China News Service, Hong Kong, June 2, title: Hong Kong youth Zhan Peixun, who started his business in the north: Creativity and dreams take root in the Greater Bay Area
China News Agency reporter Han Xingtong
After all, it has been one year since Zhan Peixun, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Yiqing Innovation, took his driverless project to Shenzhen to start a business.
From being in Hong Kong watching the planning of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to the determination to go north to show off, "After a short adaptation period, you are facing the entire mainland market." Entrepreneurial passion is high, precious experience and growth satisfaction It is his greatest achievement in the past year.
Before leaving Hong Kong, Zhan Peixun was a professional and served as the deputy secretary general of the Hong Kong Chaozhou Chamber of Commerce. He often participated in various exchange activities to interpret the policies of the SAR government and the central government. Therefore, when the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Plan" Three When it was announced a few years ago, it caught his attention.
"The planning of the Greater Bay Area is a good opportunity for Hong Kong to take off again." Zhan Peixun said that after the deindustrialization of the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong's foundation has weakened.
With its status as an international financial center and shipping hub being challenged, Hong Kong has been exploring new ways of development over the years.
Artificial intelligence is a new opportunity, "Hong Kong can exert its strength in high-end industrialization." This requires the help of the Greater Bay Area.
In Zhan Peixun's view, Hong Kong's role in the Greater Bay Area is "both ends".
The "first end" is the source of innovation and entrepreneurship. There are many internationally renowned universities in Hong Kong with advanced and original scientific research achievements, which can be transformed into scientific and technological achievements with the help of mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area with mature industrial foundations.
When companies gradually grow in the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong can provide them with internationalized and high-quality professional services, such as accounting, finance, and law, which is the so-called "tail end".
But Zhan Peixun felt that it was not enough to participate in the beginning and the end like this.
Many years ago, Zhan Peixun, who was still studying at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), listened to a lecture by Wang Tao, a senior who later founded DJI.
In that sharing, Wang Tao's remarks left a deep impression on him, to the effect: when we have very good R&D technology and good ideas, in fact, Shenzhen, an open and inclusive city, can well undertake , turn your idea into a product.
"I was very touched at that time. It turned out that the technology we developed in Hong Kong could go global and change the lives and visions of many people." This planted a seed in Zhan Peixun's heart. With the announcement and implementation of the Greater Bay Area plan, It is becoming more and more leafy, "It can be said that I am always ready to develop in the inner cities of the Greater Bay Area."
So, when Zhan Peixun and the HKUST team developed the first unmanned car in Hong Kong in 2017, they registered the company in Shenzhen the following year. Last year, Zhan Peixun simply moved to Shenzhen.
In terms of the products he develops, the mainland market has more obvious advantages.
At present, the applications and potential customers of unmanned vehicles are mainly industrial parks and factories. Such large-scale parks are relatively rare in Hong Kong.
Under the epidemic, the application of unmanned vehicles has been extended to food delivery services in hotels and other places, reducing human-to-human contact and reducing the loss of materials such as protective clothing.
"Up to now, the company has successfully raised three rounds of funds and is doing the fourth round of financing." He admitted that the project has received a lot of support from the Shenzhen government. "Qianhai and Futian Free Trade Zone have issued a lot of support policies for young people from Hong Kong and Macao." , the SAR government has also successively launched a series of preferential policies, including the "Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Plan", etc., and the response has been very enthusiastic. "These are policies that Hong Kong youth should pay attention to and make good use of."
Leaving Hong Kong to live and work naturally has a period of adaptation, but Zhan Peixun said that compared with the network resources, work experience and the satisfaction of witnessing the company's development in the Greater Bay Area, it is really nothing to mention.
He believes that the Greater Bay Area is a "treasure land for entrepreneurship" with a hundred flowers blooming, with fertile soil for Hong Kong youth to grow up.
"When you enter the Greater Bay Area, after the adaptation period, you are facing the whole of China."
Zhan Peixun believes that Hong Kong still has important strategic significance. After gaining a firm foothold in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, he is now looking forward to an early "customs clearance" to return to Hong Kong to prepare for operations and take the opportunity to explore overseas markets.
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