New Speakers Announced from Alibaba, ATM, China Mobile, General Electric Power, JPMorgan Chase, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Shenzhen Valley Ventures; GSMA Outlines AI Accelerate Programme; Innovation City To Showcase Latest Mobile Technologies.

The GSMA yesterday announced new developments for MWC19 Shanghai, including recently confirmed keynote and 4YFN speakers, Artificial Intelligence Accelerate Programme, leading players showcasing latest mobile technologies at the GSMA Innovation City, Seminars and Forums and newly joined exhibitors, partners and sponsors.

Taking place 26 – 28 June 2019 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), the GSMA expects more than 60,000 professionals from over 110 countries and territories representing a wide range of industry sectors to attend.

“Intelligent Connectivity, encompassing 5G, AI, IoT and Big Data, is paving the way for a new era which is set to impact almost every aspect of our daily lives,” said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd.

Across MWC19 Shanghai, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from leaders who are driving this innovation globally. They will have access to exciting experiences and discussions through the exhibition and specialised programmes such as Artificial Intelligence Accelerate Programme, Digital Leaders, Women4Tech, 4YFN and more. We look forward once again to welcoming the mobile industry to Shanghai.

New Keynote Speakers Confirmed

The GSMA announced additional keynote speakers for the MWC19 Shanghai conference program, including:

Confirmed keynote speakers:

• Yang Jie, Executive Director and Chairman, China Mobile
• Jing Ulrich, Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Cristiano Amon, President, Qualcomm

These executives join previously announced speakers including:

• Hooi Ling Tan, Co-Founder, Grab Group
• Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA
• Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman, Huawei
• Greg Wyler, Chairman, OneWeb
• Sigve Brekke, President and CEO, Telenor Group
• Xu Ziyang, CEO, ZTE

For more information on the conference, including the agenda and keynote speakers, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/conference-programmes/

Headline Speakers at 4 Years From Now (4YFN)

Meet the headline speakers taking part in 4YFN’s start-up focused conference programme:

• Cindy Chow, Executive Director, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund
• Minjun Liang, Venture Partner, ATM Capital
• Michelle Wu, Chief Information Officer, General Electric Power
• Janet Tang, Chief Strategy Officer, Lenovo Group
• Chad Xu, CEO and Founding Partner, Shenzhen Valley Ventures

4YFN, the GSMA’s start-up program, is extending its investor presence at the event by welcoming on board new Investors Club member Shenzhen Valley Ventures and bringing back long-term partner Cathay Innovation.

Community partners Momentum Works, Tusstar and Chinaccelerator will bring innovative and exciting startups to the exhibition floor and the Discovery Area Stage, while Mobile World Capital will bring a delegation of Spanish startups and Sud de France will sponsor an exclusive VIP reception. A custom working lounge provided by Spaces will be open to all visitors.

For more information about 4YFN, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/experiences/4yfn/.

First Artificial Intelligence Accelerate Programme at MWC Shanghai

New to MWC19 Shanghai, the Artificial Intelligence Accelerate Programme will host a range of activities that bring together stakeholders including policymakers, industry leaders, AI specialists, academia and start-ups, to discuss key policy forumulation, stimulate new innovations and explore how AI can be applied throughout the digital economy.

The program, held from 25-28 June, includes events such as AI in Network Seminar, AI Policy Roundtable, Think AI Summit, AI Trust Panels partnered with Digital Asia Hub – a think tank incubated by Harvard University and a number of workshops.

For details about Artificial Intelligence Accelerate Programme, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/about/get-involved/ai/.

GSMA Innovation City Showcasing Latest Mobile Technologies

Located in Hall N5, the GSMA Innovation City will once again put a spotlight on the latest leading mobile products and solutions and how they are positively impacting society and helping to create a better future.

The City includes interactive demonstrations by new partners China Mobile Migu and Singtel, who join previously announced companies, including BICS, Huawei, myFC and Shanghai Ratta Smart Technology.

The City will also host exhibits from the GSMA’s industry programs including Future Networks, Identity and the Internet of Things.

Demonstrations include how blockchain is helping to monetize the value of IoT data, how drones and unmanned boats are supporting environmental monitoring and how China’s mobile operators are using mobile authentication to help consumers make daily financial transactions.

For more information about the GSMA Innovation City, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/gsma-innovation-city/.

Additional Exhibitors and Sponsors Confirmed for MWC19 Shanghai

Taking center stage in Super Hall N3, leading industry players include China Information and Communication Technologies (CICT), China Mobile, China Telecom, Ericsson, New H3C, Nokia Shanghai Bell and ZTE will feature the application of 5G technology in the intelligent connected era.

