20 days in China to bring your idea to life
Colabtec Start is an in-person immersion program in Zhuhai. Each cohort brings together 20 Brazilian projects for 20 days of mentorship, factory visits, supplier meetings, and a written Action Plan: tooling cost, unit cost at scale, timelines, and risks. This is not an import shopping trip: it's for people who want to build technology, not just buy finished products.
- 20
- days of immersion in Zhuhai
- 20
- projects per cohort
- 4
- cohorts per year
- since 2006
- in China
Start is for you if…
Inventors and engineers
You have a product idea, a prototype, or a technology and want to understand how to actually develop it in China.
Early-stage startups
Your startup needs to prototype, validate, and scale hardware, electronics, or software — and you want to do it with people who already know the way.
Companies with technology needs
Your company has a real development need and wants to assess costs, timelines, risks, and execution routes straight at the source.
Professors, students, and R&D professionals
You teach, research, or develop technology and want an inside look at China’s ecosystem for manufacturing, robotics, AI, and electronics — with access to real labs and factories.
Plenty of Brazilians go to China to visit trade fairs and import finished products. But if you have your own idea to develop, there's almost no door in.
- ✕Immersion programs in China built for people who already have an idea, a technology, or a startup barely exist.
- ✕Without a local network, you don't know which suppliers to approach, what prototyping costs, or where to even start.
- ✕Trade fairs show finished products — they don't teach you how to build, validate, and scale your own.
- ✕Making mistakes alone in China is expensive: in time, money, and missed opportunities.
Colabtec Start exists to solve this
Step by step, no mystery
- 01
Submit your project
Fill out the form telling us your idea, its current stage, and what you want to develop in China. Each cohort selects around 20 projects.
- 02
Enrollment, invitation letter, arrival
Once enrollment is paid, our partner institution in Zhuhai issues the invitation letter that supports your visa application — granting the visa is the consulate's decision. Travel is booked with the partner travel agency, licensed under Brazil's tourism registry (Cadastur), or arranged by you. On arrival, we meet you in Zhuhai and walk you through the facilities: coworking, labs, and the team behind the 20 days.
- 03
Assessment and mentorship
Project evaluation sessions, one-on-one and group mentoring, technical talks, and guidance on development, prototyping, and suppliers.
- 04
Factories, markets, and people
Visits to factories and tech markets, conversations with Chinese suppliers and with Brazilian business owners already operating in China. The minimum number of visits is written into the contract.
- 05
Leave with the Action Plan
The program wraps up with a written Action Plan: tooling cost, unit cost at scale, timelines, risks, and next steps. The minimum scope of that document is a contractual obligation, not a website promise.
What you get with Start
Real facilities, not promises
The immersion happens at Colabtec's base in Zhuhai: roughly 1,000 m² of coworking space, labs, and training rooms, right next to the Zhuhai Kameda Technology factory, with an SMT line and electronics engineering.
Your guide knows the way
Nelson Kameda has been operating in China since 2006, connecting Brazilian companies to the Chinese ecosystem. You tap into that accumulated experience instead of learning by trial and error.
Small cohort, real attention
Just 20 projects per cohort. That means every idea gets individual evaluation, with an assessment and guidance tailored to your case.
Direct access to suppliers
Factory visits, tech markets, and face-to-face conversations with Chinese suppliers — connections that would take years to build on your own.
A network that lasts
At the end of the immersion you get the cohort directory — participants, mentors, and the suppliers you visited, with contacts — and you stay in the group’s permanent channel, which remains open after you fly home. Thirty days after the program ends there is an online follow-up session to review your Action Plan.
Fixed dates, separate contracts
4 cohorts a year, with dates announced in advance. The program is contracted and invoiced in Brazil by Colabtec. Flights, lodging, transfers, and insurance are contracted with the partner travel agency, licensed under Brazil's tourism registry (Cadastur), which is responsible for that side. You know exactly who owes you what before you sign.
Start beyond the pitch
Real people, real infrastructure — the way it actually happens in China.
