Innovation isn't a buzz word just in China. France has also given hefty amounts of promotion to its creativity powers and has made China an important partner as shown through Creative France. The annual event is organised by the France China Committee and Business France.

And this year, the event honored a number of co-developed technologies ranging from ocean satellites to anti-counterfeit devices.

Cypheme is a startup that makes an artificial intelligence based application that can tell if a product is genuine or not by simply scanning its packaging.

Its co-founder Hugo Garcia-Cotte is a French AI expert, working closely with his Chinese team based in South China's Shenzhen.

"By reading the micro-structure of paper of the packaging, we will be able to tell you if its is counterfeit," he said.

Cypheme is one of the 10 outstanding projects that was nominated by Creative France this year. The event, in its third year in China, is endorsed by the president of France, with former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin one of its advocates.
 
The emphasis on innovation and creativity has been brought to a level that's never been seen before in French national strategies. The event is being held in 10 different countries in the world, with China an important partner.

China's great talent pool for one, is what attracts big companies such as energy management firm Schneider Electric.

China also provides a great data sample base, for big data expert Yann Boquillod, and his air quality reader.

"It tells you the difference of PM2.5 at home, and outside," he said.

The big winner for this year's research award is the China France Oceanography Satellite, developed by French Space Agency CNES, and China National Space Administration. The satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2018.