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Little more than a decade ago， China was not on the global map of innovation hotspots. The focus was on Silicon Valley and Israel. But today， that’s all changed. China， once known primarily as the factory of the world， has moved into the spotlight as a startup nation.
Entrepreneurial talent， venture capital， government policies， startup ecosystems， improved infrastructure， tech hotspots， free trade zones， economic growth and urban consumer markets have led to this change. From large multinationals Lenovo and Huawei to Internet players Baidu， Alibaba， Tencent and Xiaomi， Chinese innovation is no longer in the shadows. China’s vast and fast-growing digital economy is fine-tuned for the latest gadgets from smartphones to Internet-connected wearable devices and bypasses the personal computer era and email.
China has risen to claim the most Internet users and smartphone subscribers in the world. Moreover， four China websites ? Alibaba， Baidu， Tencent and Sohu ? rank among the top 10 largest internationally. It seems the only direction is up. Considering that mobile Internet usage is not universal yet in China， the only direction is up.
Throughout China’s switched on markets， mobile communications is where the action is for texts， chats， shopping， banking and payments. Take Tencent’s WeChat in China. This mobile messaging app zoomed to more 300 million users within just two years after its 2011 launch， and today counts 700 million users.
From transportation to financial services to education， many business sectors such as taxi-hailing services are being disrupted by mobile apps. For instance， China’s leading taxi-hailing app， Didi， counts more than 250 million users in 2015.
China’s leaps in innovation have been led by private enterprise startups that didn’t exist just 15 years ago. Today， these startups have become tech tians and are competing aggressively. Baidu dominates online search in China while Tencent towers in chat and social messaging. E-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com envelope everything from online shopping to logistics to payments.
Tech innovation clusters have sprung up throughout China and are spinning out products that can be commercialized. Like in Silicon Valley， these clusters have formed from collective resources for startups： nearby universities， incubators and accelerators， software parks， talent and financing.
Beijing is a focal point of startup activity in China. The most prominent areas are the Chaoyang district in the central business district and the Haidian tech district， nearby Tsinghua University. China’s startup boom has its roots in the late 1990s dotcom boom when the “returnee” entrepreneurs ? so-called sea turtles ? journeyed home from overseas to launch Internet startups that copied successful Western business models. With Ivy League graduate degrees， professional experience and Silicon Valley savvy， they established search， e-commerce and social media businesses， raised capital from Sand Hill Road， grabbed market share and built publicly traded tech winners. Baidu emerged as China’s Google， Weibo as China’s Twitter， Renren as China’s Facebook， Dangdang as China’s Amazon， Ctrip as China’s Expedia while Alibaba morphed into an eBay， Yahoo and Amazon combined. Chinese leaders Jack Ma of Alibaba and Robin Li of Baidu became icons in China while Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun was compared to China’s Steve Jobs.
Today， in the major innovation hub of Beijing， the tech ecosystem is buzzing with unprecedented activity， a wealth of talent， as well as considerable innovation. Chinese developers are already beginning to leapfrog their foreign counterparts in consumer mobile Internet products， and are catching up fast in many other tech sectors. Chinese entrepreneurs have already been innovating with new business models for several years.
While the copycats defined the first generation of Chinese startups， China’s new entrepreneurs have gained confidence. While not yet developing disruptive breakthroughs， they have become adept at micro-innovations for the local market and skilled at money-making business models.
In a leading indicator of change， innovations developed in China such as the freemium model of video games and all-in-one gaming， social sharing and messaging services are now being copied by western markets.
Homegrown Chinese brands are gaining an edge over overseas competitors that have failed to tweak offerings for local tastes. Chinese smart phone maker Xiaomi， formed in 2010， is a good example as it climbed to become one of China’s and the world’s top-selling smartphone. Xiaomi’s success has been due to building affordable Android devices， designed by Chinese， for Chinese. Look for other up and comers such as LeEco to take a leadership place too not only in China but India and the U.S. too.
Ideas are developing at a fast pace within this startup ecosystem， fed by cloud computing for online collaboration， speedier Internet connections and tech get-togethers for networking and information exchange. Clusters such as in Chaoyang drive this innovation spurt. Another major stimulus has been growth of venture capital and angel investment in China. A few years ago， most of that capital came from Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley from such firms as Draper Fisher Jurvetson， Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins. But today， Chinese venture and angel funds have sprung up. ZhenFund is a good example as the largest angel investor in China with $500 million in assets under management.
China’s serial entrepreneurs are another catalyst of startup fever. Founders of startups from the first generation have cashed out either through public listings， acquisitions or strategic investment. With their new-found millions， they’ve become startup heroes. Everyone wants to become the next Jack Ma. They’ve also helped to spark a new group of startups often working alongside and advising young founders in their 20s and 30s.
