November 10, 2023
On October 18, 2023, BRICH and Biz Switzerland jointly hosted the second session of the 2023 Swiss-Chinese Business Innovation Cooperation Training Camp (hereinafter referred to as "SCBA"). The conference was technically supported by Mcqueen Technology Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd. We would like to express our gratitude to the leaders, experts, and outstanding entrepreneurs who attended this event.
The conference was held in the form of an online closed-door briefing, hosted by Connie WAY, the Executive Director of Biz Switzerland in China. The conference brought together members of the HAI Bizclub, experts in applied technology, business elites, entrepreneurs, investors who are interested in the Sino-Swiss economic situation, and scholars who want to understand the current foreign economic relations of both regions.
During this event, Professor Markus Prandini from the Swiss Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences, Ms. Connie WAY, the Executive Director of Biz Switzerland in China, and Ms. Nadine WEI, the Chief Representative of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce's German office, to deliver insightful speeches.
In her speech, Ms. Connie WAY, the Executive Director of Biz Switzerland in China, first brought a simple background introduction. She stated that the SCBA includes ten series of topics, which will be held online monthly from September 2023 to August 2024. During the 12-month learning process, our experts and keynote speakers will guide and answer one-on-one questions about the principles of market access, investment, and business development in China.
Subsequently, Ms. WAY deeply analyzed the current situation of the Chinese market, regional economic trends, and differences. She pointed out that in addition to the well-known Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development region and the golden sign of first- and second-tier cities, there are still many "dark horse cities" in China's inland areas that are rapidly developing. These cities have low operating costs, abundant human resources, a broad consumer market, and a high degree of complementarity with first-tier cities. For foreign companies, these emerging cities also hold massive market potential.
At the meeting, Ms. Nadine WEI, the Chief Representative of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce's German office, introduced the advantageous business environment in Zhejiang from the perspective of foreign investment and development. She mentioned that Zhejiang Province, with its unique foreign trade foundation, has clearly positioned industrial parks and free-trade zones, providing good hardware infrastructure for attracting foreign investment to Zhejiang. Each park provides high-quality office spaces and supporting services for foreign companies based on its focus area, greatly facilitating foreign business operations.
Simultaneously, Ms. WEI specifically analyzed how to better use the tax reduction, subsidy support, and other preferential policies introduced by the governments of various regions in Zhejiang to assist foreign companies in quickly adapting to the local business environment, reducing initial operational costs, and achieving smooth start-up and accelerated development.
The last speaker was Professor Markus Prandini. He provided a more in-depth explanation on the topic of site selection in China. Swiss companies considering landing in China need to make choices from dimensions such as region, industrial clusters, and cities, and need to obtain a series of information to make decisions in each dimension.
Professor Prandini analyzed the most potential and market-focused industry directions in China from 2023 to 2024. Professor Markus believes that new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, great health, and the digital economy will be the main directions of China's economic transformation and upgrading.
Next, Professor Prandini introduced us to typical cases where regions like Shanghai and Shenzhen successfully combined characteristics with industry development, based on their own advantageous resources. These successful cases demonstrate that leveraging regional advantages and seeking industrial synergy is key to promoting high-quality regional economic development.
The event successfully helped companies intending to "go out to sea" and entrepreneurs and investors interested in Swiss-Chinese investment by providing excellent prospects analysis. It achieved the beautiful vision of promoting cooperation between Swiss and Chinese enterprises and promoting the innovative development of enterprises in both countries, injecting new vitality into Sino-Swiss economic and trade cooperation. The event truly realized the high-quality resource exchange, complementarity, and win-win between China and Switzerland.
