'AHK Innovation Insights' Newsletter

Accelerate Your China Innovation  

Open for Registration: The AHK Innovators Club

This new mentorship program developed and hosted by AHK Greater China aims to connect German innovators in China and help them overcome innovation barriers and challenges. The program offers an open network of innovation-sparring partners, pairing chamber members into Mentor and Mentee relationships to foster growth and development. Our vision is to provide a platform for seasoned experts, young professionals, and entrepreneurs to support one another and improve their innovation capabilities in China.   

Therefore, we seek enthusiastic mentees willing to engage with their mentors and experienced mentors eager to give back to the community and help fellow professionals grow and innovate. If you encounter innovation barriers in your business, this program allows you to connect with like-minded professionals and learn from each other. Our first pilot batch is starting in the beginning of 2024 and runs for 6 months.   

If you are interested in our AHK Innovators Club, please register here until December 31, 2023 and share it with others. If you have further questions about the program, please get in touch with Christoph Hering through hering.christoph@china.ahk.de.   

Innovator Spotlight

Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic challenges, manufacturers globally are making substantial investments in factory modernization. These changes underscore the need for agile production, resilient supply chains, and precise inventory management and open up to new market opportunities, particularly in healthcare/life sciences, automotive, and semiconductors. In an exclusive interview, Michelangelo Canzoneri, Global Head of Smart Manufacturing at Merck, shared his insights on the company's transition from traditional manufacturing to "SMARTfacturing." – Read more in our newsletter.  

China´s Innovation Landscape 

China is further stepping up its AI (governance) game

China continues developing a regulatory regime for AI governance, being cautious with algorithms that affect the public, such as generative AI. Also known as TC260, the new regulations introduce a detailed framework and new institutions established to support industrial applications of AI, like autonomous driving and smart logistics. The National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee has proposed rules for determining safety risks, including when to ban data sources from training models and metrics for testing accuracy.  

From Science Fiction to Reality: China is making steady progress in autonomous driving (and flying)  

Shenzhen aims to lead in intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) by seeking to operate 100 driverless cabs and 100 driverless buses by the end of this year. Further, Chinese drone manufacturer Ehang achieved a significant milestone by receiving type certification for its fully autonomous EH-216-S AAV model, a two-seater autonomous drone, paving the way for air taxis. These examples showcase China's rapid progress in autonomous technology and air mobility.

Bertelsmann Commits  USD 700M to Chinese Start-ups and Tech Groups  

Bertelsmann Investments, a prominent German venture capital fund, plans to invest an additional USD 700 million in Chinese start-ups, driven by their CEO Carsten Coesfeld's confidence in China's economic growth and appreciation of Chinese entrepreneurial talent. Over the next three to five years, they aim to support Chinese tech groups and Chinese start-ups going global. Despite geopolitical tensions and market challenges, Bertelsmann Investments sees potential in the push from the Chinese government to stimulate economic activity and foreign direct investment, suggesting opportunities in the Chinese market. 

Past Innovation Events 

World of Tech 2023 Shenzhen 

Time: 2023/11/24-25 
Location: JEN Shenzhen Qianhai By Shangri-La, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 

WISE2023 The Sun always rises Beijing (in Chinese) 
Date: 2023/11/28-29 
Location: （北京朝阳）北辰东路8号院北京国际会议中心 

Google DevFest 2023 Shanghai 
Date: 2023/12/10 

2023 Global Automotive Electronics Summit Shanghai 
Date: 2023/12/12 

Digital Transformation Innovation Summit DTCN2023 Shanghai 
Date: 2023/12/15 

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China´s Innovation Events 

Experience Disruptive Innovation at the Xceleration Days 2023

The AHK Greater China Xceleration Days (X-Days) is an unrivaled Sino-German business event attracting up to 900 business leaders, executives and political representatives to connect, engage, network and advance their business cooperation in Germany and China! The X-Days will be held from November 8-11 in Shanghai, covering four major topics: Decarbonization, Advanced Manufacturing, Healthcare and Disruptive Innovation. Join industry leaders, innovators, and unicorns at X-Days to explore the latest technology innovations and product demos, accelerating your China business.

If you're interested as a partner, or speaker at X-Days 2023 and sharing your latest breakthroughs, technology achievements and founder story, please apply to be a speaker by contacting our AHK X-Days events team at xdays@china.ahk.de

We are looking for the most innovative and impactful stories of the year, so don't hesitate to reach out if you have something valuable to share about innovation in China. 