Little surprise that China is climbing the ladder for new patents. China has ascended from 8th in the world for new patent applications in 2006 to 6th place in 2008， and to third place， according to most recent figures. ZTE and Huawei score among the world’s top patent filers.
The next horizon for China’s startups is international expansion. Chinese tech titans are strategically investing in U.S. tech startups to gain market share and knowhow， with Alibaba at the forefront buying into Quixey， Tango， Peel， Lyft， Kabam and other innovators in the Valley.
Expect China innovation to continue to unfold and vie with Silicon Valley for tech innovation leadership. The trend of Silicon Dragon is not even into its third decade but already is having a profound influence on the shape of innovations for tomorrow.
Staying central in this evolution， Silicon Dragon has recently developed a strategic partnership with COTC’s Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference. Leading up to a key international contest in Beijing in late July， Silicon Dragon launched a pitching contest June 23 at its annual New York City event， held at Nasdaq headquarters in Times Square. Gloria Gao， deputy director of COTC， gave introductory remarks about the competition and its impact on startups in Beijing’s Chaoyang district.
At the Silicon Dragon event in New York， 19 startup teams pitched on the Nasdaq stage before two of the city’s best venture capitalists： Brian Cohen of New York Angels and New York Venture Partners and Jim Robinson of RRE Ventures. An audience of nearly 250 investors， advisers， founders and mentors as well as media listened attentively while each founder took their turn and pitched. While the startups covered a broad range of technologies ? wearables， solar energy， biotech， mobile apps， B2B analytics and fast food， to name a few ? each one shared in common a desire to expand to China， and specifically to Beijing to scale and realize the full potential of their startups. The judges were tough ? as they should be！ After some 90 minutes of pitching at the event held at Nasdaq headquarters in Times Square， the tension was high. The VC judges scored the founders on five factors： team， market opportunity， business model， competitive advantage and overall impression.
Everyone wanted to know who would be awarded the winning pitch， who would get to go to Beijing to compete internationally in the Overseas Talent Entrepreneur Center to receive funding， free space and startup advice. None of them had ever raised more than seed financing or money from friends and family.
Two winners emerged from the group of 19： Miranda Wang of synthetic biology recycling innovator Biocellection， and Juliane Jones of Panda Corner， an interactive language learning platform that relies on song for teaching.
Silicon Dragon wishes these two New York contenders the best as they compete against contestants internationally for funding， free office space， advisory services and more.
Entrepreneurial talent， venture capital， government policies， startup ecosystems， improved infrastructure， tech hotspots， free trade zones， economic growth and urban consumer markets have led to this change. From large multinationals Lenovo and Huawei to Internet players Baidu， Alibaba， Tencent and Xiaomi， Chinese innovation is no longer in the shadows. China’s vast and fast-growing digital economy is fine-tuned for the latest gadgets from smartphones to Internet-connected wearable devices and bypasses the personal computer era and email.
China has risen to claim the most Internet users and smartphone subscribers in the world. Moreover， four China websites ? Alibaba， Baidu， Tencent and Sohu ? rank among the top 10 largest internationally. It seems the only direction is up. Considering that mobile Internet usage is not universal yet in China， the only direction is up.
Throughout China’s switched on markets， mobile communications is where the action is for texts， chats， shopping， banking and payments. Take Tencent’s WeChat in China. This mobile messaging app zoomed to more 300 million users within just two years after its 2011 launch， and today counts 700 million users.
From transportation to financial services to education， many business sectors such as taxi-hailing services are being disrupted by mobile apps. For instance， China’s leading taxi-hailing app， Didi， counts more than 250 million users in 2015.
China’s leaps in innovation have been led by private enterprise startups that didn’t exist just 15 years ago. Today， these startups have become tech tians and are competing aggressively. Baidu dominates online search in China while Tencent towers in chat and social messaging. E-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com envelope everything from online shopping to logistics to payments.
Tech innovation clusters have sprung up throughout China and are spinning out products that can be commercialized. Like in Silicon Valley， these clusters have formed from collective resources for startups： nearby universities， incubators and accelerators， software parks， talent and financing.
Beijing is a focal point of startup activity in China. The most prominent areas are the Chaoyang district in the central business district and the Haidian tech district， nearby Tsinghua University. China’s startup boom has its roots in the late 1990s dotcom boom when the “returnee” entrepreneurs ? so-called sea turtles ? journeyed home from overseas to launch Internet startups that copied successful Western business models. With Ivy League graduate degrees， professional experience and Silicon Valley savvy， they established search， e-commerce and social media businesses， raised capital from Sand Hill Road， grabbed market share and built publicly traded tech winners. Baidu emerged as China’s Google， Weibo as China’s Twitter， Renren as China’s Facebook， Dangdang as China’s Amazon， Ctrip as China’s Expedia while Alibaba morphed into an eBay， Yahoo and Amazon combined. Chinese leaders Jack Ma of Alibaba and Robin Li of Baidu became icons in China while Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun was compared to China’s Steve Jobs.
