Inside the Silicon Valley of the East: highlights from INSME’s mission to Shenzhen

From March 30th, INSME organised a mission to “the Silicon Valley of the East”, Shenzhen, a city that in 1980 counted just 300,000 inhabitants and today is home to 22 million. The transformation is not merely demographic. Shenzhen is, as INSME’s President Sergio Arzeni put it, “the only, unrepeatable technological ecosystem” when it comes to batteries and physical artificial intelligence.

The delegation, coordinated by PLD, INSME’s Chinese member, visited some of the most consequential companies and institutions in global tech: BYD, Huawei, UBTECH Robotics, HONOR, LKK Design Group, Dobot Robotics, and Shenzhen Yujiang Technology Co. The goal was to give selected INSME members first-hand exposure to Shenzhen’s innovation ecosystem and to lay the groundwork for concrete cooperation opportunities.

In addition, the mission included strategic meetings with key associations that are expected to join the INSME network, further strengthening its presence in China. These include the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association (SAIIA), the SME Association of the Nanshan District, and representatives of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Cooperation Zone. These exchanges opened promising avenues for institutional collaboration and network expansion.

A highlight of the mission was the visit to the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone (HTCZ), a flagship cross-border innovation platform designed to foster integration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong in research, technology development, and advanced industries. The visit provided valuable insights into one of the most ambitious innovation cooperation models in the region.

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