The Fortune Brainstorm Tech International Conference started on Tuesday in Guangzhou. World leaders attending the conference in southern China are putting their heads together to try and find the next Alibaba. CGTN reporter Ge Yunfei tells us more.

On Tuesday, just one day before the opening of the Fortune Global Forum, China's most pioneering and promising start-ups gathered in the country's southern city of Guangzhou. Their destination, the Fortune Brainstorm Tech International Conference.

Nisa Leung is a famous venture investor and also judge for one of the conference's start-up competitions. She says the landscape of China's tech sector has changed completely in the past decade.

NISA LEUNG, MANAGING PARTNER QIMING VENTURE PARTNERS "So ten years ago, as I mentioned at the conference, that we went to the CMEF, the China Medical Equipment Conference, 95% of the exhibitors were in ultrasound machines and patient monitoring systems. And now, obviously every year, we have so many innovations coming out. "

For start-up entrepreneurs, China now may offer better chances of bringing innovative ideas to fruition, especially in the field of hardware-related industries.

WANG JIANJUN, CEO MAKEBLOCK "In the previous era of Internet start-ups, many Chinese companies modelled their business on their counterparts in Silicon Valley. So in the Internet era, Sillion Valley was the leader. But in the next era of hardware, China could be the frontrunner. Like us working on the new type of education with robotics, we're the global leader since the very beginning, because China has the advantage of owning the world's most comprehensive supply chain. This is vital for hardware start-ups."

China has the world's biggest population of engineers. That advantage is encouraging foreign firms to relocate their research headquarters here, even from as far away as Israel.

But the situation is not all rosy. As China's tech giants like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent become too big to challenge, small start-ups have to find their own market niche.

WANG WEIDONG CHAIRMAN OF BOARD, UDO MEDIA "The downside of the current situation is that start-ups now need really game-changing technology, business models or ideas to survive the fierce competition against the formidable giants like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent." 

GE YUNFEI GUANGZHOU The old notion of China as a tech copycat nation is being rapidly replaced by the emerging new reality of home grown innovation. But industry insiders say China still has a lot to do on fundamental research.

ROGER LUO DJI PRESIDENT "The US attracts international talents from around the world through its education system. That is the advantage of Silicon Valley. Nowadays, China's e-commerce and online payment industries play a vital role in the world. In these areas, Chinese companies are as good as their American counterparts. But I think China needs to invest more in fundamental research. It is the key for China to go further and achieve more in the future."

With the Chinese government calling for innovation as the driving force of the economy, the future looks quite promising, at least from here. Ge Yunfei, CGTN, Guangzhou.