In recent years, China has solidified its position as a global technology powerhouse, leading advancements in automation, artificial intelligence, and super apps. The country has become a major laboratory for innovations shaping the future of digital society, from smart cities to integrated service platforms.

With an eye on this transformation, Laborit, a Brazilian startup specializing in technology and innovation, embarked on a technological immersion across the country, visiting Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. During the trip, Laborit visited some of the world's largest big tech companies, including Tencent, ByteDance, Huawei, and Baidu, and established strategic connections to expand its global presence.

This initiative is part of Laborit's broader movement to strengthen its presence in innovation hubs worldwide, closely monitoring the main trends defining the future of technology.

Shenzhen: The Future of Technology and Innovation

The city of Shenzhen has been one of the drivers of digital transformation in China. It is often compared to Silicon Valley for its concentration of startups, research centers, and tech giants. With an entrepreneurial, innovative, and highly competitive culture, Shenzhen stands out globally as a cutting-edge technology hub. Major companies like Huawei, Tencent, and DJI are headquartered in the city, consolidating its position as one of the world's leading tech hubs.

Shenzhen has become an economic development model since 1980, when it was designated China's first Special Economic Zone. With incentives such as tax exemptions for export-oriented production and creating specific industrial clusters like electronics and information technology, the city has facilitated strategic partnerships between local and international companies, fostering a highly innovative environment.

Shenzhen - China

Ecosystems

Shenzhen's ecosystem is one of the most collaborative in the world, with startups, universities, and large corporations working together to accelerate technological development. The Chinese government invests heavily in research and development in artificial intelligence, automation, 5G, and advanced manufacturing, making the city a living laboratory for new technologies.

Innovation is also reflected in the city's infrastructure. Innovative and sustainable buildings, like the Qianhai Free Trade Zone, use automation and IoT to optimize energy consumption and reduce waste. Shenzhen also boasts one of the most advanced transportation systems in the world, with a highly efficient and fully automated subway and 100% electrified bus and taxi lines.

Urban Mobility and Automation

Shenzhen, China, has established itself as one of the leading global hubs of innovation in autonomous vehicles. Robotaxis and driverless buses are driving the urban mobility revolution.

In December 2020, AutoX, a startup backed by Alibaba, launched a fleet of 25 fully autonomous robotaxis in Shenzhen. Unlike many tests in the West, these vehicles operate without safety drivers or remote operators, relying solely on their advanced autonomous driving system to navigate the city's busy streets.

In addition to robotaxis, Shenzhen has made significant progress in implementing autonomous buses. In July 2024, the city implemented 20 buses equipped with high-definition cameras, millimeter-wave radars, and LiDAR technology. This system uses lasers to map the environment in 3D, allowing a 360-degree view of the vehicle. These bus routes connect subway stations, commercial and residential areas, business districts, industrial parks, and tourist spots, promoting more efficient and accessible mobility.

These initiatives reaffirm Shenzhen's commitment to innovation in urban transportation, integrating advanced technologies to optimize the city's mobility and efficiency. In recent years, Shenzhen has surpassed several Western metropolises in automation and mobility. One of the most impressive advancements is the growth of the autonomous and electric vehicle fleet, which transports over 1 million people daily—a significantly higher number than cities like San Francisco, where projects like Alphabet's (Google) Waymo still operate on a small scale.

In the field of sustainability, Shenzhen pioneered by becoming the first city in the world to electrify 100% of its bus and taxi fleet. It has over 16,000 electric buses and 20,000 electric taxis in operation. Companies like BYD and AutoX continue to test fully autonomous robotaxis, expanding the possibilities for the future of urban mobility.

Shenzhen's subway, one of the most modern and fastest in the world, has 16 lines and over 500 km of constantly expanding tracks. Its innovations include fully automated, driverless operations, free Wi-Fi and 5G coverage in all stations and trains, and advanced digital payments, including facial recognition, NFC, and QR codes.

With these advancements, Shenzhen reaffirms its position in the future of global urban mobility, serving as a model for cities worldwide.

Xiaomi SU7

Automation and Futuristic Commerce

Beyond the transportation sector, Shenzhen also stands out in retail automation. The city hosts stores without staff, biometric payments, and drone delivery systems. HQ-Mart, one of China's most prominent electronic production hubs, has four floors and about 12,000 stores selling everything from electronic products to security components, computers, communication, and LED.

Digitization has also transformed the way payments are made in the city. Shenzhen already accepts payments via palm recognition, facial recognition, and transactions integrated into super apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay, allowing purchases, transfers, and government services in a single application.

Economic Growth and Sustainability

Shenzhen's economic growth is impressive. The city's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) jumped from 270 million yuan in 1980 to 2.7 trillion yuan in 2019, representing an average annual growth rate of 20.7%. Today, the city is home to about two-thirds of the world's 500 largest companies, consolidating itself as one of the largest global technology centers.

Sustainability is also part of this evolution. In addition to electrifying transportation, Shenzhen invests in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and innovative urban design, ensuring that innovation happens sustainably and planned.

Shenzhen: A Model for the Future

Shenzhen is not just a futuristic city; it represents a model of sustainable technological urbanism, where automation, artificial intelligence, and innovation are applied on a large scale to create a more efficient, connected environment prepared for future challenges. Immersion in this ecosystem allows companies like Laborit to anticipate trends and explore opportunities to apply these innovations in their products and services.

