The China Acceleration Programme for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A three-week programme for European Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies to meet with leading Chinese investors, partners and clients of the industry, gain knowledge of the market, evaluate business models, and join GMIC – one of the largest and most influential innovative technology conferences worldwide. About the Programme

The EU SME Centre and DayDayUp invite you to join China Acceleration Programme, which will enable you to make valuable connections with AI industry in China, test your business assumptions on the Chinese market, and be more confident with your business plans ahead.

Bu joining the programme, you will have opportunities to visit China’s fastest growing companies (Baidu, Amazon Web Services China, Microsoft China) supported by our experienced China mentors, and attend the GMIC Conference from April 26th to April 28th.

If you are only interested in exhibiting at GMIC, click here to see the services and rates.

The three-week programme will include: Week 1: Pre-Departure Preparation

• Helping you formulate initial business assumptions on the Chinese market;
• Discussing your business assumptions with one of our mentors to evaluate your customers, channels, and product market fit;
• Pre-departure webinar briefing;

Week 2: One-Week Acceleration

• Welcoming seminar on opportunities and challenges of doing business in China;
• Stay in Day-Day up or EU SME Centre incubation;
• Panel discussion with other European SMEs already in the market;
• Visits of companies with leading technologies (e.g. Tencent, Baidu)
• Up to three organised meetings with potential customers, investors and partners;
• Joining GMIC and seminars (including booth).

Week 3: The Wrap Up

• Debriefing – review of your business assumptions and what’s been learned with your mentor via Skype.
• Five-page personalised report.

To see event details and agenda, click here.

Cost of the Programme

EUR 3850/ per person

Registration & Contact

If you are interested in this programme or have are any questions, please send an email to cap@eusmecentre.org.cn.

List of potential Chinese investors & corporates for meetings

• Unity Ventures, Top 10 Angel Investors in China in 2015, founded by WANG Xiao, one of the 7 founding team members of Baidu.
• Shunwei Capital Partners, leading VC firm in China, founded by LEI Jun, founder of Xiaomi
• DL Capitals, leading angel round fund in China, founded by ZHANG Tao and LONG Wei, founders of Dianping.com
• China Merchants Venture, VC business of China Merchants Group, #2 largest SOE in China, Top 50 profitable companies by Fortune Magazine.
• ThunderSoft (300496), the world’s leading operating system, AI, IoT solution provider, listed in China stock exchange market, valued at 2 bln USD.
• Han’s Laser Technology (SZSE: 002008), world’s leading laser equipment manufacturer, listed in China stock exchange market, valued at 10 bln USD.
• HeT (SZSE: 002402), leading smart home and IoT solution provider, listed in China stock exchange market, valued at 1 bln USD.
• ShengJing Group, China’s leading management consulting and private equity investment firm which is largely investing in USA and Israel innovations.
• China Jinmao Group (00817.HK), China’s leading real estate developer and hotel management firm.
• Tencent (00700.HK), Top 5 internet company in the world in terms of market cap at 500 bln USD, larger than Facebook.
• SenseTime, leading AI unicorn in China, reached 3 bln USD valuation in 3 years.

About China’s AI Industry

China is investing strongly in AI, seeing it as a key component to its shift towards a more innovation-led economy; in 2017 around 9% of the global investment into AI startups were in the AI field and of this over 50% of the dollars going to these startups came from China (CB Insights, 2017). The investment from Chinese Venture Capitalists (VC) into AI businesses is also nearly four times more than the investment carried out by their US counterparts (CKGSB, 2017). With this focus and growth in AI, now is an excellent time for AI businesses from the EU to engage with the market.

About DayDayUp

DayDayUp is a business community that connects Chinese and global innovators. Focusing on Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, Mobility, Healthcare, we bring together startups, corporates and investors within our Innovation Program and provide them an ecosystem to find quality products and resources. Click here to learn more.