Newly confirmed exhibitors and sponsors for MWC19 Shanghai include Ericsson as the “Connectivity Event Theme Sponsor”, new exhibitors Apigate, Gemalto, FIME, Gosuncn Technology, Intracom Telecom, Korea Information and Technology Industry Association (KICTA), Microsoft China, SI-Tech join previously announced companies including Lenovo, Qualcomm, OPPO, Samsung, vivo, among others.

For more information on the exhibition, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/.

DISPLAY CHINA 2019 Co-located For Second Year at MWC19 Shanghai

DISPLAY CHINA will be a concurrent event with MWC19 Shanghai for the second year in Hall E5 at the SNIEC and will promote the latest flexible and HD displays and future innovative applications.

MWC Shanghai attendees holding VIP, Gold, All Exhibition or Press/Analyst passes will have access to Display China 2019.

For more information about Display China, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/display-china/.

GSMA Forums and Seminars

The GSMA will host a range of forums and seminars at MWC19 Shanghai to provide insights and updates on key industry developments.

• GSMA Future IoT Convention, sponsored by Nokia Shanghai Bell and Sunsea AIoT
• 4th 5G Spectrum & Policy Forum, co-hosted by GSA
• eSIM Forum, sponsored by Valid
• Future Broadband Forum, co-hosted by C114
• 5G Network Forum

For more information on GSMA Forums and Seminars, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/conference-programmes/forums-seminars/.

Register and Get Involved at MWC19 Shanghai

Registration to attend MWC19 Shanghai is now open, for information on registration and pass types, please visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/attend/register/

For CIW readers, you can get 20% off on your VIP Pass by registering before 31 May with the code: PVP20AKUGH or get your complimentary All Exhibition Pass now with the code: FAPNH7Z59G

From essential-qualities oriented education to K12 education system, coding education is taking off across China. Nowadays, China has placed coding in the national school curriculums and 4-to-12 year-olds are required to learn computer programming.

WeCode, aiming to turn programming training for 4-to-12 year-olds a subject, has secured nearly ten million yuan in the angel investment. In addition, WeCode has developed products targeting both students and schools.

For teachers in schools, the SaaS learning and administration platform is available for teachers to present relevant coding teaching, practicing, and testing items. Moreover, to better tailor this course to students wherever internet and browser are available, WeCode launched cloud translator.

For those 4-to-12-year-olds students, WeCode developed a Python pre-recorded video interactive curriculum. Given that Python has already been a part of college-entrance exam gaokao, WeCode put more effort into the establishment of tool and content.

Some might wonder why WeCode wants to pre-record curriculum considering the small class is so popular today. To put it simply,  it is costly to hire programming teachers and there are not enough qualified programming teachers.

To deal with the might-be problems of inadequate surveillance and difficulty of staying focused for a long time, WeCode designed every course to be within 15 minutes in length with 10 interesting interactive questions in between in order to keep students’ attention in learning.

Practice counts a lot for computer programming learning. Therefore, WeCode developed an AI-accompanied programming system with the left-screen for correction and right screen for code-writing. Students can ask a real teacher if the AI teacher fails to solve the problem.

It’s not late for WeCode to enter this market even if coding education for 4-to-12 year-olds has been gaining popularity since 2016. This market still has a lot left to be explored with such a low penetration. In the beginning, it is important for platforms to lower the cost to attract parents.

Top mobile apps in China in Q2 2018

GSMA has a very exciting programme lined up for Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018. While showcasing the latest developments in mobile, this year’s event will offer attendees a wide range of experiences through the conference, the exhibition and specialized programmes such as Women4Tech, 4YFN and beyond.

The GSMA announced several additional keynote speakers for Mobile World Congress Shanghai, with executives from leading mobile operators, infrastructure providers and other companies across the broad mobile ecosystem. Recently confirmed speakers include:

• Sabeen Ali, Founder and CEO, AngelHack
• Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO, AT&T Business
• Liu Aili, President and COO, China Telecom
• Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson
• Eric Xu, Rotating Chairman, Huawei
• Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman, OneWeb

The GSMA also introduced a new element for this year’s Mobile World Congress Shanghai: the Leaders Stage. The Leaders Stage programme is open to Mobile World Congress Shanghai attendees holding VIP, Gold or All Exhibition Passes, and will explore wide-ranging trends that are shaping the mobile future and impacting citizens’ everyday lives. Executives participating in the Leaders Stage include:

• Nicole Richards, Catalyst, Dovetailed
• Kirti Lad, Executive Director, Meraki Executive Search & Consulting
• Jingyi Yu, CEO, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Plex-VR Digital Technology
• Bessie Lee, CEO and Founder, Withinlink

For further details on the conference programme, including the agenda and confirmed speakers, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/conference-programmes/

Women4Tech Summit at Mobile World Congress Shanghai

The GSMA announced the first speakers for the Women4Tech Summit, which will be held Thursday, 28 June at the Leaders Stage. The Women4Tech Summit will bring together senior-level speakers and panellists to discuss how to ensure gender equality in mainstream work environments and share strategic advice on broadening gender diversity in mobile and related industries.

