A group of young representatives from an exchange program hosted by the World Association of Young Scientists visit the Zhongguancun AI North Latitude community in Beijing on April 17 (PENG JIAWEI)

For regular tourists, Zhongguancun (ZGC), the sprawling innovation hub in northwestern Beijing often dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley,” is hardly a must-see stop. But for those in, or aspiring to enter, the technology world, it offers a valuable vantage point for understanding the forces shaping China’s innovation landscape. 

In the early 1980s, an “electronics street” took shape in the area, drawing a cluster of privately run tech enterprises. In 1988, the area was designated as the site of China’s first national high-tech industrial zone, a model that would later be replicated across the country. The decades that followed saw ZGC become the birthplace of some of China’s most influential tech firms, including Lenovo, Xiaomi and ByteDance, the company behind TikTok.   

It was therefore little surprise that ZGC featured prominently in a recent tech-themed exchange program hosted by the World Association of Young Scientists (WAYS). From April 11 to 17, a group of young participants from the UK, Austria and the Netherlands traveled through Beijing and Huai’an in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, touring sci-tech institutions and enterprises while engaging in in-depth discussions on topics ranging from AI to biomedicine.  

During the Beijing leg of their tour, the group explored ZGC’s dense network of start-ups and incubators, which allowed them to gain a close-up view of the rhythms of work and life in one of China’s most competitive innovation clusters.  

For Adam Mackay, a London-based venture analyst at Rainmaking, a company that builds and invests in start-ups, the most memorable part of his first visit to China was the ZGC AI North Latitude Hub, a community offering low-cost office space and tailored support for one-person companies (OPCs) in the area.  

Driven by rapid advances in AI, OPCs are quietly emerging as a new entrepreneurial paradigm in China, one that is characterized by low costs, rapid decision-making and a high degree of flexibility.  

At ZGC AI North Latitude Hub, a warmly lit shared space, complete with meeting rooms, a café area and a small dining bar, is lined with glass-partitioned cubicles that serve as compact offices for OPC entrepreneurs.  

But it is not just the physical setting that stands out. For Zhang Kai, a newcomer to the community, the real draw lies in the support it offers early-stage ventures. “The training programs it offered on how to build a team, design a business model, test ideas and move toward commercialization are exactly the kind of help we need,” he told Beijing Review.  

“Living in the West, you don’t really see what’s happening in China. So coming here and seeing it firsthand really opens your eyes,” Mackay said. “Through spaces like this, you begin to see how China is embracing entrepreneurship and innovation in ways people often associate with the U.S. But in reality, China is carving out a strong identity of its own on the tech front and that’s genuinely interesting to witness.”  

Not far from the community, the group also visited a residential complex developed by the local government for recent graduates who have entered the local workforce within the past three years.   

Set within easy reach of research institutes and the headquarters of tech firms such as Lenovo, the complex offers 19 types of accommodation, from compact one-person studios to three-bedroom apartments, each equipped with its own kitchen and bathroom. Eligible tenants receive a 40 percent rent subsidy during their first two years of residence.  

“A main difference between China and the West is that here, a lot of support comes from the government,” David Morgan, a student at the University of Amsterdam, told Beijing Review.  

As one of the founders of Hanga, a sustainable start-up that transforms non-recyclable textile waste into eco-friendly products such as cloth hangers, he noted that the environment for young entrepreneurs in China differs markedly from that in the Netherlands, where he is from—without necessarily being better or worse. 

“In the Netherlands, support mostly comes from private investors, whereas here, the government may provide office space, significant funding and a range of other support to help young start-ups develop and implement their ideas,” he observed. 

Beyond offering a closer look at China’s innovation landscape, the program also served as a platform for building connections that extend well beyond the week-long visit.  

Looking ahead, Morgan hopes to expand his start-up across the Netherlands before moving into other markets, potentially including China. “We are also here to seek future Chinese partners to source the non-recyclable materials used in production,” he said. 

“I think being here can help us innovate better, not just by seeing the ecosystem, but by talking to people and making connections,” Mohammed Ali from Vrije University Amsterdam said.  

Ali and his team are developing an AI-powered medical triage system that automates appointment scheduling and initial symptom assessment through chat- or voice-based interfaces. 

He noted that greater communication is essential to deepen sci-tech exchanges among young talents from Europe, the United States and China. Young researchers, he said, should openly discuss the challenges they face and the solutions they propose, identify shared concerns and pursue joint research. Collaboration, he concluded, would accelerate research and development far more than working in isolation. 

Comments to pengjiawei@cicgamericas.com 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson