swissnex China 2018 Year-End Events & Insights

by Quentin Gigon, Junior Project Manager - Innovation and Entrepreneurship

While the year is coming to the end, the technology community in Shanghai is still going strong, and as such swissnex China had the pleasure of being invited to a few conferences and events about various tech related topics. Read more below.

Plug and Play China 2018 Winter Summit

Based in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play is one of the largest startup accelerators in the world. It has helped grow companies such as PayPal, Google, DropBox, SoundHound etc. In China, Plug and Play has invested in more than 200 startups and accelerated over 500 startups.

Fintech Selection Day

The Fintech Selection Day, which saw 20 Fintech startups pitching from fields such as big data analysis, flash payments, and meteorological risk analysis, as well as the inauguration of Plug and Play's new Blockchain Innovation Lab.

Supply Chain | Brand & Retail Focus Day

Brand & Retail / Supply Chain Tech Focus Day, with 12 startups pitching and demonstrating innovative new retail concepts on the one hand, as well as disruptive unmanned vehicle services on the other. Leon Zhao, one of the panelists at our Homes of Drones event a few weeks ago, was among those pitching with his startup Antwork.

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Fea Consulting / The Blockchainer

FEA-Consulting, a subsidiary company of The Blockchainer, has been holding in-depth and high-end summits in fintech, consumer finance, commercial banking, internet insurance, wealth management, AI, blockchain and digital assets areas for many years. It has so far served more than 5,000 outstanding global companies and 30,000 industry leaders.

Finners City 2018

The Finners City 2018 Digital Finance summit brought together international fintech associations, governments, old & new financial institutions, tech providers, as well as investors to discuss and explore the future of digital finance.

The Summit provided interesting insights into the future of fintech: indeed, there seemed to be a consensus among the fintech associations of Zhejiang, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, that the next "battleground" of fintech will be in blockchain and data protection.

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Chain Plus

The Blockchainer's conference "Chain Plus +" focusing on the Iterative Development and Regulatory Trends in Blockchain. The event offered interesting insights, particularly in the applications of blockchain technology in various fields including crowdfunding and gaming. The crypto winter was a notably recurring theme in many presentations. Once again, there were some familiar faces at the conference, including Olga Feldmeier of Smart Valor, who will be a speaker at swissnex China’s Blockchain event in Zurich on December 11.

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Swiss Startups Shine at Sino-EU Innovation Week of Health-Technology in Nanjing

By Victor Dietrich, Junior Project Manager

On November 2, 2018, the Sino-EU Innovation Week of Health Technology wrapped up to great fanfare in the beautiful Nanjing, with innovators from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and China. The attendees gave praise to the host's investment and life science community, facilitating Sino-EU collaboration in health technology innovation.

swissnex had the privilege of attending this high-level event during its closing days in Nanjing, in particular the inauguration of award and opening of ICCAMT-Nanjing, and had the opportunity to network with interesting companies in the field of biotechnology, health technology and medical technology.

You will find below detailed information on companies that were representing Switzerland at this event, as well as a summary of their products / services and the remarkable results they acquired.

Biognosys AG, a company that had collaborated previously with “our cousins” from swissnex Boston, was represented by Oliver Rinner and Lidia Novak. They won one of the 2nd Health Technology Innovation Award.

Biognosys was founded in 2008 and is a privately held company in Zurich, Switzerland. Originally an ETH Zurich spin-off from the lab of Prof. Ruedi Aebersold, Biognosys is a pioneer in the field of proteomics and caters to the Pharma, Biotech, Diagnostics and Agricultural industries.

Biognosys believes that the decoding of the proteome will impact life science more than the genome revolution a decade ago. They provide innovative services and products for protein quantification using cutting edge technology and strive to be the company that provides the best possible solutions to support researchers in their protein analysis needs.

Their next generation technology quantifies proteins with unbeatable precision and depth. The solution is based on mass spectrometry based targeted proteomics technology, which provides simultaneous quantification for thousands of proteins in a single experiment.

