People's Livelihood, Sudden Events, Community, Surveillance, Politics, Civilization, Reviews, Opinion Polls, Videos, Exclusives, Thank You for Being Here, Micro Comments, Micro Interviews, Micro Debates, Benevolent People, Special Topics, Domestic and International Affairs, Finance, Technology, Internet, Telecommunications, Society, Fashion, Entertainment, Sports, Tai Chi, Rotation, Evening Paper Digital Edition, New Min Weekly, College Student Edition, U.S. Edition, Community Edition, Family Weekly, New Min Metro, Hongkou Newspaper.
"A city must support innovation and tolerate failure; this is the driving force behind a city's continuous progress and industrial upgrading." Yesterday afternoon, at the "Urban Transformation and Industrial Innovation" forum, bursts of intellectual storms continuously collided with sparks of wisdom, resonating within the International Urban Innovative Development Conference currently being held in Shenzhen. The guests believe that tolerating failure should become a unique gene and culture of innovative cities, thereby attracting more talents to start businesses and live here.
The Key to Transition Lies in the Soft Power of the City
"In certain stages of urban development, China’s cities, industrial innovation has more momentum than urban transformation, but it is not decisive." Long Yongtu, member of the Boao Asia Forum Advisory Committee and former Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, believes that the key to urban transformation lies in the soft power of the city, rather than how much innovation enterprises have or how much they develop.
Long Yongtu particularly mentioned that government departments should play a role in soft power construction. "For example, improving the quality of citizens, promoting legal culture, enhancing the integrity spirit and cultural level of the city, these are crucial to urban transformation."
Long Yongtu's viewpoint was endorsed by Ya-Qin Zhang, Global Senior Vice President of Microsoft Corporation and Chairman of the Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group. He said that urban development now, hard power such as infrastructure, GDP total, fiscal revenue, population, and region is very important, but even more important is soft power, including happiness index, governance level, citizen cultural quality, and urban innovation ability.
"The most important manifestation of soft power is talent," said Ya-Qin Zhang. First, there needs to be high-end leading talents, and at the same time, there needs to be mainstream talents who are actually doing things. These talents, on one hand, need to be introduced, but more importantly, they need to be cultivated locally by universities, research institutions, and enterprises. "Therefore, we cannot only focus on how to introduce talents while neglecting the establishment of mechanisms to cultivate talents."
Pursuing Transformation Should Not Blindly Pursue GDP
"A city needs to have a tolerant cultural atmosphere, especially tolerating failure," said Neil Ma, CEO and Chief Executive Officer of China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. The achievements Shenzhen has made over the past 30 years lie in its persistence in reform and opening up, daring to innovate, and forming a city culture that tolerates failure.
He specifically mentioned that urban transformation and industrial innovation are inherently linked. Urban transformation refers to the major adjustments and changes in the direction, path, and model of urban development, enabling it to reach new heights.
Currently, Shenzhen has become a pioneer city in China, but compared to globally significant cities, it still has gaps and must undergo industrial upgrading to achieve urban transformation. Neil Ma said that if Shenzhen wants to achieve urban transformation and industrial innovation, it must abandon the notion of GDP supremacy. "Don't worship GDP, but instead place respecting the return of overseas students with high-tech talents on an equal footing with respecting Fortune 500 companies, only then will there be improvement."
He also suggested supporting a group of enterprises focused on long-term benefits rather than short-term gains, respecting talents, and continuously introducing a series of policies to support and attract talents.
The Government Should Provide More Public Services
What exactly is the function of the government? Anna Pratt, President of Torino Municipal Construction Company from Europe, gave the following answer: the role that Turin's government can play in industrial development is limited, and the room for maneuver is also small. "The government does not provide any subsidies to enterprises, nor does it coordinate or control any actions of enterprises."
She said that the main function of the government is to better provide a suitable living environment for people, allowing enterprises and industries or commerce to have a better operating environment. "Let everyone live and work in peace, and let enterprises have a good business environment here." Because in her view, letting enterprises engage in certain industries or make money is not the responsibility or mission of the government.
"The government must provide good public services," said Anna Pratt. The Turin municipal government pays more attention to university education and the research and development capabilities of universities. "Creating a business atmosphere in the city and the quality of life of people are what the government should bear the responsibility for."
Related thematic articles:
- Urban Brand Liaoyang 254 Monthly Evaluation Witness Agency Change - Sohu Rolling News
- Chinese Cities Liu Changle: Suggest Applauding for "Shenzhen Netizens" Wang Jingsheng: We Are Proud of Such Shenzhen People (Photo Gallery) - Sohu Rolling News
- Chinese Cities Yan Xiaohong Conducted Research at Beijing Publishing Creative Industry Park -- News Channel -- Shanxi Publishing Media Network