I was attending the 2019 “Belt and Road” Science and Technology Park International Workshop with my partner Dénes Fodor from the University of Pannonia sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and organized by the Great Wall Enterprise Institute (GEI) held in Beijing and Nanning from August 1 to August 20, 2019.

Since I'm a real estate professional from Budapest Hungary, on behalf of Euro-Conti Park, we are expecting to cooperate with Chinese technological firms in Hungary. We have established a long-term relationship in scientific research and technical development with the University of Pannonia. Hungarian firms are also interested in doing business with Hungarian export products in the growing market of China; therefore it was a must for us to have real life experiences how Science & Technology Parks work in China, and how start-ups are supported by the business incubation process.

Currently, we are developing two Science and Technology parks (STPs) in different locations expected to be opened in the near future in the vicinity of main routes, and the Budapest Airport (BUD). Together representing Hungary we have participated in this wonderful and very useful workshop in Beijing and Nanning organised by GEI, learned many new approaches to Science and Technology Parks, as well as many new different ideas about innovation systems, incubators and start-ups in China.

Since we did not have any prior experiences of China, it was very interesting for us to experience Chinese culture, the city of Beijing, and got to see the fast development of the country. We have learned of many aspects of how Science and Technological parks function through very well-scheduled visits, and learned about China’s innovation and entrepreneurship system. We’ve visited the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development in Beijing, and also the China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center (CATTC) in Nanning, Guangxi, and attended lectures of these institutions. Presentations by new technology innovative enterprises, the so-called unicorns, were utmost interesting. We have exchanged useful ideas that we brought with ourselves home. It was very interesting for us to see and compare the two cities of Beijing and Nanning to have a wider perception about China. Besides acquiring new knowledge we had the opportunity to visit interesting places in our free time, like the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities in Nanning, and the Great Wall of China in vicinity of Beijing. Therefore we are very thankful to the organizers especially to our guides for this wonderful workshop.