China entrepreneurship in 2017: Trends and highlights

World
Europe

2017 has seen the continued blossoming of China’s entrepreneurship sector. At this turn of the year, we take a look back at its hits and misses, and pains and gains.

Start-up sector sees steady momentum

After years of explosive growth, China’s entrepreneurship activity is seeing a more steady momentum. According to a survey led by NetEase, as of September 2017 saw the number of newly founded start-ups plunge to a quarter of its peak recorded in 2015. This reflects the improved regulation, as well as growing rationality among start-up entrepreneurs and investors.

At the same time, top-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, remain the hotbeds for entrepreneurship, noted a separate report by big data firm Youedata. Meanwhile, second tier-cities, such as Wuhan, Chengdu, Hangzhou, are actively attracting talents and creating a friendly environment for entrepreneurship.

Emerging sectors racing ahead

The ultimate duel on Chinese chess game Go between master player Ke Jie and AlphaGo in mid-2017 has shed wider spotlight on artificial intelligence. China's tech giants, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are leading the race in R&D in the futuristic technology.

Meantime, the virtual reality industry is still roaring ahead, strengthening the expectation that China could become the first market to see wide VR adoption.

The Internet plus strategy continued to sweep across all spectrums of Chinese businesses in the year, upgrading traditional sectors with modern technology.

2017 also saw the rise and cooling-off, of the once red-hot sharing economy in China. Some believe the sector, which covers shareable cars, bicycles umbrellas, and even power banks, will face a wave of bankruptcies and consolidations.

China’s digital economy: Rosy prospects

At the same time, the world’s second largest economy has also become the second largest digital economy. China is in the top three in investment in key digital sectors, home to a third of the world’s 262 unicorn companies, and the world’s largest e-commerce market.

A report by McKinsey Global Institute calls China’s digital economy “a leading global force.” It also expects the country’s on-going digital transformation to have growing influence on the global digital landscape.