Asia Rising: A first-hand look at the future of innovation (and why the West needs to wake up)

I don’t usually jump at the chance to join trade missions.

With our crowdfunding campaign live on Republic, institutional investors in diligence, sales meetings stacking up, and participation in two accelerators, my calendar wasn’t exactly empty. 

But when HSBC – one of our banking partners – invited me to join their delegation to Shenzhen and Hong Kong, I reluctantly booked the flight. I nearly backed out. But I’m incredibly glad I didn’t.

What unfolded between 30 June and 4 July wasn’t just a business trip – it was a wake-up call.
One that confirmed two things:

1. The opportunities for Watergate in Asia – commercially and in R&D – are vast.
2. The pace and ambition of China and Hong Kong make Western efforts feel sluggish at best.

Here’s what I learnt.

Shenzhen: the Factory of the World?
Not anymore. It’s the Lab of the Future.

My first stop was Shenzhen – a city I knew reasonably well from prior trips, especially through our supply chain in Dongguan where Sonic is assembled. But this visit hit differently.

On Monday, we visited Qianhai, once a marshy wasteland – now a fully functioning district with 1.4 million residents, a skyline of steel and glass, six metro lines, and a high-speed rail hub. It was built from scratch in just 15 years.

Let that sink in… 

In the UK we’ve spent the same amount of time not building HS2!

What’s more, foreign-invested companies in Qianhai can specify in contracts that disputes be resolved under extraterritorial law – a critical mechanism for international partnerships.

Later that day, we attended an HSBC seminar where even the bathroom mirror reminded us to save water – a simple but effective signal of cultural alignment with sustainability. The evening ended at an HSBC reception hosted in a stunning venue, offering more than drinks: it was a statement of commitment to innovation in the region.

BYD: where Sci-Fi meets series production

On Tuesday, we toured BYD, one of the fastest-growing automotive giants globally. Founded in 1995, they’ve scaled to over 110,000 R&D engineers (can you even imagine this?!)… and reportedly hold more than 62,000 patents! 

The demos we witnessed bordered on science fiction:

• Cars with built-in drone launchers

• Vehicles that can “squat” or jump to avoid obstacles

• An amphibious car that can sail for 30 minutes

• Battery safety tests showing a BYD cell pierced by a nail without exploding – unlike the standard cell next to it

These aren’t concepts. 

They’re real, tested, and already on the roads of China and beyond. 

Not all of these models are available in Europe yet, but they will be. 

And they’re not plastic and cheap. The finish, quality, and attention to detail were on par with – or exceeded – German brands.

Innovation is the culture, not the department

We also visited Huaqiangbei, the electronics super-zone, and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Zone, a borderless R&D hub that facilitates talent exchange between the two cities. Think of it as a single tech ecosystem with two governments – and no friction.

Then came Sunwoda, the battery supplier behind around 50% of all iPhones.

I’d never heard of them before. You probably haven’t either. 

But their scale, energy storage portfolio, and expansion into EV and smart tech made that visit one of the most eye-opening of the trip.

Later that day, we toured Dowsure, a fintech company facilitating e-commerce financing. 

It was fast, aggressive, and focused – a cultural theme running through every company we saw.

We capped off the day at the Ping An Tower (the 5th – or the 3rd, depending which rankings you look at, highest building in the world!), dining on the 118th floor with panoramic views of Shenzhen. 

The scene reminded me of Final Destination: Bloodlines – dizzying and cinematic.

Hong Kong: Gateway to China. Platform for Asia.

Thursday took us to Hong Kong – and a complete cultural shift. 

The HSBC archives showcased over a century of resilience and innovation. 

I learnt how the bank’s founder launched operations within 24 hours, how telegram encryption protected clients during wartime, and how a blind executive, Guy Hiller, contributed so much he helped introduce Braille banking in the region.

HSBC’s AI seminar revealed staggering facts:

• 47% of global AI scientists are Chinese
• Only 18% American
• And 12% European

China isn’t playing catch-up. It’s leading.

The economic briefing was equally sobering: even when accounting for indirect channels, Chinese exports to the US – even when accounting for products assembled in other territories using Chinese components – only account for around 2.5% of China’s GDP. 

And this is in the context of China still growing 5% YoY!

In other words – if Trump thinks he can pressure China economically, he has fundamentally misunderstood the game!

R&D goldmine, market launchpad

On Friday, we visited Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park – home to over 2,300 startups and scale-ups across a massive campus. There’s McDonald’s, grocery shops, world-class labs and… wedding venues! 

The number that really hit me?

• 12 million graduates in China every year.

• Out of which 3.5 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) – mostly focused on R&D.

…every year.

These parks make it easy for this talent to work in Hong Kong – opening up real possibilities for many companies to base R&D operations here. From tax advantages to subsidies, the setup is incredibly startup-friendly. Hong Kong isn’t just a foot in the door – it’s a launchpad into Asia.

Cultural lessons: no half-measures

What struck me most wasn’t just the tech – it was the attitude.

Every company we visited had a huge vision. They weren’t talking about incremental gains.

They were solving for scale from Day 1. 

Whether it was AI, robotics, or battery tech – there were no half-measures. No waiting for approval. No MVP-first, maybe-we’ll-scale-later mentality.

And the pace. 

Robots were delivering fast food in hotel lifts. 

Buildings were built with external light systems for coordinated evening displays. 

Shenzhen’s districts compete with each other. 

The same goes for Hong Kong’s science parks. 

Innovation here is not an event – it’s an operating system.

Why This Matters for Watergate

For Watergate, this trip was a strategic turning point. Here’s what I’m taking back:

• Market Opportunity: The appetite for prevention-first water tech is strong. China and Hong Kong both face water stress, high-density infrastructure, and increasing climate volatility.

• R&D Possibility: With access to elite engineering talent and financial support, Hong Kong could be the ideal base for our future hardware and AI development.

• Commercial Entry: The regulatory and legal frameworks are far more internationalised than many assume. From IP protections to contract law, there are clear, practical pathways for British and European companies.

We’re now actively exploring a Watergate subsidiary in Hong Kong, both to tap into the region’s talent pool and to position ourselves for growth across Asia.

Final Thoughts: The West needs to wake up!

The trip changed my perspective. 

While we deliberate over planning permissions and pilot schemes, China is building entire cities.

While we treat AI as a departmental experiment, they deploy it across the stack. 

And while we get bogged down in committees, they just get on with it.

As Jeff Bezos once said of Amazon: “You can work smart, hard, or long. But at Amazon, you can’t choose just one or two.”

In China and Hong Kong – they work smart, hard, and long. All at once.

If we in the West want to stay competitive, it’s time we stopped coasting on past innovation – and started building like the future depends on it.

Because it does.