The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics spotlighted not just athletic greatness, but also Beijing’s growing status as a startup and technology hub. The Games showcased advances in 5G, AI and Robotics, self-driving vehicles, telemedicine, and smart venue management. China Unicom, the event’s official telecommunications service provider, built an intelligent vehicle networking system that supported a self-driving car to carry the Olympic torch. It also helped test four types of unmanned vehicles including buses and delivery vehicles.

Meanwhile, China is accelerating its ambitious program to support startups in industries such as chipmaking and biotech. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is set to name approximately 3,000 "little giant" startups in 2022. The designation provides startups with special incentives and signals to investors, employees, and potential corporate partners that the companies enjoy a special endorsement by the government.

China is building Huairou Science City in the northeastern suburbs of Beijing to provide laboratories and infrastructure for advanced research. In March 2022, five experimental stations opened to users. More than 50 applications have been received from domestic and foreign teams, according to the Huairou Park of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The 5th International Conference on Network Technology will be held in Beijing in October 2022.

Notable recent funding news out of Beijing includes Edtech Fenbi’s $390 million Series A in February 2021, augmented reality startup Nreal’s $60 million Series C in March 2022, and security threat intelligence company ThreatBook’s ¥300 million yuan ($47 million) Series E, also in March 2022.