What if Africa exchanged four with China(s)?

Officially, diplomatic relations center on Beijing’s influence. But unofficially, the African continent can rely on the four poles: Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China to explore new partnership, management and innovation capabilities for its development. A review of influence strategies should be developed for each of these poles.

Let’s start with the lesser-known: Macau, since the opening of the Macau Startup and Innovation Center in 2017, wants to position itself as a hub for innovation and exchanges between the Portuguese-speaking countries of Brazil, Mozambique, Angola and China. The development of the Macao Science Center, its architecture recalls Chinese astronomical discoveries and their relationship with the sea.
Every year, Brazilian and Portuguese startups dominate the Macau innovation and entrepreneurship competition. Organized by Macao’s Economic and Technological Development Office (DSEDT), the competition aims to “intensify cooperation” in the fields of “science and technological innovation” with Portuguese-speaking countries, according to Macao News.
In 2021, a project by Biosolvit, a Brazilian biotechnology company specializing in environmental protection, won the first prize worth MOP 100,000 (USD 12,500).
In second and third place were projects from Portugal-based Aviro, radiotherapy startup Nu-Rise and biopharmaceutical specialist Reapurtech. They received prizes of MOP 80,000 (USD 10,000) and MOP 50,000 (USD 6,250) respectively. Two other distinctions were awarded to Brazilian companies, in the amount of MOP 30,000, for the Bioo project (“Award for Outstanding Development in the Greater Bay Area”) and the Pocket Clinic project for creating healthcare solutions. Diabetics (“Prize for Scientific and Technological Development”).
Through this competition, DSEDT hopes to “explore more innovative science and technology projects from Brazil to Portugal”, “help them settle in Macao” and “expand their business within China”. In addition to cash prizes, winning companies were able to visit the Greater Bay Area and connect with investment and financial institutions and incubators in mainland China and Macau.
Each edition has attracted 20 competing projects, nominated by eight incubators and higher education institutions in Portugal and Brazil. Organized by DSEDT in collaboration with the Macao Young Entrepreneurs Incubation Center, Bank of China and Parafuturo de Macao, the swing competition aims to contribute to the diversification of the territory’s economy, which is heavily dependent on casino gambling and tourism. If Macau is the Lisbon of the East from Hong Kong, Qingdao is undoubtedly the Brest or San Diego of the East in mainland China : Shandong. Its governor leads the province of 97 million people. He is also a banker and was a strong contender for the post of Vice President of China in the 2018-2019 transition.
The next Ocean Hackathon could bring Brest, Bonand’s gateway, closer to a Chinese ally (Qingdao?) that is the back door. Brest Qingdao has a dual relationship of scientific and technologically active…

At a time when China’s maritime gateways begin to succeed, maritime data can certainly play a cooperation-springboard role towards Africa in relation to European ports such as Nantes or Brest with its World Maritime Complex, its MORESPACE cluster, the French technological ecosystem. New sources of growth. The example of Hong Kong is very interesting in this regard.
A number of growth drivers are explored, developed and strengthened by Port au Parfum:
– Fintex and innovation
– 21st Century Maritime Silk Road
– “Green” finance
– Hong Kong 2030+, a giant regional development plan that takes advantage of data from its thousand-year-old Gulf self-production systems such as energy, food or permaculture, low-tech initiatives led by Taiwanese innovators can also be brought to Africa. Simple solutions for sustainable daily living. The opportunity to write a new history of the presence of four Chinas “from the yellow land to the blue river” after the completion of a forest summit in Libreville (Gabon), climate change promoting the role of sinking forests in the face of carbon.
The African forest sink is one of the largest primary forests in the world (3.6 million square kilometers).
In Taiwan, the skills of Frenchwoman Claire Moukey as a “sustainable living designer” were greatly appreciated for experimenting with “food forests” in the city, in public spaces, with citizen participation, in cooperation with local governments, and with funding. Private companies should implement them. He has worked on the design of food forests, but also soil-building activities with waste, fermented beverages from food forests, and natural toothpaste. She started the “Ferment the City” project in Taipei with a few others. It aims to find reuses for certain city wastes through organic and social fermentation processes. For example: making tempeh, a by-product of soy milk production (okara), turning plastic waste into useful products, while engaging local people to build community relationships.
Spring 2019 marks the centenary of the death of the Breton explorer and intellectual Victor Segalon. From the French high school in Hong Kong to the universities of Brest (his hometown) and Bordeaux bearing his name, the successful and benevolent sailor inspired a sense of adventure in future generations. On January 8, 2018, Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to him in his speech in Xi’an: “…like a neighbor Victor Segalan, he came to China to look for the bricks and tiles of his poetry.
And here, in Xi’an, discovers the mellow and rich scent of buried centuries. »
In this region where cities were built thanks to the invention of agriculture, the Blue River basin, with the introduction of rice cultivation, the 21st century set Africa and Asia back in a laboratory role in motion. and can explain the ability of innovators to address the world’s major challenges (food innovation, smart cities, climate diplomacy, etc.).
Note that in Asia, the best influencers are not in Africa or Europe! Indeed, if in the West, social network experts crowd out; Farmers in China are clicking! From now on, e-commerce sites like Taobao, from the giant Alibaba, have the opportunity to influence everyone, and this is the case for many farmers. It has to be said that Asian internet users love this kind of content, especially to understand where their products come from, how they are made and who makes them. SOPEXA (a large organization promoting regional agri-food products and the French way of life) conducted research on the subject.
Farmers are therefore keen to develop new skills and learn how to operate a continuous chain. Such is the case of Liu Mama, a farmer from the Dongbei region of northern China, who has achieved disproportionate success and amassed a fortune in recent years with these short videos. Handmade content attracts more and more Chinese in their quest to go back to basics.
Thus, Asian consumers are showing a new obsession with their favorite playground: social networks. If they succeed in adapting to the habits and customs of the market, the tendency is to benefit imported products and know-how.