24 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Hangzhou…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭⬇️

𝐃𝐚𝐲 4 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 14 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭-𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐖𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 Alibaba Cloud, 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 2009 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝-𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 Alibaba Group, 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 24 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚.

We were welcomed by Dr. Ye Huang, General Manager of DACH, Benelux, and CEE Region. A graduate of the Université de Fribourg – Universität Freiburg, he is based in Frankfurt, where he manages some 20 employees.

Alibaba Cloud is one of the early players in this field, and is now present in 89 zones almost everywhere in the world. No. 1 in Asia, they also rank 3rd worldwide, with a 7.8% market share (by 2022). They are active in #financial services, #retail, #media and #entertainment, #manufacturing and #web3.0.

They also have numerous academic collaborations, for example with EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) and ETH Zürich in #research.

The second part of the day was devoted to a meeting with Lucas Rondez who has been based in Hangzhou for the past 15 years. A true serial #entrepreneur, he now heads TAROMED, an innovative #medical equipment and supply company, specialized in producing #protective #equipment for #healthcare professionals and civil workers such as isolation gowns and liquid collection solutions. Lucas and his Chinese partner set up their company in response to the #covid19 pandemic.

President of SwissCham China‘s Shanghai chapter, Lucas shared his rocky journey as a foreign entrepreneur in China, where after stints at UBS, Bank of Hangzhou Co., Ltd. and Ping’An Bank (平安银行), he successively founded nihub Innovation Center (a start-up incubator) and then TAROMED.

TAROMED‘s strength lies in having disrupted a very traditional industry by infusing it with a healthy dose of #innovation. They have developed machines (and related software) capable of replacing 150 workers. This has enabled them to guarantee no human contact, and therefore impeccable hygiene, as well as adaptability in the design of their products to customer requirements. Their aim is to produce as close as possible to their customers in order to reduce transport costs.

After a tour of their R&D center, we said goodbye to our host and headed off for the last leg of our journey: #Shenzhen 🛫

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