Dongguan reaffirms its strong position as one of China's innovation hubs

The World Dongguan Entrepreneurs Convention, held every two years in Guangdong province's manufacturing powerhouse of Dongguan since 2012, has established itself as a platform for local companies to collaborate and share their best practices in doing businesses.

This year's event, running from Dec 13 to 14, is attracting more than 1,200 corporate representatives across the globe, up 17.7 percent from the previous show in 2016. Of these, 909 are based in the Chinese mainland, 139 from Hong Kong and Macao and 155 from foreign countries.

Dongguan's private businesses have rapidly grown in tandem with the nation's reform and opening-up in the past four decades, when the city became a major manufacturing hub as well as a smart tech seedbed.

At the outset of China's reform and opening-up period, Dongguan entrepreneurs seized opportunities for profitable business and established a flurry of enterprises to process imported raw materials into products for export.

Through years of endeavors, many Dongguan-based enterprises have grown into famous brands that sell well domestically and internationally. Some of these include fast fashion giant Yishion, lingerie trendsetter Cosmo Lady and smart energy system solutions supplier East.

The global financial crisis of 2008 transformed Dongguan's economic structure as the city turned its attention to high-tech and financing sectors. Many local enterprises made the switch accordingly, including Topstar Technology.

Wu Fengli, who founded Topstar in 2007, is among the 10 outstanding young Dongguan entrepreneurs to be commended during the convention.

His decision to produce industrial robots and automated equipment enabled his company to benefit handsomely from the business bonanza resulting from the city's industrial transformation.

In 2014, a wave of automation utilization swept over the factories in Dongguan, as entrepreneurs introduced intelligent equipment to replace increasingly expensive workers.

Those produced by Topstar met these needs perfectly and the company made a profit of 50 million yuan ($7.25 million) in that year alone.

Since then, the company has been on a fast track of growth. It has enjoyed an annual average growth rate of 30 percent, even reaching as high as 50 percent at times.

Less than three years since it was listed at the new OTC market in 2014, Topstar landed on the GME board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, as Guangdong province's first key listed robotics enterprise.

Following on the heels of Topstar, there are a growing number of Dongguan-based companies joining the stock market.

In 2017, the city saw 10 new companies get listed at home and overseas.

This increase hit a record high and beat out any other city in southern China.

Some 202 companies had a place in the new OTC market, ranking third among the nation's prefecture-level cities. On March 28 this year, Dongguan gave birth to its 27th A-share listed company.

Currently, Dongguan entrepreneurs, who are generally hailed as moral, grateful, down-to-earth and pioneering, are readying themselves for emerging global innovation trends and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.