Technology and innovation have long played a key role in China's reform and opening up. Even though it was a late comer to the global scene, China has breathed life into its own technology sectors by establishing a number of tech zones. Zhongguancun was the first such zone. It's now the vibrant innovation hub in Beijing known as China's Sillicon Valley. Guan Xin finds out how China's tech-savvy companies in the area have thrived.

The way you walk holds the key to your identity. Watrix is a star startup in Beijing's Zhongguancun. And it's world-leading technology of Artificial Intelligence can identify people from up to 50 meters away no matter if they cover their faces or wear different clothes -- just by body shape and how they walk. Huang Yongzhen is the founder of Watrix. He earned his PHD in the field from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and decided to commercialize the technology.

HUANG YONGZHEN, FOUNDER & CEO WATRIX TECHNOLOGY "I hope Watrix can become a leader of innovation in a certain field, to use our technologies and our spirit of opening and innovation to lead the changes in traditional industries."

The technology has been used in security, defence and many other areas. Lenovo CTO and SVP George He leads the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, one of the earliest investors in Watrix,.

The new VC arm of tech giant Lenovo has invested in many new tech startups besides Watrix, in such areas as AI, cloud, and big data. But the spark of innovation can be traced back to the 1980s. Lenovo was among the first start-ups in Zhongguancun and came in response to economic reforms that swept across the country in 1978.

GEORGE HE, PRESIDENT LENOVO CAPITAL AND INCUBATOR GROUP "I think it's time, these engineers and scientists from the institute of computing technology of Chinese Academy of Science are expecting what the technology they developed can build a product for Chinese people. I think that's the key driver."

Lenovo was spun off from China's Academy of Science. It was started by a group of scientists and engineers, with just 200,000 yuan in original capital.

GEORGE HE, PRESIDENT LENOVO CAPITAL AND INCUBATOR GROUP "Our first product was the Lianxiang Chinese card, allowing IBM PCs to input, process and output Chinese characters. That's the cornerstone for Chinese people to use PCs."

Lenovo has since grown into a global tech giant, with revenues of 45 billion US dollars last year. It established Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group in 2016 to keep up with the pace of innovation and explore new start-ups in so-called 'hard core technology'.

GEORGE HE, PRESIDENT LENOVO CAPITAL AND INCUBATOR GROUP "We believe that in the next 30 years, from now on, all industries, especially Chinese industries, will be driven by core technology innovation. We must continue to innovate. Keeping innovation as core DNA is very important. That's why we set up the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group. We need to establish a fund as a radar, looking outside of Lenovo, to see the future potential opportunities, where these innovations can come from. And it really works. Actually, up to date, we already have invested in a hundred startups. Many of these are very successful."

George He says tremendous changes have taken place in the past 40 years, and now is the best time for China's tech start-ups and entrepreneurship.

GEORGE HE, PRESIDENT "There are so many changes, compared with 40 years ago. I think it's a great time, you have the money, the environment and government policy support. And also you have a lot of talent, not only from China, these graduate students but also a lot of overseas students are coming back. It's so different, huge differences."

Starting from just a handful of tech startups, Zhongguancun has turned into a vibrant tech hub for China. Last year, its total revenue reached 3.5 trillion yuan. The spirit of opening and innovation has also thrived.

HUANG YONGZHEN, FOUNDER & CEO "All people working in the high tech industry, especially in AI, all called for more opening and sharing. Only through cooperation and win-win, making the whole human society as a community with a shared future, can humankind develop faster. History has proved isolationism won't work, and will cause setbacks."

China's reform and opening up policies have brought tremendous advances to China's tech space. The past 40 years have witnessed the growth of Lenovo, and other major tech companies. With continued reform and opening-up, many start-ups such as Watrix, will become the new cornerstones of China's innovation drive and technology upgrade.

GX, CGTN.