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My China Story

How it all began

 

FIRST CHINA LOVE

During my studies Sinology, I traveled on a shoestring for 4 months with a backpack through China. It was love at first sight and I knew back then China would one day become a globally leading economy. As such, I decided in 1992 to do an extra degree in Business Engineering to prepare myself fully for this incredible exciting adventure.

WHEN CHINA WOKE UP

My first professional years in China were during the true awakening of the Dragon. The building of Three Gorges Dam, death of Deng Xiaoping, return of Hong Kong, China's entry in WTO, Beijing winning the Olympic Games bid. This was the best time for me in China. It was cheap to live & work, full of energy, very hopefull and everything was possible as the legal framework was still in its infancy.

FROM EAST TO WEST

As most Belgians working in Shanghai, my first stop was Alcatel. Soon after I got the taste of Silicon Valley when working for Wind River Systems and moved to San Francisco in 2001. This got me passionate about the software industry, and short after the dot.com burst faded, I co-founded Polycore Software in the Bay Area

 

CHINA START-UP LOVE

It may sound strange, but after many China years , Silicon Valley was not as exciting as I had hoped for. But the virus I got there as a first-time entrepreneur never left my body afterwards. I moved back to China and for next 10 years built up a company, great team and many products ranging from R&D solutions for government & MNCs to building dozens of event APPs for brands.

Time for a new adventure

 

BACK TO EUROPE

If I would have stayed any longer in China, I probably would have become a Chinese. As a family we decided to move back and our daughter (then 14) started school in Belgium. As transition, I was commissioned to create Sinnolabs, a growth accelerator in Shanghai for Belgium innovative SMEs for which I sourced, selected and prepared companies for China

A NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS

Today, I am sharing how China went from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China' and what it will soon mean for us all. As nexxworks speaker, I deliver workshops and keynotes and guide groups on the China innovation tours. I am most passionate about the swift technology transformation in China and how China can be trusted