Technology to power China's next-gen success

China is on the path to becoming a generator of technologies rather than a service provider, and that's why foreign businesses invest in high tech, according to a British entrepreneur whose family has done business in China for nearly 150 years.

Simon Haworth, a British entrepreneur and investor involved in the biotechnology and agritech markets, said at a Vision China event in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Monday that he has high hopes for his own forays into China.

Haworth visited Wuhan for the first time in 2012 and later established a biotech company in the city that seeks to use artificial intelligence to understand disease biology, thus enabling the company to discover new drugs.

He appreciated the help from his Chinese business partners who showed him the potential of Wuhan, which he knew nothing about previously.

"The most important thing we should be focusing on with all our policies is establishing one-to-one connection between individuals, and that can start from our children," he said.

He added that one-to-one connection has made a massive difference in delivering help and understanding for all sorts of issues in very practical terms.

The business ties between Haworth's family and China started with a suggestion from a business partner, Haworth said at the event held by China Daily and the Wuhan People's Government.

"My great-great-grandfather met someone in Manchester who was from Jardine Matheson international firm, and they were looking at switching from the cotton trade to the silk trade. And next thing we're importing silk from Jiangsu," said Haworth.

When he took his eldest son to China, he became the sixth generation in a continuous line to engage with China.

His grandparents visited Wuhan in 1963. The family has a video of them being shown the first bridge over the Yangtze River, which had been built a few years earlier, he said.

Besides biotechnology, Haworth believes the agritech market has great potential in the future as it will do more for human health than biotech in the years ahead.

"It's absolutely right that China is not a service provider. China needs to be the owner, participator and generator of technology," he said.

With the new vision in mind, Haworth is confident about starting the new chapter of his family's story with China.