China Is Innovating Faster Than You Imagine
中国的创新速度比你想象的要快。
Apr 11, 2018, 01:46pm 3,875 views Michael C. Wenderoth
When I talked to a group of Chinese executives recently about their trip to Silicon Valley last year, the consensus was disappointment: “Honestly, I don’t know what all the hoopla is about,” said one.
去年，当我和一群中国高管谈论他们去硅谷的经历时，他们的共识是失望:“说实话，我不知道他们在搞什么鬼。”
The world lauds Silicon Valley as a center of innovation, but many Chinese visitors, particularly from China’s growing technology sector – aren’t that impressed.
世界称赞硅谷是创新的中心，但许多中国参访者，尤其是来自中国不断增长的科技行业的参访者，对此印象并不深刻。
In turn, many Westerners still insist Chinese products are cheap, low quality copies.While such perceptions may represent a portion of China’s market, the country has more than its share of world-class companies that are increasingly rising in rankings on size, growth – and most significantly, innovation.
反过来，许多西方人仍然坚持认为中国产品是廉价的、低质量的复制品。尽管这种看法可能代表了中国市场的一部分，但中国在世界一流企业中所占的份额越来越大，在规模、增长和最重要的创新方面的排名日益上升。
Many Chinese executives in the burgeoning tech sector take umbrage at the idea they don’t innovate. They feel increasingly confident they can compete head to head, engineer by engineer, with the best in Silicon Valley, Israel or other innovation hubs.
在新兴科技行业，许多中国高管对于说他们不能创新的想法感到不满。他们感到越来越有信心，他们可以与硅谷、以色列或其他创新中心的工程师进行面对面的竞争。
For example:
Huawei, the world leader in networking equipment and now #3 smartphone maker, has unparalleled technical breadth and has refined its models both in China and the developing world to the point where it now dominates in some Western markets.
例如：华为是全球网络设备的领头羊，并且是世界第三大智能手机制造商，拥有无与伦比的技术广度，在中国和发展中国家完善了其发展模式，目前在一些西方市场占据主导地位。
Xiaomi, which took the smartphone industry by storm several years ago to enter the top 10 smartphone makers worldwide, produces great designs at affordable prices. It took an innovative approach to marketing by selling online only, with new models emerging rapidly. Xiaomi’s operational efficiency is second to none.
小米—在几年前席卷了智能手机行业，进入全球十大智能手机制造商行列，推出了物美价廉的设计。它采取了一种创新的营销方式，只在网上销售，新模式使得小米迅速崛起。小米的经营效率是首屈一指的。
Alibaba, the largest ecommerce company in the world (the company jokes it should not be compared to Amazon, as it is so much bigger), has revolutionized the way small businesses sell and has created one of the most sophisticated and lucrative retail online ecosystems in the world. No wonder their one-day sale on November 11 (China’s “Singles Day”) grosses more revenue than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
阿里巴巴是世界上最大的电子商务公司(该公司开玩笑说，它不应该与亚马逊相比，因为它的规模要大得多)，它彻底改变了小型企业的销售方式，并创造了世界上最先进、最赚钱的零售网络生态系统之一。难怪他们在11月11日(中国的“光棍节”)的一天销售收入超过了黑色星期五和网络星期一的销售总和。
TenCent, whose Wechat application may be the world’s most dominant, with 960 million users, has not only surpassed Facebook to become the world’s fifth-most valuable company, but has become a case study for mobile gaming and the fremium model to generate revenue.
腾讯，它的微信应用可能是全球最具影响力的，拥有9.6亿用户，它不仅超越了Facebook，成为全球第五大最有价值的公司，而且已经成为移动游戏和免费增值模式产生收入的研究案例。
DJI is the world’s top drone maker, while Haier and Midea, top white goods and electronics manufacturers, are producing high and low-end market winners. All are rapidly upping their game through robotics and internet applications. (Midea bought Kuka, a leading German robotics maker).
