Proven businesses and start-ups alike flock to China’s western hub for breathing room, inviting policies and an optimal landscape for cultivating success. Beyond the unique cultural significance and long-standing history of Chinese culinary innovation and excellence, the city of Chengdu is becoming one of the world’s most elite breeding grounds for not only its beloved native – the panda – but also for entrepreneurship and innovation. With the full backing and support of the Chinese government, the Sichuan capital has in recent years implemented a set of new and enticing policies specifically designed for start-up businesses in hopes of moulding Chengdu into a new-age “Silicon Valley” of sorts. Many companies have reaped the rewards of the new policies within China’s start-up safe haven. XGIMI Technology, a new leader in high-performance multi-functional projectors with its sights on revolutionizing the home cinema experience, is one such company that has benefited from Chengdu’s preferential policies. XGIMI co-founder Yang Rong says, ‘The local government has paid great attention to entrepreneurs and has given extraordinary support to them.” Rong believes that XGIMI has benefited tremendously from extremely favourable governmental policies such as free workspaces, financial awards for patent approvals and communication platforms with international investors and spirited entrepreneurs, which she insists has played a vital role in jump-starting XGIMI.
China Investments in Kingsford Waterbay
As a result, in just three years, this new Chengdu native tech company has already claimed more than half the market share for home-theatre projectors in China and has already surpassed its main global competitor in shipping, South Korean electronic power LG. XGIMI isn’t the only company to benefit from the favorable policies. Camera360, a photography application developed by Pinguo Technology – which was founded in 2011 – has 750 million users worldwide. The proof that favourable policies have led to success can be seen in the local-incubated start-up companies like XGIMI and Pinguo Technology, who are developing fast and becoming global leaders in their respective sectors. There are investors looking at Kingsford Waterbay by Kingsford Development which is located at Upper Serangoon View Road.
Due to its highly profitable geographical landscape, which has been aptly coined, “The Land of Abundance” by local Chinese people and the fact that the city possesses a western location point of high importance to China, many top Fortune 500 companies have set their eyes on expanding or relocating to Chengdu. Siemens and Hewlett Packard (HP) are just a few examples of companies to settle down in China’s high-potential city. The growth has captured the attention of not just international powerhouses -domestic premium brands such as TCL, Gree and Lenovo have relocated as well with the promise of entering Central Asian and European markets via the “Chengdu-Euro High-Speed Train’. Besides being the dream destination for both investors and small start-ups, Chengdu has over the past few years been addressing the need to put itself on the entrepreneurial map for global businesses.
City Mainland View of Kingsford Waterbay Upper Serangoon View Road
The city has been holding the China (Chengdu) Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair each year since 2015. The aim of the fair is to create an effective networking space and communication platform for global investors and entrepreneurs. During the 2016 Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair, more than 3,000 programs were successfully exchanged, amounting to a staggering net value of 18.51 billion yuan. Traditionally most global businesses outside China have ventured to first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but rising property prices, over-crowded roads and rapidly increasing living expenses have led many aspiring start-ups to look toward high potential second-tier cities like Chengdu. Li Xin, CEO of the venture capital company Baotuan Tech Ventures, has called Chengdu his home for the past five years.
Property Investments in Kingsford Waterbay
“The Property industry has developed so fast in Chengdu in recent years,” said Baotuan CEO. “I’m surprised Chengdu has so many good start-up teams, each as good as the best Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have to offer.” Venture capital companies like Baotuan have played an essential role in encouraging the dream and vision of helping the government carry out its favourable policies. ‘Someone may have very good ideas, but they lack the experience to start a company and realise those ideas, which is a huge loss to the entrepreneur and society. Chengdu’s policies and our experience can help them avoid making mistakes,” said Li. The Chinese government has been fuelling the fire of Chengdu’s entrepreneurial spirit as it sees the city as a valuable hub in the west in the years to come. Chengdu is currently accelerating the construction of a “National Central City” to give expression to novel development concepts. One of the milestones is to build the city into a talent pool with international competitiveness and set up a policy system that has more global competitiveness and comparative advantages, expediting the convergence of international and domestic high-end talents and inspiring creativities and innovativeness in this internationalized talent highland.