Colabtec concept shoot — illustrative images.
Choose your path
Immersion Plan
R$24,800
You contract the program with Colabtec and arrange your own trip: flights, lodging, meals, local transportation, insurance, and the visa application.
- ✓The full 20-day program in Zhuhai
- ✓Project assessment, mentoring, and technical talks
- ✓Coworking, technical agenda, and visits to factories and tech markets
- ✓A Colabtec interpreter with you throughout the technical agenda and visits
- ✓Transportation between the technical visits, arranged by the program
- ✓Written Action Plan: tooling, unit cost, timelines, and risks
- ✓Certificate of completion at the end of the 20 days
- ✓Invitation letter issued by the Zhuhai institution once enrollment is paid
Complete Plan
Contact us
The same program, with the trip handled by the company licensed to handle it: the partner travel agency, registered with Cadastur, contracts flights, lodging, transfers, and insurance under a separate contract in its own name. Colabtec neither sells nor supplies those services.
- ✓Every program activity, contracted with Colabtec
- ✓Lodging, transfers, and local transportation through the partner agency
- ✓Logistics contract signed with the Cadastur-registered agency
- ✓Travel insurance and stay itinerary inside the agency's contract
- ✓Technical agenda and travel itinerary aligned before you board
Two contracts, two parties responsible. Colabtec sells and invoices the program, in Brazil — and the interpreter during the technical agenda and the transportation between technical visits belong to the program. Flights, lodging, airport/hotel transfers, and insurance are contracted under a separate instrument with a travel agency registered with Cadastur, Brazil’s tourism registry, which supplies and answers for those services. Start is a technical training program: there are no investor presentations, no pitch rounds, and no capital brokering, and Colabtec does not broker securities. Get in touch to receive pricing for the next cohort.
Start in pictures
Your idea deserves 20 days in China
Tell us in a few words what you want to develop in China. We read every application carefully and reply with the next steps for your cohort.
FAQ
Still have questions?
Is Start an import trip, like the Canton Fair?
No. Start is for people who want to build technology, not just buy finished products. The focus is evaluating your idea, understanding how to prototype, produce, and scale in China, and leaving with the Action Plan. It is also not an internship, a job, or job placement: it is a training program, and no participant takes paid employment in China during the immersion. Trade fairs may make it onto the agenda, but they're not the heart of the program.
Do I need to already have a company or a prototype?
No. The program welcomes everyone from people with an idea to companies with real technology needs and revenue-generating products. In the form you tell us your project's stage, and the assessment during the immersion is tailored to that stage.
What's included and what do I cover myself?
Colabtec sells and invoices the program: content, mentorship, coworking, the technical agenda, the activities in Zhuhai, and the written Action Plan. Flights, lodging, meals, local transportation, and insurance are not sold by Colabtec. Under the Immersion Plan you arrange all of that yourself. Under the Complete Plan, the partner travel agency — registered with Cadastur, Brazil's tourism registry — contracts it under a separate agreement in its own name: the agency supplies that side of the trip and answers for it.
When do cohorts run and how many spots are there?
There are 4 cohorts a year, with around 20 projects each, and a calendar set in advance. The next cohort is always featured on the site. More than one person from the same project can take part — just say so in the project field. Fill out the pre-registration to receive the dates and the selection process.
Can you get me the visa?
No. Granting a visa is the Chinese consulate's decision alone, and nobody can guarantee it. What Colabtec does: once enrollment is paid, our partner institution in Zhuhai issues the program's invitation letter, and we guide you on the paperwork and on which visa category fits your participation. The application is yours to file. And a visa for attending the program does not authorize paid employment in China.
Who's behind the program?
Start is run by Colabtec in Zhuhai, built on the foundation of Zhuhai Kameda Technology — a factory with an SMT line, labs, and electronics engineering. The program is contracted and invoiced in Brazil. Nelson Kameda has been operating in China since 2006, connecting Brazilian companies to the Chinese ecosystem.