大疆是全球最大的无人机制造商，而海尔和美的是顶级的白色家电制造和电子产品制造商，是高端和低端市场的赢家。所有人都在通过机器人技术和互联网应用迅速提高他们的竞争水平。(美的收购了德国领先的机器人制造商库卡）。
These firms and many others have succeeded by applying a mix of world-class management and adapting to China’s highly competitive domestic market. Cities like Shenzhen have become software hubs for sectors such as the IOT by providing access to rapid and cost-effective hardware manufacturing.
这些公司和其他许多公司通过运用了世界级的管理，以及适应中国激烈竞争的国内市场已经成功了。像深圳这样的城市通过提供快速访问以及高性价比的硬件制造已经变成了像物联网等行业的软件中心。
The West often complains that the Chinese government protects its industries through protectionist policies, providing easy access to capital and turning a blind eye to IP protection. There is some truth to this in certain sectors, but it ignores the fact that almost all the companies mentioned operate to world-class standards.
西方国家经常抱怨中国政府通过保护主义政策保护本国工业，并提供便捷的资本渠道，而且对知识产权保护视而不见。在某些领域，这是有一定道理的，但它忽略了一个事实，即几乎所有提到的公司都达到了世界级标准。
In sectors like ecommerce and the internet, China has succeeded in creating an ecosystem so big and attractive that it drives innovation. Many innovative Chinese don't need to look for international markets because there is so much room to grow in China.
在电子商务和互联网等领域，中国成功地创造了一个如此巨大和吸引人的生态系统，推动了创新。许多创新型的中国人不需要去寻找国际市场，因为中国有很大的增长空间。
Take Didi, the ride-share app (which has now gone global). Many accuse of it of copying Uber’s model, but the simple truth is that it outplayed Uber in China, from marketing to speed to market. The company has constantly introduced innovations, like a service to send a driver for your car when you have had too much to drink, and an SOS feature to improve safety.
以滴滴出行为例，这款打车软件现在已经风靡全球。许多人指责滴滴抄袭了优步的模式，但一个简单的事实是，滴滴在中国从营销到速度再到市场全面超越了优步。该公司不断推出创新，比如在你喝得太多的时候为你的车派一个司机的服务，滴滴还有一个发送紧急求救信号（SOS）的功能，以提高安全性。
Such is the ride-sharing leader’s omnipresence that it is calling car ownership into question. China is increasingly seen by many Western carmakers as the laboratory for the future of transport, including bike sharing, a sector led by Ofo and Mobike. With access to capital and demand, both have become huge, fast.
还有就是（中国是）无所不在共享领域的领导者，它将汽车所有权问题变成问题。中国越来越多地被西方汽车制造商视为未来交通的实验室，包括自行车共享，由Ofo和Mobike领导的行业。随着资本的进入和需求的释放，两者都变得巨大，并且发展迅速。
China’s growing domination of AI, machine learning and algorithms is reflected by the success of companies like LingoChamp (Liulishuo), an English language learning application that evaluates your spoken English. With some 50 Million plus users in China alone, it has filled a need, enabling eager Chinese to learn English without access to native language teachers. LingoChamp also reflects how many of China’s entrepreneurs pass on Silicon Valley (several of its founders spent time in the USA), and now see more opportunity in China.
中国日益增长的人工智能、机器学习和算法的主导地位，体现在英语流利说(Liulishuo)这样的公司的成功上。流利说是一个英语学习应用，它能评估你的英语口语。仅在中国就有大约5000万的用户，它满足了人们的需求，让热切的中国人在没有母语的情况下学习英语。流利说还反映了中国有多少企业家越过硅谷(其中几位创始人在美国呆过)，现在在中国看到了更多的机会。
Meeting a more basic need is Three Squirrels, one of the country’s fastest growing snack food companies, typical of the ever-growing swathe of packaged goods and consumer companies able to come up with new products on accelerated cycles, unheard of in the West. All this and a delivery and logistics sector able to provide virtually anything on demand means that China has the conditions for continued innovation.
