Sino swiss innovation exchange event held successfully at Chinese ambassador's residence in Bern
Time：2024-03-23 Look：427
Written by Min Gao, Shuyan Xiong Photos by Shuyan Xiong
On March 21, 2024, at the invitation of Chinese ambassador to Switzerland H.E. Mr. Wang Shiting, Swiss-Sino Innovation Center (SSIC) and 16 representatives of Swiss enterpreneurs visited the Chinese ambassador's residence and participated in the Sino-Swiss innovation exchange event. Mr. Xie Guoxiang, Minister Counselor of the Economic and Commercial Section of the Embassy, and several others embassy staff attended the event.
Mr. Xie Guoxiang, on behalf of the Embassy, began with his speech by welcoming all the participants and gaved an introduction on China's economic achievements, current situation and prospects. In 2023, China's GDP denominated was 126 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year at constant prices. China's total imports and exports of goods were about 41.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.2% year-on-year. The overall economic situation was stable and improving. At the same time, China continued to increase investment in high-tech fields, with a double-digit investment growth rate. China's green economy and digital economy developed rapidly, making great strides in areas such as photovoltaics, new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, cloud computing, and robotics. At the end of his introduction, Mr. Xie also made it clear that China would continue to deepen reform and open up wider to the outside world.
Dr. Feng Jianhua, on behalf of SSIC and Innovative Entrepreneurs, have his thanks to the Embassy for the invitation. Dr. Feng then briefly introduced SSIC. As an open and innovative cooperation platform for Sino-Swiss enterprises, the SSIC aims to organically connect Swiss innovative technologies with Chinese capital and markets, and help innovative enterprises in Switzerland and China for cooperation and development. Since its establishment, the SSIC has become an overseas office or strategic partner for more than 20 local governments, industrial parks, large enterprises and service institutions, serving as an important platform help various regions in China bring in Swiss high-tech and high-end talents.
Afterwards, the entrepreneurs introduced their innovative projects, which covering areas such as biomedical technology, photovoltaic, energy storage, clean energy, sensors, 3D printing, financial technology, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. The entrepreneurs shared their experiences, lessons learned and problems encountered from the "Innovation Trip China" event and raised their respective concerns and doubts for discusion.
Finally, Ambassador Mr. Wang Shiting delivered the keynote speech. He responded to the major issues that the most concerned about, such as China's domestic economic growth, capital outflow, Western voices of decoupling, and China's current employment situation. First, Ambassador Mr. Wang emphasized that China's economic development is not simply pursuing GDP growth, but rather implementing the guiding principles of high-quality development put forward by President Xi Jinping. He used the improvement of environmental issues as an example to highlight China's determination to develop a green economy. Second, Ambassador Wang pointed out that by breaking away from protectionism, China has continuously improved its technological ecosystem in the process of globalization, providing a good environment for foreign-invested enterprises and continuously attracting foreign investment. Third, China has always adopted a proactive attitude of communication to seek more mutual understanding and cooperation. Finally, Ambassador Wang stated that new technologies have spawned more implicit job opportunities and emerging occupations, and the younger generation's pursuit of new work forms and models is also in a rapid transition phase. At the same time, he used actual data to prove the potential and vitality of the Internet economy.
After the seminar, the participating entrepreneurs had a free exchange and interaction with embassy officials. The entrepreneurs expressed great interest in the Chinese market and had in-depth exchanges and discussions with Ambassador Wang, Counselor Xie, and embassy officials on the difficulties and resource bottlenecks they encountered in their cooperation with China. The atmosphere on site was extremely lively, and the participating entrepreneurs were full of confidence in the future Sino-Swiss cooperation.