Today， in the major innovation hub of Beijing， the tech ecosystem is buzzing with unprecedented activity， a wealth of talent， as well as considerable innovation. Chinese developers are already beginning to leapfrog their foreign counterparts in consumer mobile Internet products， and are catching up fast in many other tech sectors. Chinese entrepreneurs have already been innovating with new business models for several years.
While the copycats defined the first generation of Chinese startups， China’s new entrepreneurs have gained confidence. While not yet developing disruptive breakthroughs， they have become adept at micro-innovations for the local market and skilled at money-making business models.
In a leading indicator of change， innovations developed in China such as the freemium model of video games and all-in-one gaming， social sharing and messaging services are now being copied by western markets.
Homegrown Chinese brands are gaining an edge over overseas competitors that have failed to tweak offerings for local tastes. Chinese smart phone maker Xiaomi， formed in 2010， is a good example as it climbed to become one of China’s and the world’s top-selling smartphone. Xiaomi’s success has been due to building affordable Android devices， designed by Chinese， for Chinese. Look for other up and comers such as LeEco to take a leadership place too not only in China but India and the U.S. too.
Ideas are developing at a fast pace within this startup ecosystem， fed by cloud computing for online collaboration， speedier Internet connections and tech get-togethers for networking and information exchange. Clusters such as in Chaoyang drive this innovation spurt. Another major stimulus has been growth of venture capital and angel investment in China. A few years ago， most of that capital came from Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley from such firms as Draper Fisher Jurvetson， Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins. But today， Chinese venture and angel funds have sprung up. ZhenFund is a good example as the largest angel investor in China with $500 million in assets under management.
China’s serial entrepreneurs are another catalyst of startup fever. Founders of startups from the first generation have cashed out either through public listings， acquisitions or strategic investment. With their new-found millions， they’ve become startup heroes. Everyone wants to become the next Jack Ma. They’ve also helped to spark a new group of startups often working alongside and advising young founders in their 20s and 30s.
Little surprise that China is climbing the ladder for new patents. China has ascended from 8th in the world for new patent applications in 2006 to 6th place in 2008， and to third place， according to most recent figures. ZTE and Huawei score among the world’s top patent filers.
The next horizon for China’s startups is international expansion. Chinese tech titans are strategically investing in U.S. tech startups to gain market share and knowhow， with Alibaba at the forefront buying into Quixey， Tango， Peel， Lyft， Kabam and other innovators in the Valley.
Expect China innovation to continue to unfold and vie with Silicon Valley for tech innovation leadership. The trend of Silicon Dragon is not even into its third decade but already is having a profound influence on the shape of innovations for tomorrow.
Staying central in this evolution， Silicon Dragon has recently developed a strategic partnership with COTC’s Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference. Leading up to a key international contest in Beijing in late July， Silicon Dragon launched a pitching contest June 23 at its annual New York City event， held at Nasdaq headquarters in Times Square. Gloria Gao， deputy director of COTC， gave introductory remarks about the competition and its impact on startups in Beijing’s Chaoyang district.
At the Silicon Dragon event in New York， 19 startup teams pitched on the Nasdaq stage before two of the city’s best venture capitalists： Brian Cohen of New York Angels and New York Venture Partners and Jim Robinson of RRE Ventures. An audience of nearly 250 investors， advisers， founders and mentors as well as media listened attentively while each founder took their turn and pitched. While the startups covered a broad range of technologies ? wearables， solar energy， biotech， mobile apps， B2B analytics and fast food， to name a few ? each one shared in common a desire to expand to China， and specifically to Beijing to scale and realize the full potential of their startups. The judges were tough ? as they should be！ After some 90 minutes of pitching at the event held at Nasdaq headquarters in Times Square， the tension was high. The VC judges scored the founders on five factors： team， market opportunity， business model， competitive advantage and overall impression.
Everyone wanted to know who would be awarded the winning pitch， who would get to go to Beijing to compete internationally in the Overseas Talent Entrepreneur Center to receive funding， free space and startup advice. None of them had ever raised more than seed financing or money from friends and family.
Two winners emerged from the group of 19： Miranda Wang of synthetic biology recycling innovator Biocellection， and Juliane Jones of Panda Corner， an interactive language learning platform that relies on song for teaching.
Silicon Dragon wishes these two New York contenders the best as they compete against contestants internationally for funding， free office space， advisory services and more.