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Dualsystems Biotech AG, represented by its CEO, Dr. Paul Helbling, won one of the 3rd Health Technology Innovation Award. Dualsystems Biotech does target identification on living cells using the LRC-TriCEPS platforms as their core technologies. They are a specialized proteomics service provider working already with 15 of the 20 largest pharma companies and with a large number of Biotech companies worldwide. They also support discovery reach by collaborating with Universities around the globe.

Dualsystems Biotech have the only technology published so far to identify the unknown receptors of ligands (small molecules, peptides, proteins, antibodies, ADC, biologics, Fc-fusion proteins, and viruses) on the living cells to elucidate the Mode-of-Action of a molecule by target deconvolution. With their TriCEPS platforms they have a tool to optimize, identify and validate the targets. 

Further, they can identify new cell-cell interactions similar to PD-1/PDL-1 to identify new drug targets i.e. on primary human T-cells using the extracellular domain of any receptor fused to an Fc-tag to identify new drug targets. At the same time a large portion of the surfaceome (proteins expressed in/at the cell membrane) are identified. 

The technology has been shown to be able to detect where the peptide/protein/virus and small molecule docks on the living cell. 

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MagCath ApS, represented by its CEO Niels Erikstrup, proposes an alternative option for women that are thinking about undergoing mesh surgery due to stress urinary incontinence. Surgery has risks and may not work at all. That is why MagCath ApS have developed and clinically tested a unique medical device called Obtinu.

Obtinu is a single-use, very soft, silicone tube, that the user herself inserts in the urethra each morning. The tube stays in place all day, and has an inner valve, which restores control over bladder voiding. The tube is pulled out and discarded in the evening, before going to bed. Obtinu has a high user approval as it is both comfortable and easy to use.

swissnex also had the chance to connect with Serge Perriard, Managing Director of BioTalk GmbH. Over a period of 12 years, BioTalk has also published the special interest journals BioWorld and BioWorld Europe. Since over 3 years together with their partners in Switzerland, Finland, Italy, USA, and Israel, they are focusing on building bridges between Swiss & European SMEs on the one side and Chinese partners & investors in their sector on the other side, and have organized and initiated many events, roadshows, and cross-border partnerships.

Among others, BioTalk has enabled excellent cooperation between the Swiss Technopark Alliance and their closest Partner company in China, Beijing YiGu Venture Capital Management & Consulting Co. Ltd. This leading healthcare technology developer in China is setting up and managing healthcare initiatives, incubators, and industry parks. Moreover, BioTalk maintains partnerships with many other industry & innovation park, event & media, and VC&PE investment fund managers, as well as with international relations managers from large pharma & medtech companies and with government officers, responsible for economic industry zone development in Hong Kong, Foshan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Jinan, and Beijing.  

swissnex would like to congratulate all the companies for their interesting presentations, great results, and engagement. A huge bravo to Karin Schütze, Managing Director of CellTool for winning the 1st Health Technology Innovation Award. A special thanks to Dr. Hui Wu and Matthias Hölling for the invitation and to iCCAMT, Beijing, TechnoPark, Germany Medical Valley, Steinbeis Stiftung and Business Sweden for the organization of this event.

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Blockchain in FinTech: another Grand Success in the Future of Money series

By Sébastien Quadri, Junior Project Leader

swissnex China was proud to organize the third edition of the Future of Money series, “Blockchain in FinTech” at the Embassy of Switzerland, as part of the Swiss Innovation Week on July 6.

Blockchain, such a hot topic nowadays! This disruptive technology is often compared to the Internet revolution and trigger interests among both professionals and curious people. With a wealth of experts and the proliferation of blockchain startups across the FinTech space, Switzerland has quickly become a major blockchain hub of the world. A very supportive government, a dynamic environment and high motivation are important drivers of Swiss innovation. On the other hand, China’s investments in this technology are unmatched by any others. In 2017, more than half of the Blockchain patents in the world were published by Chinese organizations.

