Heading East was a journey within as much as it was a journey exploring the Chinese landscape, culture, cuisine, and technology. We’d like to share with you some of our favorite moments.
Let’s start at the beginning – with Huawei’s App Developer European Challenge...
Thursday, 8 May 2014
What I took away from the journey was the understanding that occasionally stepping outside the four walls of an office and taking a break from my usual day-to-day routines really suits me. This trip has been an exceptional way to grasp that. It has also been an opportunity to take time to listen, share and exchange thoughts with bright minds from different backgrounds, different cultures and on different levels (big companies, small companies and students).
The experience has convinced me that connecting with others is a common objective that can be achieved simply by sharing information and communicating. Exchanging information helps you understand better what society is looking for and therefore how to innovate better.
Not only was I impressed with the huge numbers of people in Hong Kong or the emptiness of Tiananmen square at night, but also with the eclectic city of Shanghai and the immensity of the Great Wall. However, this is only part of the story. I was not less impressed with Huawei's R&D campus and was just as excited about visiting the Songshan Lake Factory. Listening to a new employee make a presentation, full of the nerves and the adrenaline that characterize a first time, makes you realize that even if we are from opposite parts of the world we act and react the same way.
The TagTagCity project is innovating ways of making information accessible for citizens, tourists, expats, in fact anyone holding a smartphone. From the point of view of my company, discussing different details of the application with Windows representatives and getting to know similar applications in China has provided really valuable feedback for the project. The trip has also let me discover new ideas on how to present the business of TagTagCity to a Chinese audience.
From a more general business point of view, it is clear that China is growing fast at the moment and it would be very interesting to invest more time thinking about possibilities for the future.
From the moment you apply to InnoApps, it is not any more just about winning, but about the experience.
I do encourage participants of future editions to try and absorb as much information and as many sensations and feelings as possible: from a talk with a judge before presenting, to a small chat with a fellow traveler or a presentation in the Huawei exhibition hall, to an explanation about something you don't yet know you are interested in or about something you have heard about thousands of times.
Monday, 14 April 2014
This short sentence, hidden between a lot
of impressive numbers and a story of a successful company, started to
reverberate in my brain. Short, simple and absolutely true. I started to think
about it. And now, five weeks later, it´s the first thing, I remember, when I´m
thinking of this trip.
I was thinking what the author of this
sentence, David Wang, Head of the global PR/
Huawei, wanted to say. It can be interpreted in many meanings. A promise, an
advice, a threat perhaps? Or maybe a direction for the future lifestyle? For me it was the last.
Prepare yourself for the future. And it´s
better to start today. It reminds me of an old german saying: „ Was du heute
kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen“ (Don’t put off till tomorrow
what you can do today).
So I was one of the lucky guys, who were
able to visit
China. And I started to learn. So many impressions, so many new things,
smells, traditions, ways of life, people, life stories and new friends. It’s
too much to handle it all in just one moment. Luckily I wrote a travel diary, so I can
relive the experiences in my mind.
I expected to learn a lot in China but in
the end I was overwhelmed with experience that I learned 20 times more than
expected. China is different, but in a good way. You are able to see so many
different places, buildings, cultures and lifestyles united at one place.
And when you see China, you get an idea of future technologies. In Europe
everybody is talking about future, in China they´re not talking. They´re
building the future and living it.
Thanks to our group, we were able to exchange
our experience and even raised them, by talking about our impressions.
I´ve learned a lot in China, this great
experience had changed my attitude towards technology. But also my future pupils
will take benefits from my journey, because I will be able to prepare them for
their future.
To teach them about Chinese culture like
tea and food, to show them the pictures of the great wall, and tell them about
my visit in the Forbidden City...and open their mind for useful technology that
can help them handle their life. But also teach them responsible use of technology.
Responsibility is very important. The humans
in fact are the only source of mistakes in technology. But that´s okay, because
we are only human. It´s important, that we are able to learn from our mistakes.
I thought Hong Kong would be at
the top, as it’s a former British colony, but in the end it looked somehow old.
In China, there’s the Maglev, the young city of Shenzhen, and I was also using Huawei mobile hotspots and phones.
Huawei’s market share and vision towards the future surprised me.
My ICT beginning was with PBXs
and I’m currently in software design. We won with an application and perhaps we
can become big too.
So, currently I'm searching,
looking around and waiting for an idea (to hit me!), a niche here in the west
that can be applied to huge market. Now I understand why Microsoft is launching
its newest WP 8.1 update with Cortana in China as a third market. Size does
matter, indeed.
We thought there’s an application
for everything, but that’s not always true. There are a lot of possible
enhancements to be done, implement new approaches, use new methods, think
unconventionally, look from different angles, and even be a little bit weird.
My advice? Don't wait for the
right opportunity. Simply just do it. Failure is way better than doing nothing.
China is doing and the results can be seen.
I try not to think about
everything too much. You have to give
everything a chance, no matter what it is. For instance, a contest that you
wouldn´t expect to win or a country that you’re not sure of visiting. You’ll be
surprised by all the opportunities you have and the great world you´re living
in.
Most of the matches between
experience and expectations, I had during our last days in Peking. A culture
clash between the old and the
"new" China, a lot of state authority and monitoring. But on the
other hand, I have to say I´m really surprised about the open mind and the
modern culture in China. And the process of developing is still running.