Innovator Spotlight

With growing digitalization and cross border data transfers, the need for secure, compliant data spaces and exchanges in China is becoming increasingly relevant. We spoke to Markus Spiekermann from Fraunhofer about how German companies keep control over their data in China and beyond. More in our member exclusive newsletter (for more details, contact Christoph Hering below).   

China's Innovation Landscape 

Volkswagen Accelerates Innovation in China with €1 billion Push for Market Share in China

German car maker Volkswagen plans to invest and launch a €1 billion innovation center in China through its new company called 100%TechCo. The center will employ around 2,000 people and will play a significant role in the development of future Volkswagen models and technologies for China (where its market share declined to 16% last year). With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles in China, Volkswagen hopes to better appeal to local customers and improve its position in the country’s rapidly growing automotive market. Ralf Brandstätter, VW’s board member responsible for China, said 100%TechCo was an important step for VW’s In China, for China strategy. According to Volkswagen, the new company will reduce the time needed to develop new products and technologies for China by about 30%. 

Source: Patricia Nilson, Financial Times, April 18, 2023

Chinese Startups Revolutionizing the Funeral Industry: The Emergence of Digital Cemeteries and Virtual Memorials 

Digital technologies are transforming China's funeral industry, as companies like Fu Shou Yuan offer virtual memorials that can replicate the voices and looks of the deceased through artificial intelligence. The company has created a digital cemetery in Shanghai, featuring lush greenery, interactive elements and holographic projections. The cemetery provides a "healing garden" for families to visit virtually and pay tribute to their loved ones. In addition, Beijing has launched five digital cemeteries that use augmented reality, VR technology and electronic screens above each grave to screen images and voice recordings of the deceased, offering a more innovative approach to traditional cemeteries. 

Source: Hu Min, Shine, June 23, 2023 

Chinas Largest Face-swapping Fraud Highlights New Risks of AI-Driven Fraud 

China’s biggest deepfake scam to date should be a warning about the rise in fraud cases using AI tools such as face-swapping, video generation and voice mimicking. A Fuzhou tech firm’s legal representative was allegedly defrauded of RMB 4.3 million ($610,000), after receiving a video call from a “friend,” who turned out to be a fraudster using AI face-swapping technology. With the rapid growth of AI generated media and new fraud schemes, companies and individuals should be aware of new potential attacks. Initial excitement around the potential of ChatGPT and similar AI products in China has given way to concerns over how AI could be used to supercharge criminal activity. 

Source: Financial Network - Caijing, May 23, 2023

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AHK Innovation Events 

Successful kick-off of the Innovation Dialogue event series In Guangzhou

On March 3, the German Chamber of Commerce in China invited with over 150 guests and partners from the Greater Bay Area to discuss key insights from the first “Innovation Survey” published in 2022, and took a deep dive into practical innovation strategies. One of the highlights of the event was the panel discussion on successful “Open Innovation,” which included first-hand insights from Herrenknecht and HyperPark on how they created an innovative solution for China's limited parking spaces.

Innovator Spotlight

HyperPark solves China's car parking crisis through open innovation. 

The demand for parking spaces in China has increased significantly due to the rapid urbanization of Chinese cities over the last few decades. According to Statista, there were roughly 300 million cars registered in China in 2021, and this number is expected to continue to rise. This has led to traffic congestion, wasted time, and the consumption of valuable real estate in urban areas for parking. We spoke with the CEO of HyperPark at the last Innovation Dialogue event about their innovative solution to solve the problem of China´s parking crisis. 

China´s Innovation Landscape 

BYD tripled their sales in 2022. How did they do it?

Chinese car manufacturer BYD sold a total of 1.86 million electric cars last year. Not only have they tripled their sales compared to 2021, but they are now the number one manufacturer of electric vehicles worldwide. What role did innovation play in BYD’s rise? One of the key factors for BYD was to first develop key components in-house and second to adopt a dual strategy of all-electric and plug-in hybrids over a wide range of nearly 70 models. Like Tesla, BYD's strategy is to manufacture key components in-house and build a successfully integrated supply chain. The mix of in-house production of key components, resilient supply chains and customer-oriented innovation paid off for BYD and may be a best practice for other players in the EV space. 

The GBA and Beijing are ranked among the top 3 of the Global Innovation Index 2022 

Two areas in China were ranked as the second and third most innovative areas in the world - according to the Global Innovation Index 2022, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Tokyo–Yokohama continues to lead the top 100 science and technology clusters, closely followed by the two Chinese Innovation hubs in Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou and Beijing. Seoul and San Jose–San Francisco rank fourth and fifth in 2022. 

Members can find the full version of 'Innovation Insights' in their inbox.