Under such circumstances, 250+ guests including executives, VCs & policymakers were welcomed by his Excellency Dr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel, Swiss Ambassador in China and our CEO Dr. Felix Moesner to attend the panel discussion.

His Excellency Dr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel welcoming the audience.

His Excellency Dr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel welcoming the audience.

A fascinated audience: the venue was fully packed with 250+ people.

A fascinated audience: the venue was fully packed with 250+ people.

With a very impressive panel consisting of Mr. Liwei Wang, senior reporter at Caixin media, Prof. Elaine Shi, the very first Scientist to talk about and teach smart contract, Prof. Dr. Ben Shenglin, Founder and Dean of the Academy of Internet Finance of Zhejiang University, Mr. Daniel Haudenschild, CEO of Swisscom Blockchain and Dr. Thomas Ankenbrand, Researcher and Lecturer at the Luzern University of Applied Sciences and Arts and expert on the Swiss FinTech landscape, the bar was set very high.

The panelists discussed topics revolving the application of blockchain technology in Switzerland and in China.

The panelists discussed topics revolving the application of blockchain technology in Switzerland and in China.

The talk addressed diverse trendy subjects such as the applications of blockchain technology and endeavors in Switzerland and in China, the supportiveness of their governments and policies, the technical capabilities and challenges of the blockchain technology at this stage and moving forward as well as its tricky relationship to Cryptocurrency in the blockchain's development. Both the promise and pitfall from a longer-term perspective were mentioned and the panelists were delighted to shared their opinions.

“Blockchain or, more precisely, Distributed Ledger Technology offers new opportunities on three levels. First, on the technology or database level, secure, immutable applications without a central operator are made possible. Second, cryptocurrencies offer an efficient crowdfunding possibility for innovative projects. Third, token economies can be built for disruptive new business models. The current situation in the blockchain space reveals parallels to the internet space twenty years ago: There are great opportunities but also high risks.”
— Dr. Thomas Ankenbrand
Many participants were eager to ask questions to the panelists both during and after the event.

Many participants were eager to ask questions to the panelists both during and after the event.

In the end, expectation were more than fulfilled and the only challenge consisted of the constant flow of astute questions from the audience, who were waited for the Grand Reception Opening.

In three words: A Grand Success!

 

Testimonials

“It was a successful event held last Friday. We are very glad that both Dean Shenglin and myself are involved.”
— Ruidong Zhang, Director of the Blockchain Labs at Academy of Internet Finance, Zhejiang University
“High quality discussion and diverse audience.”
— Mr. Lars Hoffmann,  Community Standing Committee of Elastos Foundation
“Great event with insights from China and Switzerland on blockchain tech advances and outlook into the immediate future.”
— Mr. Fabian Knopf, Commercial manager of TMF Group

 

Thanks to our partners and sponsors

This third edition of the Future of Money series would not have been possible without the generous contribution of our sponsors. A big thanks to:

·      ThunderCore™ is an EVM-compatible public blockchain developed by leading experts, characterized by:

o   Compatibility: Ethereum smart contracts fully supported. Migrate DApps to ThunderCore and immediately increase their performance.

o   Scalability: Process thousands of transactions in a second—nothing is left pending.

o   Fastness: Get your transactions confirmed instantly in less than a second.

o   Security: Enjoy mathematically grounded security guarantees. We are as secure as existing blockchains but with vastly improved speed and efficiency.

https://www.thundercore.com

A special thank you to our keynote speaker Mrs. Elaine Shi, Blockchain Scientist and Professor.

