The time that we only know China of “made in China” is definitely over. In the last 10 years, China has made a staggering catch-up movement in terms of infrastructure, technology and way of living. In the meantime, the roles are gradually being reversed and the West is looking with surprise at the speed with which the country is innovating. A combination of centrally controlled strategy and an extreme focus on data and the customer are the engine of this development.

Artificial intelligence, data and digital technology are central here, so with an app such as WeChat you can arrange, buy and pay just about everything via chatbots and speech. In addition to leadership in “new retail” with companies such as ByteDance, Meituan-Dianping, Alibaba and JD, the Chinese also take the lead in various other areas such as digital health, mobility, IoT, etc. Think of companies such as BYD, Tencent, Sensetime , Huawei and Ping An.

This time, we’ll take you to companies, innovation hotspots, incubators and surprising retail locations in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. We combine our learning journey with participation in some exciting innovation workshops of the Business of Design week in Hong Kong (30/11 – 5/12).