The German Innovators in China Podcast: Providing access to innovation trends in China & the EU Bettina B. Scheibe

In this episode, Bettina talks with Philippe and Felicia from Swissnex in China about the Swiss "super tool box" of highly integrated services and why "hitting the ground running" is one of the best IP protection strategies in the Middle Kingdom.



Key tips / take-aways include:


Deep tech startups usually have a significant competitive advantage which is hard to copy overnight. If you are a deep tech founder and are still worried about being copied, don’t come to China.
Startups entering China should not be in R&D stage, and be well prepared. Once landed in China, they should hit the ground running to further ensure their competitive edge.
Early collaboration with multinationals and support networks like Swissnex is a great way to progress quickly and gain access to trustworthy information about potential local partners.



About the guests:

Philippe Roesle is CEO at Swissnex in China, Consul at the Swiss Consulate in Shanghai and Head of the Science, Technology and Education Office at the Swiss Embassy in Beijing.

Felicia Wang is Startup Manager at Swissnex in China. She runs the Innosuisse China camp program which aims at empowering Swiss deep tech startups' market validation and entry in the Chinese market.



About Swissnex:

Swissnex is the Swiss global network connecting the dots in education, research, and innovation. The six Swissnex locations (Bangalore, Boston, Shanghai, San Fransico, Rio de Janerio and Osaka) and their outposts are established in the world’s most innovative hubs. Together with around twenty Science and Technology Offices (STO) and Counselors (STC) based in Swiss Embassies, the network contributes to strengthening Switzerland’s profile as a world-leading innovation hotspot.



Links:

Philippe Roesle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippe-roesle-%E4%BD%95%E8%BE%89-71423a89/

Felicia Wang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicia-%E7%8E%8B%E8%B6%8A-00a2b4123/

Swissnex in China website: https://swissnex.org/china/

Swissnex in China on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swissnex-china/

GINN: ⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/german-innovators/⁠⁠

Bettina Scheibe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettina-b-scheibe-b069b45a/

Johannes Paul Lehmann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-paul-lehmann-mba-68048084/

Jelte Ansgar Wingender, CEO of the businesses FoundersLair, Dealflow and Flair, shares his best practices on how to manoeuvre the government-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem in China. He further gives hands-on advice on how to secure your IP if you are building a hardware startup.



Key tips include:


Enter Chinese startup competitions since it is a great way for you to develop an understanding of the government-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem, its dynamics and your Chinese competitors. 
Use the FoundersLair platform to gain an overview of startup competitions and find the best fit for your industry.
Try out China’s 2nd TIER cities if you want to test out your product. (Your office might still be best located in BJ and SH, as they offer the best international connectedness.)
There are multiple ways to effectively protect your IP in China. Foxconn (Honhai Technology Group), for example, can help hardware startups to file Chinese patents to secure their hardware related IP.
Investigate China with your own team first and truly understand, learn and build trust. Don't outsource to a partner or middleman from the start.



About:

Jelte Ansgar Wingender: ⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/jelteansgarwingender

FoundersLair website: ⁠⁠founderslair.com⁠

FoundersLair on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/founderslair

Foxconn IP Consulting: https://www.honhai.com/en-us/

GINN: ⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/german-innovators/⁠⁠

Bettina Scheibe: ⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/bettina-b-scheibe-b069b45a/

Bettina and Wei Zhou, CEO of the Shanghai based accelerator XNode, discuss how startups can scale their China business and become successful in China long-term.



Key tips include:


Work closely with international corporates and international networks during your market entry phase.
Find a Chinese middleman on the ground who can grant you access to local governments, state owned enterprises and Chinese corporates. This middleman can be a Chinese manager, a sales channel partner or an accelerator with strong Chinese ties.
Form a China entity which is separate from your global business, and which implements a China-for-China approach. China-for-China means having a separate product, separate strategy and separate operations tailored to the Chinese market.
Consider giving the majority shareholding of your China business to your Chinese partner. Your China entity would hence count as a Chinese enterprise and gain better access to networks, customers and funding opportunities.



About:

XNode website: ⁠www.thexnode.com/

XNode on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/6579325/admin/feed/posts

GINN: ⁠linkedin.com/company/german-innovators/⁠

Wei Zhou: ⁠linkedin.com/in/wei-zhou-30919b/

Bettina Scheibe: ⁠linkedin.com/in/bettina-b-scheibe-b069b45a/

Felix Reinshagen, CEO and co-founder of NavVis, shares his personal China experience and explains why the market is so important for deep tech startups today.

He points out that entering the Middle Kingdom early on can help you to fully understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks of a new technology, especially in deep tech. And he finds that being focused on a few, well-defined industry segments is a key success factor in China sales.

Last but not least, Felix calls on all startups to meet their Chinese competitors in China first (rather than letting them surprise us in other markets).



About:

NavVis: https://www.linkedin.com/company/navvis/

GINN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/german-innovators/

Felix Reinshagen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-reinshagen-527ab97a/

Bettina Scheibe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettina-b-scheibe-b069b45a/

Jason Alleyne, co-founder and Managing Director of the startup CFO-AI, shares how collaboration and gamification have made a difference for his personal journey in the Chinese market.

He finds that family pride, group KPIs and the incentivisation of societal behaviour via gamification play a key role in China and are the secret sauce that makes Chinese businesses so successful.



Chapter marks: 

(00:00:00)  Intro

(01:09:08)  Zero bias for max collab mindset

(02:44:02)  Collaboration and gamification

(04:12:19)  InnoHive innovation game

(09:06:21)  Multinational and heterogenous setup

(10:55:21)  Growing cfo-ai with PE

(14:02:21)  Getting rid of limitations / 1+1=110

(17:53:03)  Re-imagination / societal good

(22:59:01)  Family pride / group KPIs

(25:59:04)  Collab with a few / competition of many

(30:54:04)  Thinking in boxes / gamification

(33:44:08)  Incentivisation of societal behaviour

(36:38:07)  Gamification of healthy eating

(42:08:06)  Summary



About: 

cfo-ai: https://reimage.cfo-ai.com/

GINN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/german-innovators/ 

Jason Alleyne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-alleyne-413a248/ 

Bettina Scheibe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettina-b-scheibe-b069b45a/ 

In this episode, Bettina talks with Felix Wendlandt, founder of the beer brand Brander Urstoff, about how to develop tailored business strategies for the Chinese market. 

Felix shares his experience on how and why to build a mainly Chinese team, how to master sales challenges in China, and why you might not want to stress the German origin of your brand nowadays if you’re operating in a traditional industry like beer brewing.

Last but not least, Felix recommends his favourite accelerator programs to enrol in if you plan to build your business in China.



About Brander Urstoff:


http://branderurstoff.com/
http://www.brander-urstoff.cn/

About EO:


https://www.eonetwork.org/shanghai

About Felix Wendlandt:


https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixwendlandt/

About GINN:


https://www.linkedin.com/company/german-innovators/