·      TrustSquare With blockchain technology as the common denominator, TrustSquare brings together entrepreneurs, businesses, investors as well as academics and researchers in an open and diverse environment.

https://www.trustsquare.ch

·      Swisscom Blockchain Swisscom Blockchain provides solutions to implement blockchain technology quickly and successfully for your company.

https://blockchain.swisscom.com

·      Presence Switzerland: Presence Switzerland is competent for the image of Switzerland abroad and implements the strategy of the Federal Council on Switzerland’s communication abroad

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/das_eda/organisation_deseda/generalsekretariat/praesenz_schweiz.html

·      The Embassy of Switzerland in China

https://www.eda.admin.ch/beijing

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Swiss Innovation a Hot Topic at Elite Zhejiang University Blockchain & FinTech Summit

On July 12, 2018, our CEO Dr. Felix Moesner was invited to deliver a talk to 250 top graduate students on "Switzerland's Practice in Blockchain and FinTech" at Zhejiang University, an elite higher education institution in China that is ranked 3rd nationally (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, 2018). The warm reception to Dr. Moesner's speech was astounding: the spacious lecture room was fully-packed, with many in the audience even standing in the back for an opportunity to gain special insight into Switzerland's cutting-edge innovations in blockchain and FinTech. With a wealth of experts and the proliferation of blockchain startups across the FinTech space, Switzerland has quickly become a world-leading blockchain hub. A very supportive government, a dynamic ecosystem and high motivation are important drivers of Swiss innovation. The "Blockchain and Digital Economy" summit by the Academy of Internet Finance at the School of Management was organized by Dean Ben Shenglin and Prof. Zhang Ruidong.

swissnex China CEO Dr. Felix Moesner was warmly received at the "Blockchain and Digital Economy" summit at Zhejiang University.

swissnex China CEO Dr. Felix Moesner was warmly received at the "Blockchain and Digital Economy" summit at Zhejiang University.

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest, most selective and most prestigious institutions of higher education in China. The university's mission is to "seek truth and pursue innovation", backed up by a total research funding of $638.2 million in 2017 and being home to one of China's largest academic libraries. It is situated in Hangzhou, the city that is now synonymous with China's tech capital from where the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba also hails. The halo effect from the the city's flourishing e-commerce activities has transformed it into one of China's main FinTech hubs.

Dr. Moesner spoke at length about Switzerland's cutting-edge innovations in blockchain and FinTech.

Dr. Moesner spoke at length about Switzerland's cutting-edge innovations in blockchain and FinTech.

The spacious lecture room was fully packed, with many amongst the audience standing in the back.

The spacious lecture room was fully packed, with many amongst the audience standing in the back.

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest, most selective and most prestigious institutions of higher education in China.

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest, most selective and most prestigious institutions of higher education in China.

Blockchain in Fintech, the successful launch of the Future of Money series in Hong Kong and Shanghai by swissnex China

By Martin Stürchler, Junior Project Leader

In case you have not heard of the blockchain technology, blockchain gives the internet user the possibility to transfer a piece of digital property to another internet user. The Blockchain guarantees the transfer to be safe and secure. Due to the fact that the blockchain is transparent everyone knows that the transfer has taken place and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer.

Switzerland as a leader in innovation and with crypto valley Zug on the rise in the Blockchain scene has gained curiosity around the world including China.

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On November 20 & 21, swissnex China successfully launched its first “Future of Money” series’ event themed “Blockchain in Fintech” with a great exceptional panel of Swiss and Chinese Blockchain & Fintech experts. The topics that have been discussed are the revolutionizing technology of Blockchain in Fintech and the future outlook of how cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger have the potential to affect different industries and shape the world of tomorrow.

The panel was moderated by the FinTech expert Zennon Kapron, Director of Kapron ASIA. In the panel seven Blockchain experts joined: Da HongFei, Founder of NEO the largest Blockchain project in China, gave interesting insights how digital identity can digitalize assets, to automate the management of digital assets using smart contracts aiming to create a “smart economy”. Furthermore from Hong Kong we welcomed Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX who explained the next generation of Bitcoin derivates. Ms. Qijun Wang a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of crypto asset management startup Queschain representing the voice for women in the industry. Last but not least we had Mr. Rong Chen, co-founder of Elastos Foundation who works on a smart-web powered by Blockchain,  and Mr. Jason Inch who shared with us his most recent insights of his book “China 4.0” and his latest Blockchain project Genaro.