The Summit will highlight topics around women’s role in empowering, encouraging, transforming and innovating in technology. The first confirmed Women4Tech keynote speakers and panellists include:

• Nicole Peng, Senior Director, Mobility, Canalys
• Åsa Tamsons, EVP and Head of Emerging Business, Ericsson
• Azita Arvani, Head of Innovation Partner & Venture Management, Nokia
• Anna Yip, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, SmarTone
• Mary Clark, CMO and EVP Product, Synchronoss

Additional Women4Tech activities include a speed coaching and networking session, activities at 4YFN and Women4Tech Asia Mobile (AMO) Awards for Outstanding Achievement Asia Industry Leadership, among others. For more information on the Women4Tech Programme at Mobile World Congress Shanghai, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/experiences/gsma-women4tech/.

New Developments in 4 Years From Now (4YFN)

4YFN returns to Asia for the third year, highlighting key technology trends and exploring disruptive innovation with a comprehensive programme for startups, investors and corporations. 4YFN offers unique connecting initiatives, including custom networking activities, inspirational talks, technical workshops, community outreach and the 4YFN Summit.

For 2018, 4YFN is located in the NEXTech Hall, which puts the spotlight on next-generation technologies, products and experiences. Exhibitors at 4YFN include Daejeon Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency (DICIA), Korea Institute of Startups & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED), Qualcomm Technologies and Shanghai Technology Innovation Center, among others.

Leading venture capital and investment organisations including DCM Ventures, IBM Venture Capital Group, Legend Capital, Telefónica Open Future, Telstra Ventures and others will participate in the 4YFN Founders and Investors Programme and 4YFN Summit.

Executives confirmed to speak in the 4YFN Summit taking place 27-29 June include Minette Navarrete, President, Kickstart, Globe Telecom; David Tang, Managing Partner, Nokia Growth Partners; and Volker Heistermann, Managing Director, Yushan Ventures. For more information about 4YFN, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/4yfn.

The Asia Mobile Awards will also showcase 4YFN with the “4YFN Best Startup of the Year Award”, which recognises organisations focused on accelerating business development and the investment of new technologies within the startup community. The winner of this award will be featured on the Leaders Stage and will receive a free stand at 4YFN Barcelona 2019.

The winner will have the opportunity to participate in acceleration, mentoring and investment programmes with 4YFN, including the accelerator programme of BGTA, a London-based accelerator with operations in China and the 4YFN Award Partner. For more information about 4YFN Asia Mobile Awards, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/conference-programmes/asia-mobile-awards-2018/2018-categories/.

droidcon Comes to Mobile World Congress Shanghai

The GSMA will partner with Beijing Changfeng Information Technology Industry Alliance & Mobile Seasons GmbH to bring droidcon to Mobile World Congress Shanghai. Started in Berlin in 2009, droidcon is the premier global community of over 25,000 developers worldwide. droidcon is designed to provide an open platform for Android development engineers, users and entrepreneurs to share technology advances, development experience and innovation practices. droidcon Shanghai 2018 will be held in the NEXTech Theatre in the NEXTech Hall (Hall W5), alongside the Device City, AR/VR/MR Zone and 4YFN.

New Exhibitors and Event Partners Confirmed

The GSMA confirmed several new regional pavilions in the exhibition, including Enterprise Ireland, Russian Export Center JSC and Shanghai Technology Innovation Centre, as well as the Korea pavilion featuring Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency (DIP), Daejeon Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency (DICIA), Gwangju Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency (GITCT), Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT), Korea Information & Communication Technology Industry Association (KICTA) and Korea Institute of Startups and Entrepreneurship Development.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, Eyesight, Onstar and Volkswagen will explore the intersection of mobile and automotive in the AutoTech Zone. Exhibitors including Dozen, Gowild and others will be showcasing the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) in the AI Zone, while 263 Mobile, Acoustics and ZTE Welink will demonstrate the technologies and applications shaping the Internet of Things (IoT) in the IoT Zone. For more information on the exhibition, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/.

