Interchange and synergies between Chinese and European startup ecosystems: a focus on Tech Silu’s case.

Abstract

The latest few years have seen the blooming of startup ecosystems at a worldwide level: The United States, Europe and Asia have been developing their ecosystems and have been trying to attract and incentive new founders, entrepreneurs, talents and capital, by issuing new policies and tax regulations. These policies aim at favouring the ecosystems to flourish and to become competent at a global stage. Focusing on European and Asian startup ecosystems, it is evident that the interchange of capital, talents, disruptive ideas and innovation is becoming deeper than ever and that they are creating synergies both on the economic and on the know-how level. Moreover, the Chinese government has recently been issuing new policies, such as a deduction of taxation on high-tech startup businesses and new initiatives, which include “Made in China 2025”. The objective is to foster and develop ten sectors, which are considered the ten leading sectors in the ride towards innovation. Many of these sectors are also flourishing in Italy, so China and Italy are creating synergies, trying to give birth to a deep interchange of talents, investors and entrepreneurs. As a consequence of the above-mentioned cooperation, international associations like Tech Silu were born, with the aim to create a bridge between European and Chinese startup ecosystems. This thesis’ main objective is to provide an overview of the European startup ecosystem, the Chinese startup ecosystem and the interchange and synergies between them, analyzing data contained in some official reports, such as reports by Atomico, Startup Genome, Dealroom, McKinsey, and to describe how two Italian startups broke into Chinese market.