venture leaders China 2017: An intensive and fruitful edition
10.07.2017
Arriving on June 26 in the early morning, the venture leaders China 2017 team started their breathless business roadshow in China. Until July 4, they travelled across China including Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, meeting 400 local entrepreneurs, attending 13 workshops and pitching at 7 events. swissnex China, who co-organizes venture leaders China with venturelab since 2014, followed the intensive trip and witnessed the strong spirit of this year’s "Swiss national startup team China”. Here is the recap of the intense and very fruitful journey.
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Monday June 26, Beijing
After the welcome event in the afternoon to meet with local entrepreneurs, the team was warmly welcomed by the Swiss Ambassador to China, H.E. Jean-Jacques de Dardel at the Swiss Embassy. Invited guests from local industries and investment community showed great interest towards the technologies and products presented by the venture leaders. During the reception, they also met the Swiss State Secretary Mauro Dell'Ambrogio, who was invited by the Vice Party Secretary Huai Jinpeng of Tianjin, former Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, to attend the World Intelligence Congress and "Summer Davos" - the World Economic Forum in Dalian.
Tuesday June 27, Tianjin
"The early bird catches the worm!" Day 2 started at 4AM. The team headed to Tianjin for the Sino-Swiss Business Roundtable at the World Intelligence Congress to present Swiss innovation technologies. In the evening, they arrived in Dalian, to join the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in the World Economic Forum until June 29.
Wednesday and Thursday, June 28 – 29, Dalian
On June 28 in the evening, the venture leaders China pitched against each other during the Swiss Incubator Event, and got all the attention from a big group of international audiences. Lunaphore won this competition after an epic final against Climeworks, in front of a jury comprising André Kudelski (Kudelski Group), Olivier M. Schwab (WEF) and Margaret Jack (Adecco Group China). In the next day, the delegation participated the forum and discovered various topics regarding China’s current economic and social development as well as related policies and trends.
Friday to Sunday, June 30 – July 2, Shanghai
In Shanghai, the delegation had 4 pitching events and intensive coaching workshops from local industrial experts. During each pitch, the venture leaders had to fight hard to win the audiences’ votes for the “best pitch” award. Watch this recap video of their pitch contest in Shanghai XNode:
(Tweet above: Flyability presents their drone to the audience)#vleadersChina #investmentnight is having some fun with #drones ??@fly_ability pic.twitter.com/szXf7fOg5U
— swissnex China (@swissnexChina) June 30, 2017
Monday July 3, Shenzhen
As a typical city of China’s economic opening-up and reform, Shenzhen now has become the home city of several tech giants company including Tencent, DJI, Huawei and BGI. The visit to Huawei’s exhibition center for corporate solutions has impressed the venture leaders with the company’s high quality products and its global vision. The Early Investment Department from Huawei also met the delegation and presented Huawei’s investment strategy towards foreign startups and collaboration models.
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In the evening, together with Shenzhen Investment, a government body which promotes the city as the best place for foreign companies to start their business in South China, a group of investors and tech pioneers met our venture leaders and discussed about potential opportunities.
Tuesday July 4, Hong Kong
Last day, 8:30AM. The delegation left Shenzhen to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong Science & Technology Park, the International Business Development and Corporation Department introduced the facility and services offered by the Park. During the lunch, the venture leaders also had interactions with lawyers for a further understanding about the legislation in setting up a company in Hong Kong. The last pitch they had in Metta, a co-working space in downtown, was well received by the audience and successfully streamed live via swissnex China’s Facebook page (below), reaching almost 3000 people.
Press review
- Catch the program's best moments on Twitter
- Read the articles of Global Times China and L'Agefi or watch the recap video of the Shanghai Pitch Contest
- Swiss Ambassador to China Jean-Jacques de Dardel, reiterated his support to Sino-Swiss collaboration and excellence in the Embassy's newsletter.
Partners
The venture leader China 2017 finished with great outcome thanks to the following program partners: digitalswitzerland, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, swissnex China, Canton of Vaud, Canton of Zurich, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich and CTI.