On October 20, the final of the Digital Trade Cup: BRI International Students Competition was successfully held at ZIBS. Revolving around the theme of "DIGITAL GLOBAL, GLOBAL ACCESS", the competition is hosted by the UCLG ASPAC Committee on the "Belt and Road" Local Cooperation (BRLC) and China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Hangzhou Area Management Committee and jointly organized by ZIBS and Zhejiang-Africa Service Center (ZASC), which aims to help jointly build the "Belt and Road", strengthen exchanges with other countries, and help "two-way efforts" of young entrepreneurs from at home and abroad and local development.
WANG Liyue, the Deputy Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee; FANG Jun, the Deputy Branch Chairman of China Zhi Gong Party Zhejiang Provincial Committee; CHEN Zhongquan, CPC Haining Municipal Committee Standing Committee Member and Minister of the United Front Work Department; DONG Qian, Hangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce - China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Hangzhou Area Management Committee - Free Trade Coordination and Guidance Department Consultant, attended the final. More than 100 experts, heads of universities inside and outside the Zhejiang province, experts from relevant venture capital institutions, representatives of enterprises, and representatives of various project teams were present at the final.
Prof. BEN Shenglin, Dean of ZIBS, delivered the opening remarks at the competition. He pointed out that, aiming at "Connecting the World, Shaping the Future" and taking globalization, digitalization, and ecosystem as strategic pillars, ZIBS is committed to becoming a science & technology-focused premier global business school from China. Innovation and entrepreneurship education should run through the whole process of talent cultivation. It should be closely integrated with the cultivation of values and be oriented to the international frontier and major national needs. It is hoped that with this competition as a new starting point, ZIBS Innovation Center will continue to promote services, including mentor guidance and presentation training, and integrate the innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry resources of the schools and universities at home and abroad, so as to further promote the accelerated development of the entrepreneur team from "0" to "1" and then to "N".
In addition, Jaya Josie, Advisor of ZIBS China Africa Center, and Michael Sung, Associate Professor of Practice and Co-Director of ZIBS Institute of Digital Finance Innovation (IDFI), also sent videos to congratulate participants who reached the final.
ZIBS Entrepreneur Boot Camp was officially launched. Prof. Sheikh Fayaz Ahmad shared innovative methods, cutting-edge ideas, and some information about the projects of the camp.
During the event, ZIBS and ZASC signed the MOU on international talent cultivation. At the same time, the unveiling ceremony of the ZIBS-ZASC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base was officially held.
The competition focuses on digital reform, and the projects are closely related to various fields, including digital trade, metaverse, AI intelligence, and big data. A total of 10 projects reached the final, and the participants gave presentations around the entrepreneurial team, market positioning, business model, financial analysis, competitive advantages, etc. An expert review team composed of senior industry and education experts evaluated and commented from perspectives including education, innovation, development, business, and social value of the projects and also offered some instructional opinions.
After a fierce selection, the WAMECO team from ZIBS entered the final. The team presented the port waste recycling management project proposal. They hoped to receive recognition from the experts and gain the popularity of investors through the presentation of their innovative ideas and operation models, and the team finally won the second prize.
ZIBS hopes to take the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition" as a starting point, continue to explore a new model of innovation and entrepreneurship education under the new situation, promote the deep integration of professional education and innovation and entrepreneurship education, strive to realize sustainable innovation in talent training concepts, mechanisms, and models, and help push forward the incubation and implementation of high-quality student projects. Meanwhile, ZIBS will accelerate international talent training, innovation promotion, market interconnectivity, and industry integration so as to provide outstanding talents for high-level opening up and high-quality development of digital foreign trade businesses.
