Recently Guangzhou staged a promotional event of the 2017 Fortune Global Forum in Silicon Valley. Cai Chaolin, director of the forum's Guangzhou executive committee, disclosed that the Forum host city sees an average of 386 newly registered enterprises each day, of which about five are foreign-invested entities.
When media asked if more Chinese in Silicon Valley are choosing to return home and start businesses in China, Cai said that Guangzhou is the second most preferred destination in the nation for returned overseas Chinese to start their careers. Cai also cited statistics from the city’s foreign experts bureau showing that through the end of July, 672,000 returned overseas students had chosen to come to Guangzhou.
Some entrepreneurs who have started and developed their businesses in Guangzhou shared their success stories, exemplifying the spirit of entrepreneurship in the city.
Xiang Xi, CEO of Guangzhou-based Time Network, revealed that he and his technical team recently created the city’s first-ever virtual reality (VR) promotional video, which was released at the city’s Silicon Valley roadshow. "Guangzhou enjoys No. 1 status in the country's VR sector,” said Xiang. “In the future, Guangzhou will also be home to the world's first VR zoo, where you can have fun with prehistoric animals and see signature animals of any zoo in the world.” The company this May also made the official VR video for Beijing’s Belt and Road International Co-operation Forum.
Due to great potential and market demands, Xiang’s company boasts scientists from the United States and England, as well as China's earliest augmented reality (AR) developers. "Guangzhou is reputed for its good environment and great prospects and is thus a blessed place for VR innovation and entrepreneurship,” Xiang explained.
Xiang’s views were also shared and echoed by Du Lan, senior vice president of iFlytek, a global leader in the sector of voice recognition. "Guangzhou offers the best policy support, the most solid industrial basis, and the most excellent government service, creating a favorable environment for AI enterprises to settle," said Du. The high tech company established its South China headquarters in Guangzhou and set up new industrial sectors such as intelligent education, smart electrical appliance and intelligent marketing, expecting its second takeoff in the city.
While the city works like a magnet for niche industries like VR and voice recognition, the centennial Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation (GPC) commemorated its leap forward as the city embarked on a strategy of developing information technology, artificial intelligence and bio-medicine (IAB) industries.
"Bio-medicine, as part of Guangzhou's IAB strategy, will usher in an era of strategic opportunities," said Li Chuyuan, chairman of the company, which aspires to become a Fortune Global 500 member by 2020.
The company’s research institute has enlisted dozens of renowned domestic academicians, experts and traditional Chinese medicine masters as well as two Nobel laureates. One is Ferid Murad, the co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the father of Viagra, who also served as the leader of the GPC research team. The team’s latest result, an innovative biological vaccine, is described as a bombshell discovery that proves effective in both treating and preventing multiple kinds of tumors. As the first of its kind in the world, the vaccine has applied for eight patents.
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab once said Guangzhou is an internationalized city with a high degree of market economy, as well as a community known for its easy life and favorable investment environment.
Harley Seyedin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, further elaborated that "Guangzhou's openness and inclusiveness, as well as its favorable business environment, coincide with entrepreneurs' innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, making Guangzhou the best choice for investment" The Chamber's 2017 Special Report on the State of Business in South China revealed that Guangzhou has become an increasingly preferred destination for investment thanks to the local government's high efficiency, openness and transparency, as well as the city's enormous advantages in infrastructure and human resources.
