THE consumption power of more than 1 million foreigners working or studying in China is disproportionately bigger than their tiny share (0.07%) of the total population – and whizzes of the country’s home-grown tech ecosystem are sitting up and taking notice, as the economy transitions from export and investment-led growth to a consumption-driven model.
Manufacturers of gadgets, providers of technology-enabled services, and developers of intellectual property like innovative technologies are all vying to make life easier for the relatively small but monetarily significant foreigner community in China.