Going for green

The whole process from collecting application materials to completing assessments took him around three months.

Zhongguancun management committee director Guo Hong says the program is a trial to pragmatically evaluate foreign talent.

Last March, Alsayadi founded his second startup, Sigma Technologies, which aims to use data analytics to recommend news to readers in the Middle East.

The Arabic content-distribution service to third parties has reached around 5 million readers. Its own news app, Sigma News, is available on Google Play and Apple's apps store.

"The main goal is to deliver high-quality content," he says.

"Arabic continent is not very well organized yet in the Middle East. We try to collect content from the internet and bring it to the users in an easy and smart way."

Alsayadi hopes he can help bridge the tech gap between China and Arab countries.

"In my view, Arab countries are one unit - the same culture and the same civilization," he says.

"The current Belt and Road Initiative is a very important project. I hope I can be a bridge in terms of technology cooperation and help foster mutual understanding between China and Arab countries."