The concept of "unicorn" was proposed by American venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013 to describe technology startups valued at over $1 billion that are not listed on the stock market. In recent years, amidst the global economic and technological revolution, unicorn companies, as a model of innovation driven development, have continued to attract attention from all walks of life. At the same time, its development is also facing some new macro environmental changes. In this context, what are the important development changes and trends in the unicorn ecosystem at home and abroad? What factors should Chinese unicorn companies pay attention to when going global? Teng Binsheng, a professor of strategy at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and director of the Global Ecosystem Research Center for New Generation Unicorns, recently gave an interview to "Dongxiwen" to share his insights on this topic. Reporter: In recent years, what new trends have emerged in the development of the global unicorn ecosystem? Teng Binsheng: There have been significant changes in the global unicorn ecosystem development trend in the past two years, mainly reflected in the following three aspects. Firstly, the macro environmental challenges have intensified. The regulation of emerging industries and overseas listings is becoming increasingly strict, and companies are facing increasing compliance pressure. At the same time, geopolitical risks and the shadow of global economic recession are intertwined with many uncertain factors, making the development environment of unicorn companies more complex and volatile. Secondly, market hotspots are rapidly changing. The rise of AIGC and big models has sparked investors' enthusiasm for early AI companies. Emerging tracks are constantly emerging, making it dizzying to catch one's eye. At the same time, policy oriented strategic emerging industries such as high-end manufacturing, semiconductors, and new energy have also attracted attention, injecting new impetus into industrial upgrading. Thirdly, the characteristics of unicorn enterprises are becoming increasingly distinct, with their digital technology content constantly increasing and their scale becoming smaller and more refined. On April 28, 2024, the Global Unicorn Enterprise Conference, one of the parallel forums of the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Meeting, was held in Beijing. Reporter Jia Tianyong from China News Service: What is the current global unicorn landscape? What are the new trends in the development of Chinese unicorns? Teng Binsheng: From a global perspective, unicorn companies are still dominated by the United States and China, with the United States accounting for the largest proportion and China ranking second. Despite the emergence of new forces in the chip industry driven by the AI wave, the top companies are still well-known to us, and the top enterprises still show great stability. Specifically in the Chinese market, the unicorn industry has shown three obvious trends of "fast technological innovation, internationalization, and diversification". As a national strategy, technological innovation is the key to the rise of unicorn companies, as their core competitiveness lies in technological autonomy and irreplaceability. In terms of internationalization, unicorn companies often adopt proactive strategies to explore international markets. In addition, unicorn companies are also committed to exploring new growth points beyond their existing businesses, such as Xiaohongshu and JD.com, whose new growth curves have significantly accelerated. From the perspective of industry focus, artificial intelligence and semiconductors are undoubtedly the two core areas. A large portion of China's emerging unicorn companies are concentrated in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors. On July 6, 2024, the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held in Shanghai. The picture shows a child playing against an AI chess robot. Reporter Tang Yanjun from China News Service: As the two major engines of global business innovation, what are the differences in the development of unicorn companies between China and the United States? Teng Binsheng: From the development of unicorn companies in the global ecosystem, the number of new unicorns in China and the United States is far ahead. Although the focus areas of the two countries are different, after several years of development, China and the United States are now able to compete on an equal footing, which is crucial. From the distribution of unicorn industries, over 90% of the unicorns in the United States are concentrated in the tertiary industry, with a relatively small proportion in the primary and secondary industries. This is also a significant feature of modern economically developed countries and regions, which heavily rely on the service industry. In the highly capital participated unicorn market, it meets the expected preferences of capital. Although China's unicorns on the list also have an absolute advantage in the tertiary industry, accounting for over 60%, the proportion of the secondary industry cannot be ignored, accounting for over 30%. This also fully reflects China's comprehensive advantage as a "manufacturing powerhouse". In a sense, China's combination of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries may be more competitive. From an industry perspective, there is a significant difference in the distribution of unicorns between China and the United States. A few years ago, China's unicorn enterprise platform sharing accounted for a high proportion, focusing on the consumer Internet. Today, with the development of consumer Internet, Chinese unicorns are more distributed in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, industrial Internet, new energy, chip semiconductor and other fields, while American unicorns are more distributed in financial technology, network tools, software services, artificial intelligence, medical health and other soft service applications. On November 26, 2024, the second China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo with the theme of "Connecting the World, Creating a Shared Future" opened in Beijing. The picture shows the Advanced Manufacturing Chain Exhibition Hall, where guests visit the integrated automotive parts solution at the CITIC Group exhibition hall. Photo by Zhang Xiangyi, reporter from China News Service: According to research institutions, the number of unicorn companies in China has declined in recent years. In this context, how do you envision the future development of Chinese unicorns? Teng Binsheng: In addition to the number of unicorn companies, we should also pay attention to the quality of unicorn companies and the risks behind the quantity. Although the growth number of unicorns in China has declined, compared with the large number of unicorns that used money for traffic in the previous mobile Internet era, the hard technology content of unicorns in China is rising significantly. This trend indicates that Chinese unicorns are transitioning from model innovation to independent technological innovation, placing greater emphasis on long-term development and building core competitiveness. This transformation is the result of multiple factors such as changes in the macro environment, guidance from industrial policies, technological drive, and pragmatic development of enterprises. Looking ahead to the future, the strong talent base of Chinese entrepreneurs and technicians remains an overwhelming advantage. In strategic emerging industries, the government has also provided strong support, which can provide sustained development momentum for hard tech unicorns. This innovative ecosystem that combines government and market provides strong support for the rise of Chinese unicorns. Reporter: How can Chinese unicorn companies continue to "go global" in the international market? What are the key elements for Chinese unicorn companies to go global? Teng Binsheng: Overall, China's position in the global innovation ecosystem remains stable. In the future, Chinese companies will need to find their unique advantages in the global ecosystem. Although American companies are relatively active in fields such as blockchain and digital currencies, China has achieved global leadership in areas such as artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and automotive transportation. Currently, the global economic and trade environment is complex and ever-changing, making it particularly important to approach issues from a long-term perspective. Adhering to a long-term perspective is essential to better embrace the future of industries. Long term oriented enterprises typically possess several significant characteristics, such as high-quality shareholder backgrounds, excellent management capabilities, reasonable industrial chain layout, high emphasis on research and development, and a strong sense of social responsibility. At the same time, we can see that the Chinese government is gradually strengthening its focus on a long-term perspective, repeatedly mentioning "patient capital" in multiple central meetings. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to the landing and revenue capabilities of unicorn companies' business innovation with a long-term perspective - whether they have sufficiently high competitive barriers and stable market share, whether their actual performance can meet valuation expectations, and whether their business models are sustainable and feasible. (Xinhua News Agency) Interviewee profile: Teng Binsheng, currently a professor of strategic studies at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, vice dean, and director of the New Generation Unicorn Research Center. The research and teaching fields focus on strategic alliances, competitive strategies, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as cross-border business operations of enterprises. Professor Teng Binsheng has published over 20 papers in internationally renowned academic journals, including top journals such as "Management Society Review" and "Organizational Science". His research results have been cited in numerous strategic textbooks, and two Chinese monographs, "Corporate Strategy" and "From Disruption to Rebirth," have received widespread attention from readers.