On February 18, ZIBS 2025 New Year Gathering was successfully held. ZIBS Dean BEN Shenglin, Vice Deans MO Shenjiang, CHEN Jingyan, and LUO Xingguo, as well as all faculty and staff members, attended the event. During the meeting, leadership teams and department (program, center) heads shared plans for 2025. Outstanding faculty and staff members and teams of 2024 were commended and recognized for their exceptional contribution during the past year.
In his address, BEN Shenglin first expressed his sincere gratitude to all faculty and staff, acknowledging their dedication and accomplishments over the past year. He also shared insights from a recent discussion between ZIBS leadership team and LIN Dong, Chairman and Chief Engineer of LHD, a distinguished representative of Zhejiang entrepreneurs, known for his bold cross-disciplinary exploration in the field of tidal power. His decade-long perseverance and his philosophy of being an entrepreneur with a scientist's spirit have sparked deep reflections within the leadership team.
BEN Shenglin pointed out that, in pursuit of establishing a science & technology-focused premier global business school from China, ZIBS next-phase of development will focus on nurture a new generation of innovative entrepreneurs who embody both scientific rigor and business acumen, contributing to the sustainable development of society and strengthen ZIBS impact. It is essential to broaden and deepen international collaborations, fostering the integration of ZIBS with world-class educational resources. Meanwhile, enthusiasm must be translated into effective execution, ensuring the precise implementation of strategic initiatives through efficient operational mechanisms.
The speed, height, and progress ZIBS can achieve depend on the cohesion and cultural force of our team. He stressed the urgent need to break free from conventional mindsets and drive comprehensive reforms through an open and forward-thinking approach, requiring unwavering determination and agility to navigate internal and external challenges.
MO Shenjiang, drawing on the important spirit of the recent symposium on private enterprises, highlighted that the key to cultivating business talent in the new era lies in developing independent innovation capabilities and nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit. He emphasized that scientific and entrepreneurial mindsets should be deeply embedded in international talent development and proposed three key initiatives: establishing a multi-disciplinary, technology & innovation-driven global education ecosystem, assembling a globally diverse faculty with expertise in business and management, producing internationally recognized research outcomes that emphasize sustainability and innovation. He encouraged all departments to deeply focus on key areas of talent development in the new year, leveraging their respective strengths to support ZIBS in reaching new heights in talent cultivation and academic research.
CHEN Jingyan addressed the central topic of cultivation of international talent in a technology-driven business school, emphasizing both on student affairs and administrative support. Drawing on her insights into ZIBS strategic direction over the next five years and a comparative study of top global business schools, she proposed establishing an international employment model integrating technology and business, along with developing a unique ideological and political education system centered on telling China’s tech-driven business stories well. She pointed out that administrative support should serve as ZIBS stabilizing force and the central hub for strategic resource management. She outlined reform directions for administrative team development, offering recommendations on branding enhancement, active promotion of research achievements, and cross-departmental collaboration for digital transformation, and calling for collective efforts to solidify the foundation for ZIBS high-quality growth.
Assistant Dean SHEN Li shared key priorities for ZIBS internal operations and external expansion. She analyzed four major goals and corresponding tasks: building a global collaboration ecosystem to enhance ZIBS influence and reputation; deepening industry-academia-research partnerships to boost resource integration; developing an efficient, transparent, and innovative administrative system; and enhancing the ZIBS 5i culture. Looking ahead, she emphasized that close collaboration among departments is essential to creating a strong, unified driving force for high-quality development.
In the discussion sessions, all the departments, project teams, centers and ZIBS ecosystem teams reviewed the progress of key initiatives in 2024 - analyzing past achievements, identifying existing challenges, and exchanging diverse perspectives. These discussions solidified a shared vision and provided strategic insights for the effective execution of core strategies.
The meeting also celebrated outstanding faculty and staff who received 2024 university-wide and campus-level awards. Special recognition was given to ZIBS 2024 Outstanding Ecosystem Organisation and 2024 Outstanding Ecosystem Colleague. Additionally, several individuals and teams were honored for their exceptional contributions for the past year (listed here below in no particular order).
2024 Rising Star:
Bruce Allen Alter, Raymond So, ZHOU Mengjia
2024 Outstanding Staff:
ZHANG Fan, LI Yuxin, XU Shengdan, HONG Zhenzhen, WU Si
2024 Excellent Team:
Global Engagement & International Admission Department, Research Platforms Department, Career Development Center, iMF Program Team
2024 Outstanding Faculty:
DAI Xinzhu, WANG Cheng, Sheikh Fayaz Ahmad
2024 Outstanding Research Achievement:
ZHOU Wenyu, Jia Jia Lim
2024 Outstanding Research Platform:
International Research Center for Hidden Champions
2024 Most Valuable Project:
Global Consulting Project (GCP), Global Competence Workshop
This strategic meeting precisely pinpointed core priorities and strategic directions for ZIBS in 2025. Through in-depth discussions on key topics, it set a solid foundation for future initiatives. All faculty and staff will take this meeting as a new starting point, actively transforming its insights into concrete actions. Guided by the core strategy, ZIBS will continue striving toward its vision of becoming a science & technology-focused premier global business school from China.
