Tech nerds behind the world's brightest startups inspire Chinese

Shanghai

SHANGHAI gave Andras Forgacs the idea of founding one of the world's leading tech startups, Modern Meadow, when he lived in the city as a venture capitalist in 2010 and 2011.

A passionate meat eater, he witnessed how prices of beef and steaks were pushed ever higher by the country's increased consumption of meat products. Upon returning to the United States, he and his team won a grant from Breakout Labs, part of Peter Thiel's philanthropic organisation, to take animal cells and grow them into meat in the lab through tissue-engineering and 3-D printing technology.

Mr Forgacs went on to unveil Modern Meadow's first product in TEDGlobal 2013: thin pieces of lab-cultured fine leather aimed for the high-end luxury market. Shortly afterwards, the company, based in New York…