Peking University, September 17, 2013: Innovation, technology, and big data were just some of the buzzwords being tossed around at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which took place in the city of Dalian from September 11 to September 13, 2013. Guanghua faculty members contributed their expertise in various fields at the forum, which followed along a theme of “meeting the innovation imperative”, and was attended by numerous leading CEOs, government leaders, and scholars from around the world. 
 

The forum’s opening address was delivered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
 

Guanghua Associate Professor of Marketing Su Meng took part in a debate on Wednesday of the forum, entitled “Forum Debate: Big Data or Big Hype?”  Debating against the Forum’s designated Young Global Leaders, Jeremy Howard of the United States and Bright Simons of Ghana, who argued that the public discussion regarding opportunities of big data are overhyped.  Su, along with Japanese Minister for Science and Technology Policy Ichita Yamamoto, supported the argument for the widespread use of big data telecommunications and Internet, and argued for its application to finance, healthcare, energy, social security, and the retail sector.  The debate session was moderated by Vijay Vaitheeswaran, China Business and Finance Editor for The Economist. 
 

Professor Su Meng addresses the Summer Davos audience
 

Professors from the Guanghua School of Management also jointly discussed “Building China’s Digital Future”, representing Peking University at one of the forum’s uniquely formatted IdeasLab events, which invited leading academic scholars to share their thoughts with audience members in an intimate setting.
 

Participating in Peking University’s IdeasLab from Guanghua, also on Wednesday of the forum, were Professor Su, alongside Professor of Management Science and Information Systems Dong Xiaoying, and Professor of Statistics Wang Hansheng.  Also partaking in the IdeasLab from Peking University was Cai Jian, the Executive Dean for Peking University’s Innovation Research Institute.  
 

The discussion for Peking University’s IdeasLab centered on the question “How are social media and e-commerce affecting Chinese culture and society?” and included the presentation of ideas regarding the rise of new leadership styles, the big data ecosystem and public good, and big data and e-commerce with regards to privacy issues.
 

Guanghua Professor of Applied Economics Zhang Weiying also attended the forum, where he commented on the evolution of entrepreneurship and economic growth in China.
 

Each year, the Annual Meeting of the New Champions unites over 1,500 participants from 90 countries and promotes the exchange of dialogue and ideas among leaders and top decision makers from business, government, media, academia, and civil society.

Edited by: Zhang Jiang

Source: Guanghua School of Management