The Dream Factory of China

Source :Qianhai Communication Center

Zhao Zizhou came to Qianhai to set up his company Aiator Technology Co., Ltd. three years ago when he returned from the United States.

His company, located in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (the E-hub), now has 20 employees, all of whom are younger than 27 years old.

Zhao said he had learned about Qianhai at a business promotion event in the United States when he was a student at University of California Berkeley. He had been attracted to the business-oriented environment of Qianhai, as he wanted to start his own business after finishing his studies at Berkeley.

Zhao said his company mainly utilizes the AI (artificial intelligence) technology to produce AI-based robots and develop AIoT (AI+IoT) platforms.

He said a textile robot his company has developed is able to finish the workload that would usually require three people, greatly saving labor cost.

Aiator received three rounds of financing after settling at the E-hub in 2017 and received a total of 3.2 million yuan (US$457,210) in subsidies from the city and from Qianhai authority over the past three years. The subsidies have been important to the development of the startup, Zhao said.

“Shenzhen has an ideal business environment for the private sector, for small and micro-sized companies, and startups,” said Zhao, adding that he had made the right choice to start his business in Qianhai.

Zhao is among several hundred young entrepreneurs who have started their businesses in Qianhai since the free trade area was inaugurated five years ago.

A total of 446 startups have been initiated in the E-hub so far, of which, 227 have been established by entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other overseas countries. They have received total investments of more than 1.5 billion yuan.

When the second phase of the E-hub is put into service later this year, Qianhai will provide even more space and a better environment for startups.