Fresh breeze of innovation

A Chinese couple return from the US to start an air purifier business, Cang Wei and Hang Xuefei report from Suzhou.

'How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man ?

"How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand ?

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind."

The lines are from the legendary Bob Dylan song "Blowing in the Wind". Interviewing Ran Hongyu and Zhang Yan made us think of it.

The severe smog that shrouded China in 2012 saved the careers of Ran Hongyu and Zhang Yan, a couple who came back to China from the US to cultivate the air purifier market.

At the time their company was about to collapse. All their money had been invested in the company and the venture capital they raised had almost been spent. Their partners intended to leave, taking with them some key employees.

But they survived the crisis, - in Ran's words, is "a narrow escape" - and managed to expand to become one of China's biggest air purifier producers with a prosperous future.

In 2007, Ran and his colleagues started to investigate ionic wind technology in Silicon Valley

They focused on silent cooling technology without any moving parts. But the biggest challenge to ionic technology for cooling is that it collects a great deal of dust.

So Ran and Zhang then thought that they could use that to their advantage - an air purifier that could have a huge market in China.

So after about two years of work in a garage, they made a sample and then took it back to China.

"I went to the US in 1995. The air then in China was not bad, but when I came back to Beijing, sometimes I choked as soon as I got off the plane," Ran said.

"I saw the potential enormous market for air purifiers and I made up my mind to devote myself to the dream of a company called BeiAng."

To get financial and policy support from the local government of the city where they planned to start, Ran and his team prepared large amount of paperwork and passed several interviews to get into the Suzhou Industrial Park "elite program".

Life savings

Ran and Zhang lived a stable and comfortable life in the US. They both have the US doctoral degrees - one graduated from the California Institute of Technology and the other the University of California. They owned a nice house by the mountainside in Silicon Valley and both had well-paid jobs.

To raise enough money to start the company, the couple - who had lived in the US for 15 years and worked for about 10 years - sold their house and also put in their life savings.

"We invested all we had in the company - our savings, our knowledge and all our time," Zhang said.

"We believed that we are devoted into a right cause - we wish people can breathe the fresh air."

In 2009, the couple and their partners founded Suzhou BeiAng Technology Ltd. But they never imagined that so many difficulties were awaiting.

"Chinese people at the time had no idea of air purifiers," said Zhang. "Most of them thought they just needed to open windows to breathe fresh air."

As scientists who before spent their time in the laboratory, the couple struggled hard to adapt to China's business market.

In the US, Ran and his colleagues developed techniques and then just needed to sell them with license fee to different companies. But in China, Ran had to take care of research, design, production, promotion, sales and service.

"It was painful and hard. During the process, you experience a totally different life and feel the dramatic changes constantly."

The couple strongly suggests that China should strengthen protection of intellectual property rights and create a friendly business environment for innovative companies.

BeiAng provided service to one of the top electrical appliance manufacturers in China, which they thought was respectable. But she said the company pirated the company's designs.

"We are consulting lawyers to protect our rights, but the process will be exhausting," said Zhang. "A mature reliable legal system is crucial for attracting talent and investors to China. If people are allowed to pirate, no one will make efforts to innovate.

"Despite all the difficulties, we are still very happy with our move as we see the company growth and we see the comments from our customers on how our products helped them. We know that we are on the right path to chase our dreams.