As always, the GSMA Innovation City will be a major highlight of the show, enabling attendees to experience technology in context and see how mobile-connected products and services can improve their daily lives. Continental and Zhejiang Panshi Information Technology become the latest companies to participate in the Innovation City, alongside previously announced partners BICS, Huawei, myFC and SI-Tech Information Technology. For more information, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/gsma-innovation-city/.

MWC Shanghai Tours Offer Focused Experiences

To help attendees better navigate Mobile World Congress Shanghai, the GSMA is offering four different tours of the SNIEC, led by industry experts. The MWC Shanghai Tours will focus on topics including 5G & NFV, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer Tech and IoT, and will provide experiences that are tailored to meet attendees’ individual business objectives and requirements. For more information on MWC Shanghai Tours and registration, please visit www.mwcshanghai.com/experiences/mwc-shanghai-tours/.

Register and Get Involved at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018

Registration for Mobile World Congress Shanghai is now open. For more information on Mobile World Congress Shanghai, including how to attend, exhibit, partner or sponsor, visit www.mwcshanghai.com. Follow developments and updates on Mobile World Congress Shanghai through our social media channels – follow us on Twitter at @GSMA and use #MWCS18, get regular updates through our LinkedIn Showcase Page at www.linkedin.com/company/mobile-world-congress-shanghai, and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mwcshanghai. In China, you can follow us on Sina Weibo http://weibo.com/mwcshanghai or search “GSMA_MWCS” in WeChat.

CIW, as our media partner, offers its audience an AEP (worth $75) registration code FEPQWRNEUM that you use to register.

WeChat launched rewarded video ads platform for mini-games

After the huge and recent success of 4YFN’s original and main startup event: 4YFN Barcelona, which in just over 4 years, has grown from 2,500 attendees in 2013 to 19,000 this year, the platform continues to expand into new regions, new markets supporting the startup ecosystem.

At GSMA’s Mobile World Congress Shanghai, due to take place from 28-30 June 2017, 4YFN will introduce 150 startups that will showcase the latest in digital tech solutions from all over the world, with one main collective goal of getting their product noticed within the Asian market.

4YFN is the startup business platform of Mobile World Capital Barcelona that enables startups, investors, corporations and public institutions to discover, create and launch new ventures together.

Startups across all industries, worldwide will participate this year, having access to over 53,000 MWCS attendees during the 3 days. Those that will be part of the 4YFN delegation will get great traffic during the event as the area is right next to the conference halls, where all the talks take place, meaning the exhibitors will benefit immensely from the constant flow of visitors.

The 4YFN Stage will feature talks and keynotes by leaders in the tech industry, mainly focusing on startup and corporate collaboration techniques. A number of startups exhibiting will have the invaluable opportunity to get up on stage and get further exposure by pitching their product to the crowd.

This can be a major milestone for startups getting their businesses noticed by the right people as investors and corporations will be frequenting this area on a daily basis, waiting to discover the latest pioneering ideas from the entrepreneurs in their preferred industries.

Exhibitors will also be automatically entered into a competition whereby the best 5 startups will be selected and asked to pitch on the final day to be picked and awarded as the best startup of the 4YFN Awards Shanghai 2017.

Amongst the talks, pitches and presentations, groups consisting of investors and corporations will be given specialised tours in and around the 4YFN Startup Area, in order to meet the startups on a more personal basis.

4YFN Shanghai 2017 will take place from 28 – 30 June 2017 in Shanghai, China.

Laster this month, 4YFN (4 Years From Now) will take their colourful and energetic vibe to China at the next Mobile World Congress Shanghai (MWCS). Landing for the first time in Asia after the success over the past 3 years at Mobile World Congress Barcelona and bringing with them more than 100 international startups within the new 4YFN Startup Area. To add to the excitement, they are sharing lots of creative and fresh products to all MWCS attendees.

There will be health products, such as Asthmanager, a high-tech platform for long-term asthma sufferers, they have created a management system that´s able to connect to other medical devices, such as smart inhaler trackers and smart peak flow meters. Other useful health related products showcasing are: Nainiumama orBeiyunbang, very useful tools to answer any questions, track their health status or even pregnancy processes. Meanwhile, LiangYiHui is a multiplatform system for Chinese oncologists and patients that gathers therapeutic information, suggesting the best medical tools & learning material.

Startups are also bringing with them tools for making your daily work/life balance more manageable, such as Cityholic, a goal-oriented open platform and mobile service for second jobs that can increase income and broaden opportunities for extra jobs, or Zoom Offices, an online office marketplace connecting office users and landlords helping you find your ideal office space locally or internationally. Ever considered moving to a new office space abroad within a few days? Now you can.

