China's overseas research centers yield win-win results

SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES/PARIS - As China has been emerging as a powerhouse of the world economy, Chinese enterprises have paid a lot of attention to advanced technology, innovation and personnel training, and set up dozens of research and development centers abroad.

These overseas R&D centers not only play an important role in Chinese industry development, but also benefit local communities, such as creating jobs, providing financial support and granting access to the Chinese market.

Last year, China's leading information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider Huawei announced a second overseas investment program in France worth $1.9 billion. According to the program, Huawei will make research there a key task, thus creating jobs for locals.

In Paris, Huawei has opened four R&D centers. Among them, the Mathematical and Algorithmic Sciences Lab at Paris' west suburban Boulogne-Billancourt city has hired nearly 60 researchers, of whom 90 percent are local people. At present, approximately 100 local researchers work with Huawei's research centers in France.

Actually, Huawei has not only created jobs for local people, but also helped the French government retain talents.

Merouane Debbah, director of the Mathematical and Algorithmic Sciences Lab, planned to travel to the US Silicon Valley before working with Huawei.

Debbah has recognized Huawei's ambitious development plan. "There are very few companies who believe in the mathematical process to solve problems in telecommunications. In the United States, this is the case; companies like Facebook, Google are 'big boxes' having many mathematicians devoted to Big Data. Huawei has made this bet. It is very ambitious," Debbah said.

He found that in a Chinese company like Huawei and, generally speaking, in China, people have great respect for engineers. He said that in Huawei's research center in France, research is indeed a top priority. "Researchers see themselves as being jewels in a box. It's completely different from those many French or European companies. They generally attach importance to marketing, business and other sectors..."

In the United States, many big Chinese companies are also vying to take root there, trying to study US advanced technology, managerial expertise and development opportunities on the one hand, and channeling US products into China's huge market on the other hand.

China's leading home appliance manufacturer Changhong, a newcomer in intelligent technology, opened its R&D center in Silicon Valley early this year after years of elaborate investigation.

Besides doing research, Changhong's US center focuses on the investment and incubation of startups by providing funds, equipment and a venue in the United States and its manufacturing capability and distribution network in China.