MILAN, Italy -- Chinese investment in Europe is still in its infant stages and will definitely grow, Italian experts told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"During the next years, the demand for European products, technologies and brands will continue to grow," said Davide Cucino, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC).

By 2020 China will be the first or second largest consumer market in the world, and strong push to become an innovative and environmentally sustainable economy means that it will continue to attract and force technology transfer, or outright buy foreign technologies, Cucino said.

"The European Chamber's annual business confidence survey continually shows that one of the strongest competitive advantages of European companies in China is the attractiveness of the brand new products they offer," he noted.

In his view, the free flow of true investment capital, or non-speculative short term investment, is good for everyone and ensures that the most deserving projects attracts and rewards its risk-taking investors.

"China for years has benefited and continues to benefit from European investment. Likewise the time has come for Europe to benefit from Chinese investment whether it be greenfield investment, investment in distressed assets, mergers and acquisition or otherwise," Cucino said.

He said that Europe should welcome Chinese investment. "Benefits include capital investments, job creation, local tax revenues, support to peripheral sectors, increased relations and understanding with potential partnerships that may allow for further expansion in Europe or in China."

However, given that Chinese investment will also bring increased competition and uncertainty for some stakeholders, investment approval processes, antimonopoly laws and corporate compliance requirements will have to be respected by Chinese investors just like any other investor, the expert added.

Airaldo Piva, CEO of Milan-based Hengdian Group Europe and appointed as Foreign Expert by the Chinese government, told Xinhua that in addition to investment banks and public or state-owned companies, there are a number of private companies performing excellently in China that are wishing to start or speed up internationalization processes.

He said that, on a theoretical level, Chinese companies that have invested heavily in production but are still far behind in marketing, branding and distribution, may aim at acquiring European brands to increase the value added of their products.

However, Piva highlighted with a longer-term glance that "this business model is by now updated."

He said in his work experience he has often found "disastrous financial and management situations" behind European brands on the market. Meanwhile, production costs have surged in China, while increasingly affluent and middle-class consumers desire higher quality and safety records.

"In this changed scenario, I would suggest that Chinese companies create their own brands and possibly produce in European countries with leadership quality, instead of throwing money in the acquisition of problematic foreign brands to then move production to China again," the CEO said.

It was the case, for example, of the fashion sector, where several Chinese groups including HG itself have created their own brands with products made in Italy or France. Furthermore, differently from 20 years ago, strategies to start a new brand have become easier and less expensive, he noted.

"At the same way, if some decades ago China was relying on Western countries as for know-how and R&D, what I see today is more a sort of collaboration system that has to be incentivized in the direction of technology exchange," he added.

"Actually China has become one of the countries investing more in R&D and education, and its know-how gap with developed economies, which lie still in research, has significantly reduced," the expert pointed out.

In his view, in the ongoing phase more investment in the distribution and sustainable energy fields can especially foster China's development and win-to-win synergy with European countries.

Improvement of the normative system in the framework of social cohesion and trust between different actors will be a fundamental presumption for China's leadership role in an increasingly globalized world, Piva said.