Yang Han, Media Team, World Economic Forum. Tel: +86 13810567837; Email: vivian.yang@weforum.org
The 9th Annual Meeting of the New Champions Focuses on Technology, Innovation and Growth
2 September 2015, Beijing, China—The World Economic Forum announced at a press conference in Beijing today that the 2015 Annual Meeting of the New Champions (also known as Summer Davos) will be held in Dalian, China, from 9–11 September. The 9th Summer Davos will bring together more than 1,700 participants from 90 countries around the world. Invited leaders from across the public and private sectors will discuss emerging issues and pressing topics affecting growth in China and the global economy amid technological innovation. The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is “Charting a New Growth Blueprint.”
The Annual Meeting of the New Champions is a global gathering that promotes innovation, entrepreneurship and technological development. The meeting’s agenda will center on six themes:
Scientific Transformation: From next-generation robotics to genetic engineering, breakthroughs in science and technology are profoundly influencing economic and social development.
Industries Disrupted: Ubiquitous connectivity, unlimited data and machine intelligence are set to transform industries and markets ranging from energy and healthcare to finance.
Economic Uncertainty: The global average growth rate has returned to pre-crisis levels, but increasingly volatile markets, slowing productivity and worsening inequality show that our risks are far from eliminated.
China’s New Normal: From Central Asia to Russia’s Far East, and from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, China’s economic influence is growing. Despite an inevitable slowdown, the engine of global growth continues to shift eastward.
Environmental Boundaries: Research shows that humanity must not cross nine ecological boundaries in order to keep the planet habitable, but human activity has already crossed four. As pressure on the planet’s resources continues to mount, humanity is increasingly at risk of suffering irreversible losses.
The Human Element: Artists, designers and educators explore the power of new technologies and refocus attention on fundamental principles of humanity, values and decision-making.
Speaking about innovation, the World Economic Forum’s Executive Director and Greater China Chief Representative, David Aikman said: “Innovation is playing a decisive role in shaping the world’s future development. If used well, it will help the world return to a path of sustainable growth and help us address challenges such as climate change. At the same time, innovation urges us to think in new ways—for example, how should we welcome the arrival of the sharing economy, and how can we reduce the possible negative effects of machine automation and artificial intelligence? These questions and discussions are especially important for China today and in the future, as it transforms into an economy driven by innovation and consumption.”
Speaking about this year’s meeting theme, “Charting a New Growth Blueprint,” Liang Linchong, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation of the National Development and Reform Commission, said: “This theme reflects the shared concern of the international community to promote economic development. Through this meeting, the Chinese government hopes to clarify that China’s economy is sound overall and that it will adhere to a market-oriented reform path, place greater emphasis on innovation-driven development, and continue to pursue an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. China’s economic development has tremendous potential and prospects, and will bring more opportunities for development to countries around the world.” At this year’s meeting, topics attracting considerable attention include China’s economic “new normal,” reform of the internationalization of the renminbi, the “Internet Plus” strategy, international capacity cooperation and new energy.
This year will mark Dalian’s fifth time hosting the Annual Meeting of the New Champions. Dalian Vice Mayor Lu Lin said: “Since the Annual Meeting of the New Champions was first held in Dalian in 2007, its considerable influence has greatly raised Dalian’s international profile and level of openness to the outside world. Dalian is now accelerating efforts to become a prosperous, beautiful and civilized modern international city. We will continue to deepen our cooperation with the Forum, make full use of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions as an international platform, and further enhance the city’s international competitiveness.”
The eight co-chairs of the meeting are: Mitchell Baker, Executive Chair of the Mozilla Foundation; Airbnb Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk; Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Didi Kuaidi Group, Cheng Wei; Director of the US National Institutes of Health, Francis S. Collins; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Vice Chairman and Rotating Chief Executive Officer, Hu Houkun; Chairman of China Media Capital, Li Ruigang; European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas; President and Chief Executive Officer of DigitalGlobe, Jeffrey R. Tarr.
Heads of state and government confirmed to attend include the Prime Minister of Mongolia, Chimed Saikhanbileg; the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili; the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Claudius Mitchell; the President of Malawi, Arthur Peter Mutharika; and the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Yury Trutnev.
Chinese business and political leaders attending include HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng, Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma, China Construction Bank Chairman Wang Hongzhang, GAC Group Chairman Zhang Fangyou, as well as National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Xu Shaoshi, Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China Lu Wei, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office Shen Changyu, and leaders from Liaoning, Chengdu, Dalian, Shenzhen and Tianjin, among other provinces and cities.