The 28th International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council has been held in Shanghai. It is a long-standing tradition for the officials of the Shanghai government to sit down with top executives from leading foreign companies to discuss ways to keep the city’s competitive edge among cities in China and beyond.
Since 1990, the mayors of Shanghai and other senior officials from all branches of the muncipal government have been sitting down with top executives of leading foreign companies in the city every year. The goal is to find answers to these questions and find ways to maintain Shanghai’s leading position among Chinese cities.
This year, they are focusing on the concept of “Internet Plus”: how the city will embrace the opportunities and challenges rising from internet-related innovation in business models, industry revolution and smart city development.
“’Internet plus’is a key opportunity for Shanghai’s economic transformation and upgrade. We should have the ‘internet thinking,’ which features innovation, openness and inclusiveness, and push forward the in-depth integration between internet technologies with other sectors,” said Yang Xiong, mayor of Shanghai.
Shanghai has a great number of internet companies and industries that are growing very fast. In 2015, the scale of information technology industries in Shanghai reached 1.2 trillion yuan (U.S.$128 billion), the mayor says.
Shanghai is also one of China’s most dynamic cities in terms of e-commerce. Last year, e-commerce transaction volume in Shanghai alone reached 1.65 trillion yuan (U.S.$250 billion). Shanghai also hopes to become one of the world’s best cities for internet infrastructure.
“Today, I think China through its using of mobile, it’s a competitive advantage for them. Now the question is, how do you make sure there’s enough stickiness to the customer of what they do and by having that speed as well as connectivity is a good advantage for them in the competitive landscape,” said Robert E. Moritz, chairman of Pricewaterhousecoopers International Ltd.
As well as internet industries, the advisors, who are also executives of key global companies, say they have strong confidence in Shanghai and China.
“I’m extremely excited to see how much the city of Shanghai focuses on innovation. I deeply believe that only by being innovative a society can evolve. And in my mind that it’s no doubt that Shanghai has the potential to become the leading innovation hubs in the world, by focusing on science and technology,” said Dr. Severin Schwan, Roche Group CEO.
Mass innovation and entrepreneurship is what the Chinese government has been advocating in recent years, especially when new growth engines have yet to be founded, while the traditional industries grow more slowly than before. But making a country innovative requires more than just slogans and political willpower.
China’s leading application of the internet sector has provided new growth opportunities for many other sectors. Inside the meeting room, government officials and global business leaders are discussing how to make innovation and integration happen. Such efforts are essential for Chinese cities like Shanghai, to become more competitive globally in the era of the internet.
