In the past 30 years, China has become a testing field for many new innovations. No country has adopted new technologies as fast as China, on the scale that China can offer. China is often the first market to make new technology mainstream.
The global smartphone revolution was started in America, but perfected in China thanks to massively available affordable smartphones by the end of the 2000s and a market that went straight from landlines to smartphones. Mobile services innovations and adoption followed, embodied today by the rapid rise and success of “super apps” like WeChat replacing, among many other things, physical money. Notes and coins all but disappeared from China around 2015. No other country has reached this level of digitization in 2023.
If it is electronic, China will develop mass-use cases for it. Consumer or business, as China not only has a huge consumer market, but it is also still a very key element of the global supply chain for electronics manufacturing and assembly.
Another staggering current example is electric mobility. By 2020, most of China’s public transportation was electric, in 2022, 25% of all new cars sold in China were EVs. More than any country in the world. And as the largest exporter of cars in the world, China is sending Chinese-made EVs to every corner of the world, built on chips, sensors, and algorithms designed in North America, Europe, or Asia.
China might not be at the forefront of core hardware innovation, but it leads the way in application.
There lie opportunities for innovators, especially startups or early-stage companies working on core technologies such as semiconductor material, sensors, computing power, manufacturing processes, etc. These innovations might take much longer to find mass applications in North America or Europe than in China.
China is keen on working with innovators from all over the world, and Western companies should be been on working with Chinese innovators that have similar goals in mind, society and humanity advancement, and there are proven ways to get the attention of the Chinese ecosystem as a smaller company from outside China.
At Influence Matters, we support cross-border collaboration and will assist those that want to move fast and big.
Being successful in China takes effort and commitment, we support companies that have limited resources with efficient and nimble communication programs that deliver awareness, understanding, and ultimately sales, funding, and partnerships.
To startups looking to succeed in China, we deliver:
Five areas we help startups and scaleups with when they land in China:
Understand the Chinese market: Conduct thorough research and gain insights.
Localize their brand: Adapt messaging and materials to resonate with the Chinese audience.
Build relationships and partnerships: Engage with local companies and influencers.
Leverage digital marketing: Utilize platforms like WeChat, Zhihu, Baidu and Bilibili effectively.
Demonstrate thought leadership: Share insights, publish content, and participate in industry events.
