BOSTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- New technologies such as mobile Internet and biotechnology could create huge market and investment opportunities, from which populous countries, like China, will benefit the most, a veteran in venture capital investment has said.
"Populous countries will be the top beneficiaries in the era of mobile Internet," Andrew Y. Yan, founding managing partner at Asian private equity firm SAIF Partners, told Xinhua in a recent interview at the 22nd Harvard China Forum in Boston.
"In populous countries, mobile Internet can link business activities that did not have 'economies of scale,' and eventually help these activities to achieve 'economies of scale.'" Yan said.
In microeconomics, 'economies of scale' are the cost advantages that enterprises could obtain due to their scale of operation. Typically, when a good or service can be produced on a larger scale, the average input costs for the enterprises may come down.
In the eyes of Yan, China, being the most populous country, has the world's largest and most promising future markets concerning the application of Internet technologies.
In recent years, the combination of mobile Internet, artificial intelligence and big data has already brought changes to China's economy, promoting a number of new business models such as the sharing economy, Yan said.
According to a March report released by China's State Information Center, the country's burgeoning sharing economy grew 41.6 percent year-on-year in 2018 to 2.94 trillion yuan (about 439 billion U.S. dollars).
In the coming three years, the market value of China's sharing economy will expand by an average rate of 30 percent, the report said.
"There are still many more business opportunities ahead of us," said Yan. "For example, parking in Chinese cities is particularly difficult due to the high population density. However, we also have a lot of garages that are vacant."
It will be a good idea to "use the available garages to make a 'sharing garage' business," Yan suggested.
Yan also said that he is optimistic about the investment prospects brought by biotechnology.
As the world is making great progress in the treatment of diseases, the improvement of the quality of life, and the extension of human lifespan, new market demand will surely be created, Yan said.
"As the most populous country, China could also become the top beneficiary due to this trend," he said, adding that "from this perspective, the prospects for China's future investment are very optimistic."
