On March 8^th, 2018, in the framework of the STARTUP EUROPE WEEK 2018, YouthProAktiv joined the event, “Hi-Tech Entrepreneurs in the Chinese Startup Scene: Empowered by Women in Tech”. The event was organized by ChinaEU, an official co-organizer of Startup Europe Week 2018, and held at BeCentral, a very famous new co-working place in the heart of Brussels.

The goal of the event was to gather an audience of Belgian/European startups to learn from and network with Shenzen’s European Office for Trade and Investment, Fosun Group and the China-Belgium Technology Center, who presented existing programs and initiatives in place to encourage European entrepreneurs to flux to China or find investors/business partners there.

Ms. Claudia Vernotti, co-founder of ChinaEU, opened the event by giving information about the investment in China by highlighting the local competition and regulation in the Chinese business sector. She mentioned that, highness of local competition in China might make some obstacles for startups as a startup should form a qualified business. Also, as regulation changes to often, startups should follow the business policy very carefully in order not to have problems with government.

While Ms. Vernotti’s speech was about disadvantage for startups in China, Mr. Yang Xiaoguang, Counsellor of the Chinese Mission to the EU, talked about the advantages for startups in the Chinese scene. He said that, China invests to artificial intelligence more than the USA and this makes European investors to choose China as a startup point. Another advantage for startups in China is the growth of its economy that boosted with the speed 6-7% in last 5 years and this is the fastest growing economy in the world. Human resources were mentioned as another advantage: each year 7 million students are being graduated from the Chinese universities and this makes Chinese entrepreneurs to have more options while choosing their employees.

After Mr. Xiaoguang, Ms. Mao Xi, Representative of Shenzen’s European Office for Trade and Investment, took the floor and gave information about employment policy of the company. She mentioned that, the average age of Shenzen employees is 34 and all of them have full-time employment status. For international employees, she mentioned that, the company provides medical insurance and helps in visa documentation issues.

At the end, showcase of best practices of European startups, Ms. Marie Laenen, Community Manager at European Startup Network , and Mr. Frederik Tibau, Content Director at www.startups.be, in China were shared and discussed with audience.

Is someone moving to China???