With its pioneering vision and commitment to innovation, Shenzhen continues to shape the future of technology and influence global development. It exemplifies how planning, investment, and collaboration can transform a city into a true epicenter of the digital revolution.

The headquarters of Baidu

The Era of Super Apps: What Can We Learn from WeChat?

If there's a concept that defines Chinese digitization, it's Super Apps. Unlike conventional apps that offer a specific service, super apps function as an integrated ecosystem, allowing users to make payments, purchases, transportation calls, medical consultations, investments, and much more, all in a single platform.

The most prominent example of this model is Tencent's WeChat, which has over 1.3 billion active users today. Originally a messaging app, WeChat has evolved to become the backbone of digital life in China, with functionalities such as:

WeChat Pay: A widely used mobile payment system in the country, replacing credit cards and cash.

Mini Programs: These are applications within WeChat itself, eliminating the need to download multiple apps on the phone.

Government Services: WeChat allows citizens to pay taxes, renew documents, and carry out administrative processes directly on the platform.

Beyond all its functionalities, WeChat also plays a crucial role in the Chinese business landscape. Companies use the platform to operate online stores, manage loyalty programs, and even conduct customer service via chatbots and AI. With over 10 million active mini-programs, WeChat has become an essential infrastructure for digital commerce in the country, facilitating everything from daily transactions to large corporate operations.

Another interesting factor is how WeChat influences consumer behavior. The platform has transformed how people discover and interact with brands, making social commerce a key piece of digital retail in China. Through live broadcasts, influencers, and personalized recommendations based on AI, WeChat creates a fluid and highly engaging shopping journey. The West is still trying to replicate this integration model between social networks and digital commerce through platforms like Instagram Shopping and TikTok Shop. Still, it does not have the same scope and efficiency as the Chinese super app.

WeChat as a Driver of the Digital Economy

WeChat's impact goes beyond user convenience. It drives a gigantic economy within its ecosystem. In 2022, Mini Programs generated over $400 billion in transactions, showing how the platform has become indispensable for businesses of all sizes, from small entrepreneurs to large global brands.

Security and Digital Identity

In China, WeChat also serves as a digital identity. Thanks to integration with the government, users can link their official documents to the platform, allowing them to perform everything from airport check-ins to hotel registrations and medical consultations without needing to present physical documents.

The Super App Beyond China

While the Super App model is still in its early stages in the West, other apps in Asia follow in WeChat's footsteps. Grab in Singapore and Gojek in Indonesia already offer multiple services within a single app, consolidating the global trend of digital integration.

These points help show how WeChat is not just an app but a complete digital infrastructure. Let me know if you want me to delve deeper into any specific aspect!

The popularization of this model raises a question: Is the West ready for Super Apps? Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Meta are creating increasingly integrated ecosystems but still face regulatory and cultural barriers to achieving the same level of centralization as Chinese apps.

Popmarq: Laborit's Proposal for Super Apps in Brazil

The trip to China reinforced Laborit's vision that the future of technology lies in integration, automation, and artificial intelligence. With this in mind, the startup has expanded its global operations and invested in solutions that keep pace with this transformation.

Pop's mission is to revolutionize the buying and selling experience, creating a new social channel and empowering retailers through an 'all-in-one' approach. With our super app platform, we offer customer service and campaigns powered by Gen AI, Digital Payment, Integrated Financing, and our Live commerce, bringing the future of retail and consumption to accelerate business.

With this combination of benefits for customers and sellers, Popmarq stands out as an innovative ecosystem that anticipates the future of online commerce in Brazil.

DeepSeek vs. AI Giants

China has found a path to technological independence from the West, and DeepSeek proves this once again. Recently, markets felt the impact of this revolution: Nvidia, one of the leading manufacturers of AI chips, suffered a 17% drop in its shares, resulting in a loss of nearly $600 billion in market value.

The company's outstanding achievement was training DeepSeek-R1, its AI model, with a surprisingly low investment: only $6 million. For comparison, while other industry giants spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop their models, DeepSeek achieved competitive results at a fraction of that cost. This milestone shocked the entire world: how was it possible to create a model as powerful as ChatGPT for such a low cost? This achievement reinforces that well-structured algorithms are still the key to advancements in generative AI and that the sector is far from being fully consolidated.

On the other hand, in Brazil, we have Haigen, a joint venture of Laborit, which works with some of the best AI models available on the market and is also developing its model to solve complex problems. Haigen's operations highlight the importance of strategic investments in the sector, showing that there is room for innovation and growth outside of traditional tech hubs and that this can make a real difference on a global scale.

Laborit in China: Connecting Brazil to the Future of Technology

Laborit's journey through China demonstrated that the country is creating the future of technology at a rapid pace and that companies failing to keep up with this evolution risk falling behind, as we've seen many times before in the world—with examples like Kodak Nokia, ATARI, Yahoo, and others.

Laborit plans to deepen its international partnerships, expand its innovation hubs, and bring the best global practices and trends to Brazil in the coming months. Technology is changing the way we live, work, and consume, and visionary companies like Laborit are paying close attention to each new step of this revolution.

The future has already arrived—and it's more integrated than ever!

Telma CEO and Arthur CPO of Laborit in China