Inside China Tech: China to continue asserting ‘prolific dominance’ in tech despite coronavirus

With the coronavirus infection rates appearing to have peaked in China, map data shows consumer activity is starting to return to normal

Despite China’s economy taking a hard hit from the effects of the pandemic, ‘it would be a mistake’ to assume it has lost its influence, a US think tank says

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China’s huge population offers researchers and start-ups access to what may be the most valuable natural resource in the future – human data, according to the Future Today Institute. Illustration: SCMP graphics

Melissa Zhu

Published: 11:04pm, 21 Mar 2020Updated: 11:04pm, 21 Mar 2020

Hi, this is Melissa Zhu from the SCMP tech desk in Hong Kong rounding up some of our best stories this week.

If data is the new oil …

China’s economy may have suffered drastic effects from the coronavirus pandemic, but “ it would be a mistake” to assume the country has lost its influence, according to a US think tank.

“China has a rapidly-expanding middle class, an educated and trained workforce and a government that executes on long-term plans,” Future Today Institute said in its 2020 Tech Trends Report released on Monday, as Sarah Dai reports.

This picture taken on November 8, 2019 shows a boy laughing while running a code at a children's computer coding training centre in Beijing. Photo: AFP

The institute projected that China will continue to assert “prolific dominance” this year, as it races against the US and other countries for global leadership in areas such as AI, bioengineering and space exploration.