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Switzerland was represented by Dr. Thomas Bocek, Head of P2P and distributed systems CSG of the University of Zurich and Manuel Stagars, movie maker of the documentary “Blockchain and Us”. Mr. Bocek gave the audience a taste of the technological background on peer-to-peer, distributed systems, including Bitcoins and Blockchain. On the other hand Mr. Stagars, due to his documentary movie and many interviews with key players in Switzerland, shared interesting insights of the Swiss Fintech landscape and its opportunities and challenges for the Blockchain technology.

Many interesting questions were discussed during the two events: Is Blockchain technology a game changer? Which industries will the Blockchain in particular influence? Is Switzerland going to play a key player in this Fintech industry? How long does it takes for mass adoption? What are the opportunities and threats of Blockchain technology?

The panelists actively replied to questions throughout the conference. The conclusion was that blockchain technology is still at the beginning of a revolution, which will have the power to change our everyday life.

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Testimonials

“I have to say this has been one of the greatest events I have had and I appreciate the invite from swissnex and the opportunity to share the stage to learn from my fellow panelists so much.” Ms. QJ (Qijun) Wang - CEO and Founder, Queschain Capital

“swissnex Future of Money event, industry sharing is comprehensive, audience is great, Q&A communication is fantastic.” Johnson Zhao Chen - Head of Business Development and Operations at NEO 

“The event was great. For the future, let us plan some Fintech events together, I think that would work great.” Johan Uddman - General Manager & Investor at JadeValue Fintech

“First of all thank you for this great event! It was impressed about the organization and the event itself. Keep going!” Celina Eisenring - Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai 

“Many thanks for putting on a great event and fantastic to meet you all.” Manuel Stagars - Founder of Blockchain & Us

“Thanks for the superb organization!” Dr. Thomas Bocek - Head of P2P and distributed systems at the CSG of the University of Zurich

 

To get more information please find the detailed list of the panelist below:

Dr. Thomas Bocek, Head of P2P and distributed systems at the CSG of the University of Zurich, Dr. Thomas Bocek is mainly interested in communication systems and networks, especially focusing on peer-to-peer, distributed systems, including Bitcoins and blockchains. Thomas has published several papers on these topics and his PhD topic has a strong focus on Peer-to-Peer and distributed systems.

Manuel Stagars, Founder of Blockchain & Us, Manuel Stagars is an author, film director, economist, and serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in consulting and startups in Switzerland, the United States, Japan, and Singapore. His documentary films focus on technological innovations and their potential to improve the lives of people.

Qijun Wang, Founder and CEO of Queschain, Co-Founder of several blockchain startups, open-source blockchain projects such as MakerDAO, community education initiatives, and charity programs with a focus of connecting China and the rest of the world.

Da Hongfei, Founder of NEO & CEO of Onchain, Da Hongfei came across Bitcoin in 2011, and worked fulltime in the industry since 2013. In 2014, he founded NEO, a blockchain to register, transfer, and exchange digital assets, and led the startup to become the benchmark in the Chinese blockchain community.

Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX, In January 2014, BitMEX – Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange was formed. BitMEX is a trading platform that gives retail investors access to the global financial markets using Bitcoin, the Blockchain, and financial derivatives. BitMEX through the use of Bitcoin as collateral, allows anyone anywhere to trade any type of financial asset.

Jason Inch, Serial Entrepreneur & Author of China 4.0, Jason is also an accomplished writer with several books about China’s economy. His most recent book is called China 4.0 and he is also the founder of the China Business Events meetup community.

Rong Chen, Co-Founder of Elastos Foundation, Rong believes that a smart-web powered by the blockchain technology is the future for Elastos to create the scarcity of digital contents. He established the Elastos Foundation with his partners in June of 2017.