International Research Center for Hidden Champions of Zhejiang University, established on March 29, 2021, is the first of its kind operated by a university in China, and also a pioneering force in the field of social science research created by Haining International Campus of Zhejiang University. The research center works with Zhejiang University International Business School (ZIBS), School of Management of Zhejiang University, Innovation Management and Sustainable Competitiveness Research Center of Zhejiang University (NIIM, phase II of the National 985 Project), and other scientific forces in the university to carry out research. The center is headed by Professor WU Xiaobo, Director of the Department of Social Sciences of Zhejiang University, a Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor of the Ministry of Education, and a special-class expert of Zhejiang Province, with Professor Hermann Simon, the father of hidden champions and a famous German management scientist, serving as the honorary director. It brings together think tanks at home and abroad such as Cambridge University in the UK, Duke University in the US, European School of Management and Technology (ESMT), IEDC - Bled School of Management in Slovenia, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University. It aims to become a national brainpower of hidden champions for development of enterprises, a first-class cultivation base for international management talents of hidden champions, and a world's leading research platform for hidden champions to promote talent cultivation and serve national and regional development based on international cooperation in scientific research.