满足更基本需求的是三只松鼠，它们是中国发展最快的零食公司之一，它们是越来越多的包装食品和消费品公司的典型代表，它们能够在加速周期中推出新产品，在西方闻所未闻。所有类似食品公司、发货和物流部门能够提供几乎所有的需求，这意味着中国具备持续创新的条件。
In fact, as one Chinese entrepreneur recently told me, Darwinian competition means Chinese businesses have no choice but to innovate. Those bike share companies? Within months, dozens of startups had entered the market. And eager Chinese consumers seem particularly skilled at finding loopholes in company policies, forcing companies to improve service at light speed.The same entrepreneur said there are so many opportunities in China that entrepreneurs don’t need to conduct deep R&D innovation, which takes longer and is costly.
事实上，正如一位中国企业家最近告诉我的那样，达尔文式的竞争意味着中国企业别无选择，只能创新。比如那些自行车共享公司?在几个月内，数十家初创公司进入这个市场。而心急的中国消费者似乎特别善于发现公司政策的漏洞，迫使企业以光速改进服务。这位企业家说，中国有很多机会，企业家不需要花费更长的时间和成本进行深入的研发创新。
Which is where the government comes in. China has made impressive investments in key sectors. Clean energy, electric cars, clean energy, batteries, aviation, robotics, genomics, space, security – these and others have been targeted as part of China’s ambitious Made in China 2025 policy, which explains China’s priorities and where Chinese firms are likely to make big acquisitions or focus.
还有一点就是政府的介入。中国在关键领域的投资令人印象深刻。清洁能源、电动汽车、清洁能源电池、航空航天、机器人、基因科学、太空安全——这些都是中国在《中国制造2025》中雄心勃勃的目标之一。中国的这一政策解释了中国的优先事项，中国企业可能会在哪些领域进行大规模收购或专注研发。
When China sets its sights on a goal, as it did with the 2008 Olympics, serious effort and planning move into place. Top-tier strategy consultancies have never been busier and have moved into providing leadership development, design and prototyping, analysis and execution, so that Chinese firms can keep innovating – and Western companies in China have a chance of keeping up with them.
当中国将目光投向一个目标时，就像2008年奥运会时那样，在这一领域付出认真的努力和周全计划。顶级战略咨询公司从来没有这么忙过，他们已经开始提供领导力开发、设计和原型开发、分析和执行，这样中国公司就可以继续创新，而西方公司在中国也有机会跟上他们的步伐。
By following the examples of Chinese firms, the West can learn much about scaling up and operating in fast moving markets, applying Chinese companies’ experience to our home markets. A Chinese approach might also better help us succeed in emerging economies like Africa. China may even take the lead in management and leadership, long considered the ‘expertise’ of the West.
通过效仿中国企业的例子，西方可以学习更多的在快速发展的市场上扩张和运营的经验，将中国企业的经验应用到我们的国内市场。中国的做法或许也能更好地帮助我们在非洲等新兴经济体取得成功。中国甚至可能在长期以来被视为西方的“专业知识”的管理和领导方面发挥领导作用。
China now has the money, an educated and ambitious workforce, a can-do spirit, impressive companies, and a dogged spirit to achieve that will carry it far.Next time someone tells you China doesn’t innovate, suggest that they to take a closer look.
中国现在有了钱，有受过良好教育的、有抱负的劳动力，有乐观进取的精神，有令人印象深刻的公司，还有顽强的精神来实现这一目标。下次有人告诉你中国不创新的时候，建议他们仔细看看。
On my most recent trip to China, I sat next to a retired French executive who was making his first visit. A global, multi-lingual VP, he had spent his career between France, Spain, the UK and the United States, home to the leading companies of his day.
在我最近一次去中国的旅途中，我坐在一位退休的法国高管旁边，他是第一次来中国。他曾是一名大型领先企业的全球多语种副总裁，并在法国、西班牙、英国和美国之间度过了他的职业生涯。
He was intrigued that I was taking a large group of 20-year old students from around the world on their first trip to China: they were heading, I told him, to the home of the leading companies of today.
他很感兴趣的是，我带领着一大批来自世界各地的20岁的学生，进行他们的首次中国之旅，我告诉他，他们将前往今天的公司所在地。