Last week as the warm sunset over Hangzhou’s iconic West Lake, dozens of members Hangzhou’s expat and Chinese business community gathered to share in delicious food, drink a fine amount of wine, and listen to some thought-provoking presentations. But more than anything else, these savvy businesswomen and businessmen came together to build connections and keep their fingers on the pulse of Hangzhou’s rapidly expanding business environment. That's exactly why China Consultants International Ltd and YOOsourcing decided to organize this event and they are planning to arrange many more in the near future.
The night started with drinks and some time to break the ice with the other people attending. Relaxing, chatting and taking in the beautiful sunset view of West Lake from the rooftop terrace of the luxurious Sofitel Hangzhou Westlake Hotel was a great way to set the perfect laid-back tone for a networking get-together.
After the sun had set on the day, attendees moved inside to listen to the keynote speakers of this event. The first speaker, Linqing Lu (Vice Director of the Bureau of Hangzhou High Tech Zone), talked about how rapidly Hangzhou has been developing as a hotbed for Innovation in the Chinese business landscape. Highlighting the scale of opportunities foreign companies can receive from governmental organizations and venture capital enterprises, Director Lu welcomed established companies as well as new entrepreneurs to consider the benefits of setting up business in Hangzhou. He particularly outlined the rapid development of Binjiang district and the fact that it is heavily ramping up efforts to attract more international talents and business to operate in Hangzhou’s fastest developing business district.
The next speaker to take up the mike was Patrick Cheppe (CEO Europe technologies). Mr. Cheppe is a leading business professional in France and came to China to finalize the opening of a new Chinese chapter of the hugely successful hi-tech association, Europe Technologies. With 363 member companies in its ranks (including both Boeing and AirBus!), this France-based association has helped to advance technological solutions in the supply chain systems of major global players. This new chapter of the association is called Empowering Technologies China, and its goal is to help facilitate advancement in the manufacturing and supply industry in China and to unite together many of the emerging brands and products that will dominate the new wave of Chinese innovation in the 21st Century.
The major thesis of Mr. Cheppe’s presentation is that in the wake of major automation of manufacturing and distribution, he sees the future of industrial systems bringing human players back into the production processes through advancements in VR/AR technologies and sensor technology. He envisions an automated system that is controlled and monitored in real time by real people who can see the bigger picture that robots simply cannot (for now anyway).
The last keynote speaker and the organizer of this networking soirée was Milad Nouri (CEO YOOsourcing) who spoke about the future of product design and distribution as the hyper-social and ever-more-connected consumer environment continues to influence the processes and ways we approach creating and moving products. He painted a bright picture of tomorrow’s world of production as consumer demand for individual styles and custom tailored product solutions becomes integrated into intelligent design and production systems. Milad hinted at some of the exciting advancements we can expect to see and cited some of the steps companies have already taken along the road to this radically new world of supply and demand, such as
- The use of blockchain in the security of contracts
- H&M’s publicizing all contracts for production of their product from raw resources until final product to show that they are not making use of sweatshops or non-environmental companies in their products
- QR codes on tags to show the whole process of manufacturing from start to finish on Provenance clothing products.
- Clothing apps that follow your wardrobe purchases and then design new custom garments for whatever occasion you need that are one of a kind and automatically designed for you.
Milad summed up the presentation with one final piece of advice for all companies:
DIGITISE or DIE
Finally, a raffle for some prizes, such as a few nights at the high-end Sofitel Hotel hosting this event, were given away by the General Manager, Raymond Faulkner, who tied the night off with a little brevity as he cracked off a few jokes with the lovely host of the evening, Monia El Cadi. Then came the delicious buffet and more drinks and socializing late into the night.
This is just the first of many more networking events that China Consultants International is planning to hold in Hangzhou. We want your suggestions to help organize future events around topics that expats want to learn about regarding business in China.
Please leave your suggestions for topics you would like to see covered in future Networking events in the comments below!
China Consultants International Ltd // YOOsourcing is a born global enterprise based in China. Our mission is to provide consultancy and services for industrial sourcing, manufacturing, quality management and business development in China.
Please Check out their website for more details:
www.chinaconsultants.cn.com
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