Case study (Wavecom)

French wireless technology provider, Wavecom, chooses Hong Kong for Asia Pacific R&D Centre

Five years after commencing operations in France and at the end of 1998, Wavecom opened its first office in Asia Pacific in Hong Kong. The primary function of this office was the sale of the wireless modules created and manufactured by Wavecom elsewhere to the world's leading headset manufacturers. Hong Kong was chosen over other locations, largely since it offered connectivity with Mainland China and convenient access to Korea, locations of the company's two key clients at that time.

Recognising a market opportunity to move away from the increasingly saturated phone market, in 2004 Wavecom moved to providing business customers with an easier and technological pre-packaged solution comprising hardware and software. Their focus became B2B, machine-to-machine cellular network solutions.

Now their clients are all over Asia Pacific, their regional office network includes a presence in Beijing, Taipei, Tokyo, Melbourne and Singapore, and they have recently invested further in their Hong Kong operation, to expand its headcount to be some 50 people and functions to include R&D.

InvestHK spoke with Didier Dutronc President Asia Pacific and Managing Director, Wavecom Asia Pacific Limited to find out more about this new investment and development of their Hong Kong base.

Why Hong Kong?

“We wanted to develop our R&D capabilities in Asia close to our end customers so we have a better understanding of their needs and behaviour.

Given this new functionality, It was no longer appropriate to extend the lease on our office in Wanchai (on Hong Kong island) so we looked around, including considering Shenzhen and Shanghai. We decided to stay in Hong Kong for many reasons: the high quality and loyal employees, intellectual property protection and its unbeatable location and connectivity with the region and beyond. Hong Kong's International Airport makes Hong Kong so accessible and an ideal hub.

Being a high tech company, we wanted to be based in an environment that had useful facilities and allowed us to network and develop relations with people in the same sector. The Hong Kong Science Park met all our needs as well as lowering our rental costs from our first home in Wanchai.”

Priorities and challenges

“Our priority is to grow our business and expand our reach in Asia Pacific, winning new customer and expanding our product ranges in line with their needs. Although we have other offices in the region, our Hong Kong office will serve the region in many ways.

Beyond this, it is our intention that the new Hong Kong R&D team will work with our other R&D facilities around the world to develop new products for international release. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with ASTRI (the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute) for joint collaborations on cellular wireless activity and integrated circuit designs and hope to forge closer ties with the Government and academia to become an integrated part of this high tech community in Hong Kong.

Asia Pacific is so diverse. Different markets bring different challenges. For example, Japan operates to long time horizons, and in Mainland China we have intellectual property and uneven playing field issues, exacerbated by phenomenal growth rates often fuelled by short term tactics.”

Meeting expectations?

“We are glad to have moved to the Hong Kong Science Park, since we now have access to invaluable tools and facilities to assist our R&D projects. For example, we can pay to use the wireless lab as we require it; this is a facility we could not have afforded by ourselves.

Being at the Park also helps position us as a high tech company, not the sector most typically associated with Hong Kong, so it is useful for our collective presence as well as for technical reasons to cluster together and form a community. Hong Kong is technologically advanced, though I suspect few people outside Hong Kong really know this.

The Park is serving our business needs now, and when the second and third phases are open, we will enjoy even more lunchtime options and comprehensive transport to the rest of Hong Kong.”

How did InvestHK help?

“InvestHK provided us with an efficient means of obtaining introductions to key people, authorities and associations. In developing the R&D aspect of our Hong Kong business we were to leverage the technological communities and amenities the Hong Kong Government has developed and with InvestHK's help that is what we did. It was a great example of Hong Kong's efficiency in action.

InvestHK also introduced us to a number of technically-appropriate locations, from which we chose Science Park.”

Tips for investors

“Hong Kong is a very closely connected town, where networks work very effectively. Use whatever industry associations, assistance and community groups you can at all times. Don't wait for problems to arise before you ask for help. Maintain an ongoing relationship with industry peers and government agencies so that you have support whenever you need it.

Mainland China is a very different market. Don't make any assumptions that rules will be universally applied. In general, I would say the price sensitivity of this market is huge and is prone to unstable, faddish markets.”

http://www.wavecom.com/

Mr Didier Dutronc, President Asia Pacific and Managing Director, Wavecom Asia Pacific Limited