Delegation Trip to China

In March 2019, we organized our first delegation trip to China as part of our partnership with StartUp AsiaBerlin. The main purpose behind the trip was connecting like-minded people, learn as much as possible, and experiencing a wholly different ecosystem. The delegation trip focused on Smart City, Mobility, and Urban Innovation solutions.

There’s a lot that German companies can learn from exploring the potential of China’s market. As part of the program, participants met with accelerators, corporate representatives, and investors in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong to better understand China’s startup ecosystem and investment culture from diverse perspectives. We started the trip with a tour of Innoway, Beijing’s global incubator and accelerator village which has incubated 2,900 startups and raised a total of RMB 9.1 million. The trip also included tours of other incubators and accelerators such as Troublemaker, the CRI Innovation Center in Shenzhen, Brinc and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park.

The delegation also visited Sensetime – a giant in facial recognition, and Terminus, a Beijing-based IoT unicorn. Both companies are leading innovative smart city initiatives. In Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the participants visited Huawei, BYD, and Siemens.

Participants met with prominent figures in the tech and startup industry and took part in panel discussions and pitch sessions hosted by the German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) and Berlin office in Beijing, along with activities in Startup Grind at Hexcubes in Shenzhen and WHub in Hong Kong.

The trip was a vast success; each participant gained valuable insights into the Chinese startup ecosystem, built strong connections and acquired solid business leads. Following the delegation, we collaborated with AsiaBerlin for the Asia-Pacific Week 2019 in Berlin – an entire week of activities and events focused on creating innovative collaboration between the different startup ecosystems in Asia and Germany.

Interested in learning more about our very first experience with a delegation trip in China? You can check out more highlights on the AsiaBerlin website!