18 October -- Taicang City of East China's Jiangsu Province that has attracted 400 German-funded businesses, has agreed to host a Singaporean business to bring in innovation teams and entrepreneurs from Singapore, Finland and the United States of America.
Sinfin Innovation Centre (Suzhou) was among more than 50 projects that have signed agreement to settle down in Taicang today in the National Conference Centre in western Shanghai.
Most of the projects are Shanghai-based universities, hospitals, News Media, investment funds, the manufacturing sector, and government bureaus attempting to establish operations, as Shanghai and Taicang are working towards urban cooperation as part of the Central Government’s bid to enhance the competitiveness of the Yangtze Delta.
Agreements for more than 50 projects were signed digitally on pads in front of each signee. Mr Edwin Ngoi (third from left) signed his signature on the agreement which will enable Sinfin Innovation Centre (Suzhou) to kick off in Taicang.
Sinfin Innovation Centre (Suzhou) is funded by NHC Sports Management Pte. Ltd., and will be a cradle and a hotbed for research institutions, scientists and entrepreneurs to start their initial operations in China. Other foreign investors are Morgan Stanley, Cathay Capital, the First-Pacific Davis and the Swedish Business Chamber Shanghai Chapter.
The signing was arranged paperless and digitally, with project owners or delegates and officials Taicang’s respective departments and offices signing with a digital pen on a pad screen for each of the over 50 projects on the stage. The signing ceremonies were also preceded by short, concise but highly informative lectures by Taicang’s mayor Hu Weijiang, Party secretary Wang Xiangyuan, and scholars from Beijing and Shanghai, shedding their insight on urban planning, industry development goals.
Mr. Edwin Ngoi (middle), Founder of Sinfin Innovation Centre (Suzhou), signs his signature with a digital pen on a computer screen while Mr Hu Xuefeng (right), an official from the Tacang Economy and Technology Development Zone puts his signature on the same cooperative agreement on another omputer screen.
“I’m very impressed with the way the conference is organised. Compact, rich and highly inspirational,” said Mr Edwin Ngoi, adding that signing on agreements digitally reflects Taicang Government’s administrative efficiency, that has been well spoken of among the foreign entrepreneur circle in China.
“Today is a historic moment us. Our US partner, Regis University, will introduce to China their AI-assisted smart home and smart care technology, and our Finnish partner, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, will bring into China the Nordic winter sports, again supplemented with AI, VR and AR," added Mr Ngoi.
Sinfin will also assist Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences and Regis University in establishing their respective R&D Centres in Taicang. Already UK's Liverpool University is building a jointly managed campus together with Xi'an Jiaotong University, which will be be ready for use in 2022.
Sinfin will also operate as an accelerator to startups that will bring in high-end health care, elderly care, sports and a wolfberry-related foodtech firm. It will offer not only office space but also assistance in business registration, accounting and taxes, IT, marketing and PR.
“Startups may also choose to enlist the service of our network of mentors we have built up among the local Chinese and foreign expat business leaders and professionals,” said Mr Ngoi.
The more than 50 projects invovle a total of RMB 31.3 billion (USD 4.8 billion) in investment.
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[Background: Taicang]
Taicang is really just a fourth-tier small city in China, with a population of about one million people. However, it has made its name and its fame is taking on wings.
Located just north of Shanghai, Changshu i the north, and Kunshan City in the west (a city known as the Home of Taiwanese businesses), Taicang also enjoys a deep-water ice-free harbour. Taicang historically had been a big port, when General Zheng He left Taicang with his fleet down to the Indian Ocean to Eastern Africa and West Asia for seven times during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This is also where the Chinese folklore of Weaving Girl and Cowboy (a film was also made thereof) originated.
Daytime view of Taicang, now having streets and quarters resembling a German town.
Taicang started hosting medium and small-sized German enterprises as early as in 1993. To date 399 German companies have settled down in Taicang, accounting for some 10% of the number of German companies in China. German Centre set up its its third China subsidiary in Taicang in 2016, after the ones in Beijing and Shanghai.
This city has many German-style houses, bars, cafes and schools. Because of the sound infrastructure and the efficient policies of Taicang City’s government, companies of Britain, the USA and other countries are also entering Taicang.
The local government also makes it a point of offering the most efficient and caring policies to foreign companies in Taicang, in addition to reduced taxes or free or low land to use.
The night view of Taicang, a city that had remained literally unknown even in China until the early 1990s, when it started luring German companies one by one into the city.
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