New Age Internet

Nanjing City, the capital of East China's Jiangsu province with a population of around 8 million people, is considered as one of the most prominent cities in China. To safeguard its high-tech zone, it opted for an intelligent security network as part of its Safe City project. Its functionalities include environmental analysis and forecasting, biological security development and security software design.

China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc. (NYSE:CSR), together with a local project contractor, will execute the project that will also include the installation of security cameras, biological detectors and related software that will all be integrated into one security platform.

Nanjing City is not the only city in China that embraces Safe City projects.
In March 2008, the city of Benxi in the Liaoning Province purchased an IP video surveillance solution based upon UTStarcom’s RollingStream IPTV technology.  UTStarcom provides Internet Protocol-based end-to-end networking and telecommunications solutions. Its technology was selected by China Netcom to serve as the primary design and deployment platform for Benxi’s Safe-City video surveillance project. It was the first large-scale application of this kind of IP video surveillance solutions. It enables the Benxi Public Security Bureau to plan the deployment of police more scientifically through dynamic arrangement, comprehensive control, and precise strike capabilities. It will enable a more effective maintenance of law & order and stability throughout the city.

Last month, the government of Shouguang City located in Shandong Province with a population of approximately 1.1m people, signed a framework agreement valued at approximately $44m with China Security & Surveillance Technology (CSST), a provider of security solutions in China. This Safe City project consists of the installation of security cameras and related equipment for the public areas including street intersections and shopping malls, as well as a secure, city-wide traffic monitoring system for the local traffic police control center.

More Safe City projects are expected throughout China, using IP video surveillance solutions and other security technologies.

We all know that Microsoft had a lot of problems entering the Chinese market. But Its research arm MSRA is doing very well in China – not in the least due to the vision of Hsiao-Wuen Hon. He believes that researchers should be given the freedom and opportunity to explore new ideas, since this is the key to innovation. Hon heads Microsoft’s Chinese , comprised of 350 researchers and engineers.

This links in with the bottom-up style of Roy Levin, Microsoft's director of research in Silicon Valley. Labs have proven to be helpful for Microsoft. The labs' researchers pick projects themselves and collaborate with each other. They are not bound by profit-and-loss goals or by guidelines imposed by managers.

For Hon, managing innovation in the Beijing-based facility differs from running an organization with set goals. Many times, the magic "spark" is stumbled upon by accident, not by design or planning. He perceives his task as finding the sweet spot between allowing researchers enough freedom to find their inspirations, while ensuring that contributions are beneficial to Microsoft's final products.

All in all, MSRA already contributed 200 innovations to Microsoft’s products. The five main focus areas are: natural user interface; multimedia technology; data-intensive computing; search advertising; and fundamentals such as: computing and networking.

Since Microsoft is a result-driven organization, risky projects with no foreseeable outcome for the next year or two, are given to senior researchers. Junior researchers are encouraged to work on less risky projects, so that they can prove themselves and deliver results within a reasonable timeframe.  

Microsoft’s move is a clever one – China has a huge talent pool, so there is no need to import talent from abroad.  China is also one of the fastest growing markets in the world and moving from “made in China” to “innovated in China”.

 So if you are a trends watcher – keep your eye on China, where the next wave of many innovations.

Internet is the main information channel for Chinese Internet users. This makes sense, since more than 90% of the Chinese Internet audience is between 25 and 40 years old. They prefer Internet as their information source compared to newspapers, TV and printed media. The two main reasons are convenience and low cost. Over one third of these Internet users like to go on bulletin board, read and write blogs and participate in social networking sites.

 Chinese consumers check product information via word of mouth (WOM) or blogs before making purchase decisions. A  TNS Survey shows that 60% of the respondents stated that recommendations from friends and family were the most trustworthy, being it online or offline.
The China Market Research Group (CMR) conducted interviews with 500 young adults between the ages of 18 and 32 in six cities across China. CMR reported that nearly 80% of the respondents said that they had made at least one online purchase in the last six months, while the vast majority expected to buy something again in the next quarter.

In contrast to their Western counterparts, Chinese consumers are curious about buying online, even if they never did it before. This opens a golden marketing & sales opportunity for B2C and C2C companies – once a new online shopper can buy to his or her satisfaction without any hassle, they will for sure continue to purchase additional items online.

Trust is the essence - Chinese consumers stated that as long as they can trust a seller, they will purchase items online, even expensive ones. Convenience is another factor - a 26-year-old professional in Shanghai stated that she purchased a $1,500 Louis Vuitton bag (imported from Europe) online on Taobao, since local stores were not carrying any.

Savvy companies realize that branding can be done easier and quicker via aggressive marketing and online sales than using the traditional sales & promotion campaigns in stores. The shirt manufacturer Perfect Products Group (PPG) gained almost overnight success this way, heavily outnumbering Youngor, China's largest shirt seller.

Since Chinese consumers are becoming more and more comfortable with online shopping and their demand for quality items is rising, they will continue to spend sizable amounts for brands they trust.