UK firms open arms to 'unique platform' at CIIE

Highhopes for British technology firm

On the ground floor of a shopping mall in Shanghai, huge crowds gathered to watch and interact with dinosaurs created by the British company Inde's augmented reality technology. Small children jumped up and down in the air shouting with excitement, overwhelmed by the experience of seeing such real-looking life-size dinosaurs for the first time.

This imaginary dinosaur exhibition, which drew 150,000 visitors on its opening day in Shanghai, was the first project Inde did in China in 2015.

Inde's AR technology is displayed center stage in the UK Pavilion at the China International Import Expo, also known as the CIIE. That seems a perfect fit, considering the UK Pavilion's central theme is innovation.

Inde's China story also provides a good example to understand UK-China trade. As a typical high-tech British start up - with 25 employees and annual turnover of 1.7 million pounds ($2.17 million), Inde is still looking for the breakthrough opportunity to tackle opportunities within China's gigantic market.

On the one hand, Inde knows its AR technology certainly has potential in China's rapidly expanding entertainment market. On the other hand, the size of China's market seems a little daunting considering Inde only has one China-focused sales employee.

Alex Alanson, chief operating officer of Inde, feels that attending the CIIE could lead to breakthroughs. Not only can his team negotiate deals with a wide range of buyers and procurement managers, but Inde is also using the six-day fair to look for a potential strategic investor.

"We feel that growing organically is simply too slow. We are looking for a strategic partner to invest in us and tackle market opportunities together," Alanson said.

Chinese entertainment, advertising, theme park and gaming companies are all possible investors.

Inde's vision of growing through investment is typical of many British startups. The UK economy has a high percentage of small and medium-sized businesses – they accounted for an aggregate 60 percent of all UK private sector employment in 2017.

Many of these UK SMEs traditionally grew through investments from US partner companies, but in recent years Chinese investors are also actively looking for British targets as China transforms into a technology-driven knowledge economy.

Recent successful investment stories include the Chinese train maker CRRC Corporation's investment in Lincolnshire's chip maker Dynex and Chongqing Machinery & Electrics Co's investment in Manchester's Precision Technology Group. In both cases, fresh injections of investment from the Chinese companies helped the British firms greatly scale up production and boost China sales.

This trend is confirmed by Jeff Cao, head of international partnerships at Greater London Authority Royal Docks Team.

"In the technology space, collaboration is not just about Chinese firms buying products or intellectual property from British firms," Cao said.

"Instead, long term synergy can be better achieved when the partners invest into, develop, and commercialize technology together. So the CIIE can serve as a first step platform for such discussions, trust, and mutual understanding," Cao added.