Winter Olympics a platform for Made in China 2025 ambitions

Despite the difficulty of putting on the games with a pandemic still raging and freezing conditions even by the standard of snow sports, success in the Winter Olympics is putting Chinese designed technology front and centre.

Why it matters

Made in China 2025 was a national strategic plan announced in 2015, which was designed to move the Chinese economy away from being a low-wage factory to the world and toward high tech, advanced design and manufacturing. With materials a key area in the strategy, the Games provide a high-profile moment for some of these new technologies.

On-track success has many fathers

• With the first gold medal for China, won by the short-track speedskating mixed-gender relay team of Fan Kexin and Wu Daijing, attention fell to the Chinese firm Anta who had been responsible for the winners’ suits.
• Per the state-owned tabloid Global Times, the technologies are attracting “widespread attention” in China as a space traditionally dominated by foreign brands now sees local firms competing.

From national strategy to company opportunity

• The sportswear market is estimated to be worth $126 billion, with the US market still the largest and still responsible for some of the biggest brand presences in China, with Nike enjoying a quarter of China market share.
• While Anta takes an eighth of the market, the real opportunity lies around the globe.

Sourced from New York Times, Global Times, Statista. [Image: Anta Sports]