For those keen travelers, a startups has solved some of the biggest headaches: connecting to WiFi – meet i-MiFi a mobile wireless internet router you can put in your pocket or bag, which provides you with internet access from any device that supports Wi-Fi, wherever you may be. Another useful tool on the road is JiTT.travel, an easy-to-use app with historical and cultural guides stating many of the world’s most important cities.

If you can’t get enough, don’t miss out on this impressive device: BLITAB, the first tactile tablet, with a liquid-based technology that creates tactile relief outputting braille, graphics and maps. People call it the “iPad” for the blind. BLITAB® is a next generation affordable multi-functional device for reading and writing that displays one whole page Braille text, without any mechanical elements.

All this and much more will be available at the 4YFN Startup Area in the Mobile World Congress Shanghai from the 29th June to the 1st July.

Code you can use to get IEP passes is: FEPYLH9FHP (limited to the first 25 registrations).
Visit here, register and use the code above to claim your ticket.

My first enterprise in China back in 2009 was a social community website for fashion-oriented, affluent Chinese. Together with three partners, one of which was a Chinese, we had developed the concept and launched a first version of the website.

These were the days of Kaixin and Renren but we felt we had a chance to start something unique and new in a clearly defined niche. China seemed the ideal place for this adventure: the Chinese middle class was emerging (these were the days when the Sanlitun Village was just becoming the new Mecca for this crowd), programmers were cheap, and venture capital firms were eager to invest in promising start-ups. In short, it was the new Eldorado for internet entrepreneurs – or so it seemed.

One and a half years later, we closed shop. The Chinese competition had proved to be formidable on their home turf. In spite of the fact that we had been onto a nice concept for a social community (think Pinterest for China), we had failed to attract critical user numbers. And a second round of investment we badly needed to boost our growth never materialized.

After three years of bootstrapping and an angel investment, we simply ran out of the means to sustain ourselves and to constantly add new features to the site (a necessity to remain competitive). We had spent three wonderful years pursuing our dream but now it was clearly time to wake up and move on.

This is, of course, easier said than done. Besides the psychological challenge of having to overcome “defeat,” my three partners and I were facing very real issues: how are you going to pay your rent? What about these open student loans that need to still be paid? What about China – is it still the right place to be?

Luckily, I had placed my bets on the right people: with one exception, our core team remained intact and we decided that we wanted to continue working together. I can’t stress enough how important it is to find the right people (and retain them) when starting your own business. After the quality of your actual business idea, it is easily the single most important factor as regards success and failure. Moreover, I was blessed with a great network of likeminded entrepreneurs and had two business coaches who helped me tremendously.

Then there was the question what kind of new business to start. After our grandiose idea had failed, we all were in the mood for something more ordinary but stable. So we decided to make use of the resources and connections we still had and to open a web agency in Beijing and Hamburg, Germany. To be sure, this was a different business altogether: first of all we needed to find clients.

Fortunately, there was (and still is) a considerable demand for quality web design and development in China. And as more and more Western companies realized that they needed to establish a web presence in China, there was also a growing demand for our services in Europe. More recently, there has been a surge in requests for mobile applications, SEO and social media marketing. To be sure, demand in China (from both Chinese and Western clients) is not the real problem.

But that doesn’t mean it is easy to run a profitable service business here in China. First of all, you have to ask yourself what core services you can provide and what kind of market you are actually operating in. For instance, it makes a big difference if you are offering web development services or if you specialize in digital strategy.

My recommendation would be to always focus on niche markets that require creativity, a keen sense of taste, and a theoretical foundation. You do not want to compete against an army of cheap labor. Second, you should always try and sell your working methods as much as your actual service. It is very challenging to be a service provider for Chinese clients, unless you find a way to guide your client through the process. You need to find a way to show your Chinese client the added value of approaching a project with a professional, Western methodology and workflow.

At the end of the day, no matter what creative service you are providing, you will need quite a bit of stamina to make it here in China. After four pretty intense years, we are finally able to choose the jobs we want to take on and to decide when to say no.

Today, we run a boutique web agency that does not only provide us with a stable income, but allows us to pursue other business ventures as well. We have managed to carve out a niche but only after we learned some important lessons the hard way. The good thing in China is this: there are plenty of entrepreneurs and professionals who are willing to share their China experiences and to help aspiring entrepreneurs. Do get in touch with these people. It may help you avoid some of the China traps and is certainly time worth spent.

Dr Johannes Kadura is the managing director of digital agency AKRYL, which maintains offices in Beijing and Hamburg. He is also a business coach at The China Expert.