Shenzhen is bigger than any
European city and it´s exploding in every direction. The education level is
getting higher and higher, and the lifestyle in the cities is surpassing
European standards. I´m really impressed and want to have another longer trip
to China and Southeast Asia.
The market in China offers many
opportunities. It´s not completely open, but I think the reason is that we also
weren’t completely open before. I don´t know what will happen after finishing
university yet, but there are so many possibilities and no reasons for not
seizing them.
To the next generation of InnoApps
winners: It´s more than a contest and a journey afterwards. It´s a mind
changing life event.
As a political
scientist, I mainly deal with questions of technological innovations and their
impact on social life and society. This trip shed a lot of light on these.
Besides being personally important, this trip also helped me to get a better
understanding of the interrelation between the theory and practice of
communication.
My experience
of China exceeded my expectations in many different ways, even though I have to
admit that I am in general not that kind of person, who has huge expectations
in advance. Since I already went on a trip to China in 2013, my perception
about China was already somehow shaped in advance.
Before this
trip to China, I didn´t hear that much about Huawei and its business sectors. I
was informed by a friend that Huawei organizes a smartphone video competition, which deals
with future technologies in terms of communication. Because of my interest in
media theory, I created a short film about media convergence, but I didn’t
expect to win.
When I found
out that I won, I looked into Huawei online. I listened to a podcast of
Deutschlandradio on the expansion of the LTE network in Germany and learned
that Huawei’s one of the main infrastructure suppliers. It was then that I
realized that Huawei is the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the
world, so I expected big production halls with thousands of workers.
When it comes
to working conditions in China, I have to admit that I was quite critical,
primarily due to western media reports on sweatshops and poor working
conditions in the country. But after we were warmly welcomed on Huawei’s Campus, the employees gave us a completely different picture. For
me it seemed more like a Hi-Tech park where young people are trained to
contribute their skills for future innovations, rather than a place of
exploitation. I also overcame prejudices through conversations with my Chinese
friends from Shenzhen. They told me that Huawei established a good reputation
in terms of working conditions and promoting talented employees.
We had a
guided tour of their production hall, but unfortunately we weren’t able to
communicate with employees due to the lack of time and language barriers.
If you read
western newspaper articles about China, there is no getting around the debate
about the lack of democracy, patent litigations, and the enormous economic
growth, which is at some point considered (by western commentators) as
unsustainable.
From a
personal point of view, I was also confronted with discussions about Chinese
work ethic and the lack of awareness of a regulated work-life balance. But when
I went to China and was speaking to my Chinese friends, I got the impression
that they spend their spare time in the same way as we do.
After my trip
to China, I would say that we Europeans don´t understand the Chinese logic on a
macro level. China has been subjected to tremendous economic and social change
in the last 20 years and the rate of economic growth is increasing rapidly. At
the same time, Europe is shaken by the worst financial and economic crisis
since the 2nd World War.
Europeans are
scared that the “old continent” is no longer competitive in the world market.
Even though I can´t prove it, I would assume that some stereotypes are deriving
from those deviations on a macro level. From a personal point of view, I was
overwhelmed by Chinese infrastructure – the skyline of Shanghai and the
Shanghai Maglev Train. Shanghai, in particular, is an expression of modernity
and speed; I have never seen that before in my life.
The
conversations I had with the other participants of the contest gave me the most
important insights of that journey. I hope I’ll meet them again soon and hear
about their experiences of this exceptional trip.
When I started heading East, I knew
about the blooming economy, crowded sidewalks, and the tall skyscrapers in
China.
The data collected indicated
monstrous differences, which were hard for me to imagine – for example, the
population of our whole country would represent less than 10% of the population
in just one city in China. But now, I have been there and seen it.
It's hard to describe how it's like
to be a legal alien, where individuality is gone, interspersed with the
vastness of everything surrounding you. I will never forget the many things we
saw in such a short time, the China we visited totally exceeded my expectations
and changed my perception of the country as a whole.
Discovering China, we were able to
meet both sides of the rapid growth.
There are modern cities with shiny skyscrapers, fancy cars, and mobile electronic
devices everywhere. On the other hand, we witnessed the life on the backstreets
of Shanghai, the lives of local factory workers and children with uncertain
future.
Not to mention facing the power of
the government. The compliance with the control, supervision, and provided
security somehow makes you feel safer when navigating through the crowds.
Being fast and effective, its huge
market quickly adapting to the world's needs, China is ready to set guidelines
and also be taken advantage of. Globalization enables connecting beyond boundaries, but how well do we really know our
planet?
Apart from the promising new
technologies we were able to see at Huawei's spacious
centers and exhibition halls; the inviting Chinese mobile market growing beyond
the limits; the mixtures of people, cars and lights, China also has many
cultural and historical monuments to offer. But taking into account the
environment and air quality, there's lots to be done to limit the pollution factors and protect nature
and wildlife.
Last but not the least, I have to
remember my new friends from all over the Europe, who I met during our
unforgettable experience. Sitting at the table, where six completely different
languages were spoken simultaneously, and waiting for some delicious Chinese
specialties to be brought, is something you cannot forget easily.
A program like this is a fabulous
opportunity to learn about different cultures and experiencing it on your own
skin.
To the next generation of InnoApp
winners: Always keep an open mind, explore, grow, and develop, because if you
don't go, you won’t have a story ;)
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