Alliance aims to be a bridge to investing in Europe

Dorling believes that companies will be able to expand into bigger office space at a later stage.

Dorling agrees with Feng that extra help for Chinese businesses is needed as overseas expansion is still a new concept.

The council is allowing the alliance's members to move in rent free for one year, and receive a 50 percent rent reduction for their second year if they commit for another year after the second. The standard rent is 550 pounds ($858) per office desk per month.

"We accept that some companies will come and find this is not the right thing for them, but we expect that a number of them will stay, prosper, grow, and introduce new Chinese businesses to Greenwich," he said.

In Brussels, a group of the alliance's members are now beginning to move into Tour & Taxis, a business complex with shop space in central Brussels.

Another two groups are soon to move into the European Market City, a business hub along the highway between Brussels and Antwerp.

Many of the companies choosing the EMC are manufacturers.

Guido Bernaerts, CEO of Group Bernaerts, which developed the EMC, said that the project connects manufacturers from China and retailers from Europe.

Group Bernaerts also gave the alliance's members one year free space. The standard annual rent is 150 euro ($200) a square meter.

Group Bernaerts has partnered up with 10 professional services firms, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, to provide the businesses with services such as market research, company registration, human resources and accounting services.

Due to the large volume of its foreign exchange reserves, growing corporate demand for expansion abroad and the spreading debt crisis in the Europe, China's ODI has been growing.

China overtook Japan and the United Kingdom in 2010 to become the fifth-largest global investor. China was the largest investor among developing economies in 2010 and last year.

China's ODI rose last year by 1.8 percent year-on-year to $60 billion.

Feng represents a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs who champion high-tech innovation and brand-value creation.

As a testament to the effort his company invests in protecting innovation, Aigo Digital Technology won a landmark intellectual property rights case against Toshiba in a Chinese court in October.

Other examples of Chinese companies that have come to realize the value of branding include clothes maker Bosideng and air conditioner producer Gree Electric Appliances.

Contact the writer at cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn