Six leading technology companies, including DeepSeek, Game Science and Unitree Robotics, are all located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

They are referred to as the "six tigers of Hangzhou". The city is a regional innovative center characterized by a high degree of marketization. It has produced many well-known private enterprises and a large number of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, together they form an innovation ecosystem.

The continuous emergence of star private enterprises has attracted more investors and entrepreneurs to Hangzhou, creating an innovation culture with great vitality, leading to the constant emergence of new enterprises and industries.

After large enterprises and venture capital-supported entrepreneurs entered the AI field, most of them would regard research as an application development process with high commercial purposes and have to consider the balance between input and commercial interests, which inevitably imposed various constraints on the scope and objectives of research, limiting adventurous open innovation to a certain extent. Yet DeepSeek, which did not undergo market financing, allows a team with curiosity and creativity to explore openly rather than being result-oriented, thus generating new ideas.

The story of Hangzhou shows that local governments can create a nurturing business environment for private enterprises to form a virtuous cycle driven by innovation. The success of DeepSeek also reminds us that only by adhering to a long-term perspective and being willing to take risks can original and disruptive technological innovations be produced.

21ST CENTURY BUSINESS HERALD