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The Chinese government was critical in creating the groundwork for innovation. Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader at the time, enticed foreign investment and capital with the Open Door Policy, which encouraged foreign corporations to open up offices and do business in China.
FREMONT, CA: China, formerly known as the "world's factory," has risen to become an economic behemoth in recent decades. In fact, the country is predicted to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy in terms of nominal GDP by 2027. Aside from its sheer size, China has effectively transitioned its economy from manufacturing to cultivating an atmosphere conducive to high-tech innovation: it is home to more than 150 unicorns, many of which are world leaders in AI, robotics, and computer vision, to mention a few.
This startup scene was established over decades by the Chinese government, state-owned businesses, huge corporations, colleges, and many other parties. Through the prism of the World Economic Forum's own community of trailblazing startups, this year's cohort of the Technology Pioneers, here is a dissection of the hidden ingredients that have made China a tech superpower.
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Innovation-Friendly Policies
The Chinese government was critical in creating the groundwork for innovation. Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader at the time, enticed foreign investment and capital with the Open Door Policy, which encouraged foreign corporations to open up offices and do business in China. Along with this approach, the government established Special Economic Zones in four distinct regions, including Shenzhen, to encourage more international investment. As a result of the resulting urban boom, these cities were able to present themselves as appealing startup hubs for the twenty-first century.
The Chinese Government Guidance Funds were also established by the government to support public-private investment. These funds, which are collaborations between the federal, provincial, and local governments, invest in industries with emerging and high-potential technologies like AI and robots and the digital transformation of conventional industries.
Industry and Academia collaboration
Because of the Open Door Policy, Zhongguancun, China's Silicon Valley, has developed as a hotspot of innovation. The district, which is located in northwest Beijing, has been known as "Electronics Avenue" since the 1980s before becoming the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Zone. Lenovo arose from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and global tech behemoths such as Google, Intel, AMD, and Oracle established their Chinese headquarters and research facilities here. More than 20,000 high-tech enterprises and startups and about half of China's unicorn companies are situated in the district, which has experienced annual growth rates of more than 25% over the last decade.
Zhongguancun's success is due to an influx of high-tech talent from academic institutions, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which are well-equipped with a startup attitude. Tsinghua Holdings, a university-owned business that nurtures the ecosystem in which academics, industry, and research engage, is a good example in practice. It has commercialized 56 national major scientific accomplishments and contributed to the development of over 62 vital technologies.
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