for Ant Financial.

Innovative financial practices

July 3rd 10:20 – 10:45

On June 8, Ant Financial announced that they were going to start another round of financing, this time with RMB 14 billion. This announcement launched its tech financing into its second half of development.

Reports indicate this funding will go to helping Alipay globalize, independent R&D, and cultivate promising local talents in science and technology. Ant Financial will also be collaborating with partners to promote global financing opportunities and strengthen its investments in blockchain, AI, cloud computing, and several other tech industries.

This funding announcement has increased Ant Financial’s total worth to RMB 150 million when only two years ago it was RMB 60 million. The only institutions they are behind are China’s four largest banks, which took decades for them to wield the financial power they do now. Technology is an industry that disrupts and transforms any industry it comes in contact with, especially, it seems, the financial industry.

On the main stage of TechCrunch Hangzhou 2018, get ready to see Ant Financial’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Alibaba Partner Hu Xi talk about how Ant Financial has embraced and internalized new ways of approaching finance. The internet and unique tech projects offer incredible opportunities to learn and innovate, and with this mentality, Ant Financial has succeeded and grown at a rate no financial institution thus far has.

Zhang Sicheng