Preparations for the launch of TechCrunch TV continue apace: we’re getting ready to announce our launch line up shortly after next week’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York.
As well as our own exclusive roster of shows, we’re working hard to secure the rights to livecast some of the most interesting and entertaining technology events from around the world. One such event is CHINICT – “the largest conference on China tech innovation & entrepreneurship”, held in Beijing every year.
Annoyingly this year’s event falls a few weeks prior to our launch date so you’ll have to wait till next year for full-on TCTV coverage, but in the meantime we’ve convinced the conference’s organisers to allow us to show an uninterrupted feed of this year’s event right here on TechCrunch.com. Fittingly, it kicks off next Thursday; the day after Disrupt ends.
With much of the agenda in English – and with speakers including Dave McClure – the event promises to be a fascinating couple of days for Chinese and Valley entrepreneurs alike.
More importantly though, the conference reflects the reality that, increasingly, the big technological innovations are happening not in Silicon Valley but in emerging markets like China. Of course none of this will be news if you’ve been following TechCrunch roving editor Sarah Lacy’s travels around the emerging world (see her post here on why China isn’t simply “The Next Silicon Valley”). But just in case you’re still not convinced on the significance of what’s happening outside of the US, I asked CHINICT organiser Franck Nazikian to explain to us why TechCrunch readers’ eyes should be on Beijing on May 27th and 28th. Franck writes…
“For good or for bad, China is now challenging Silicon Valley’s supremacy on two fundamentals which once made Silicon Valley the global brand for tech innovation and entrepreneurship.
Firstly, China is challenging Silicon Valley’s supremacy by becoming a leading hotbed for tech innovation of global impact. In other words, tomorrow’s Microsoft or Google are on the verge of soon coming from China. Indeed, the era of the Chinese copy/paste model, if there ever was one, is definitely over: the Western propaganda arguing there is no innovation in China does not change the facts.
A silent yet very real tech revolution is coming from China. The Chinese companies leading this revolution are called Tencent or Innovation Works. You might have heard their names but perhaps don’t know why – or if – they matter on a global level. Yet, Tencent, for example, has the 3rd largest market cap in Internet business right after Google and Amazon. And Tencent business model is no copy/paste from the West. Actually Tencent generates billions of dollars from Chinese consumers – by selling them virtual goods – which no company from the West has so far managed to do (watch Tencent’s head of R&D at CHINICT, May 27th at 11:30am Beijing time – 8:30pm Pacific). Another example of this tech revolution coming from China: Innovation Works. Led by former founding president of Google China and best selling Chinese author Kaifu Lee, Innovation Works has raised over 100 million dollars to develop from scratch the future IT leaders of China and beyond (Watch Kaifu Lee, May 28th, 9am Beijing time – 6pm Pacific).
2. China is challenging Silicon Valley supremacy as a magnet to attract top-tier entrepreneurs coming from all over the world.
China is now more and more frequently attracting top-tier entrepreneurs from all over the world; and venture capital is more abundant than ever (watch the Investors funding the China tech revolution at CHINICT on May 28th, 2pm Beijing time – 11pm Pacific). Meet for example Jameson Hsu, the CEO of MochiMedia, a Silicon Valley company just acquired by leading Chinese gaming company Shanda for over 80 million dollars: “I had the opportunity to sell my company to several major players in the US, including Google, but I chose Shanda to start understanding better the Chinese market – where I plan to start my new venture at some point”, says Jameson. Mark Suster and Dave McClure, two prominent entrepreneurs/investors/bloggers from Silicon Valley are also embracing this trend and are speaking at CHINICT to explain why.”
CHINICT will be held on May 27th & 28th at Crown Plaza Parkview Wuzhou Hotel, and streamed live on TechCrunch.com from 8:30am Beijing time (5:30pm Pacific) on both days. See the complete agenda here – and more background on speakers here.
