China’s battle against decentralised cryptocurrency came to a head this year when the country’s State Council released new regulations banning the mining of Bitcoin while also banning any crypto transactions, writes Bryan Grogan The impact was immediate, with prominent cryptocurrency wallets announcing that they would stop providing services in China. Among those were Binance and Huobi, two of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, who initially stopped registrations of new …
AstraZeneca’s new Shanghai R&D centre is helping to make the city one of the world’s most high-tech biopharmaceutical hubs At the opening ceremony of International Biopharma Industry Week Shanghai on 11 October, CEO of AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot, announced the inauguration of its newly-upgraded global R&D centre. As reported by Yicai Global, at the ceremony Soriot said that the new centre has introduced “state-of-the-art technologies and expanded our R&D team to …
Private tutoring is just the latest target in a long list of industry crackdowns in China. The change in policy is already having a profound effect on international education operations in China, and possibly on the future flow of students into education institutions abroad, writes Tim van Gardingen In mid-2021, the Chinese government put forward the ‘shuangjian’, or ‘double reduction’ policy. The policy aims to reduce the intense stress levels …
In collaboration with Douyin, CBBC successfully launched its first IP roundtable at Shanghai British Centre on 21 July, aiming to support rights owners in understanding Douyin’s e-commerce business model as well as its IP protection policies Conor Murray, IP attaché from the British Embassy Beijing, delivered opening remarks for the IP roundtable online. Around 25 representatives from the food and drink, pharmaceuticals, publishing and luxury sectors attended the meeting and …
Recent modifications to the laws governing the promotion of private education in China have been seen as a cause for concern by some in the industry, but the international education market in China remains strong On 14 May 2021, China issued a revision to the Regulations on the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools. The modifications come into effect on …
Ride-hailing app Didi is under investigation and has been removed from app stores just days after its IPO in the latest crackdown on China’s tech industry that has also affected Alibaba, Tencent and Bytedance, writes Robynne Tindall. So what is Didi and what’s next for the app? Who or what is Didi? Didi, officially known as Didi Chuxing Technology co., is an online vehicle-for-hire-service. Its services include taxi-hailing, private car-hailing …
As China’s ageing population becomes more of an issue, products that offer solutions to such problems are becoming a hot topic at events such as the upcoming Design Intelligence Awards — applications for which close on 9 July — writes Robynne Tindall The results of China’s 2020 census showed that the population is ageing rapidly. There are now 264 million people over the age of 65 in China, accounting for …
From an innovative new tampon to the world’s first 3D printed bionic arm, UK companies are serial winners at the Design Intelligence Awards (DIA) – yet another reason to enter the awards before applications close on July 9, writes Robynne Tindall In 2020, UK applicants to the DIA were awarded more funding than Japan, India and Germany combined. UK innovators topped the international league tables outside China, with 18 finalists …
The rapid pace of change in China and the appetite for good design represents a major opportunity for innovative UK companies. However, the scale of the market means that SMEs and startups can often feel lost knowing how to break into China, let alone succeed A recent CBBC webinar hosted by Mark Hedley, Director of Tech and Knowledge Economy at CBBC and featuring an expert panel including John Mathers, chair …
After several years of slowing investment, venture capital investment in China is booming, led by deals from investors such as Tencent and Sequoia Capital in AI, blockchain, e-commerce and more, writes Robynne Tindall According to figures released by business information service provider IT Juzi, startups in China attracted RMB 354 billion (approximately £39.2 billion) of investment in the first quarter of 2021. As the Chinese economy rebounds post-pandemic, the number …