Forum experts focus on venture investment

Experts shared their views on venture investment in China at a forum organized by Shanghai Normal University and the Shanghai branch of the Bank of China.

Zhu Ziqiang, president of the university, said venture investment is the “catalyst” for high-tech industry development and the “engine” for economic growth. He said he hopes the university’s School of Finance and Business can keep exploring and innovating education of related talent to serve the development of national and local economic growth.

Zhang Jun, dean of the School of Economics at Fudan University, delivered a keynote speech on integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta region from the perspective of the effect of borders.

He said administrative divisions limited flow of productive factors, leading to bordering areas featuring less developed economies, which happens in the delta region.

“Relatively, the bordering area of Shanghai and Jiangsu Province has higher output than that of Shanghai and Zhejiang Province,” he said. “That’s why the economic development level in the area at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu is close to that of Shanghai and thus is better integrated with Shanghai. But in Zhejiang, cities such as Jiaxing and Huzhou are close to Shanghai, but feature slower economic development.”

He said it is crucial to break down the border effect to promote integration of the delta region and deepen reform of administrative divisions to promote efficient utilization of resources.

Yin Desheng, dean of the School of Economics at East China Normal University, talked about new infrastructure, data rule and digital economy structure.

He said the digital economy features large scale and China will face bottleneck challenges if its digital economy can’t expand from the 1.4-billion domestic population to the 7-billion world population. He suggested China take part in or lead in digital economy rule-making so as to gain an advantage in entering the world digital economy.

Zhu Mengnan, deputy dean of Xiamen University School of Economics, said there are two risk points in the global economy – the influence of geopolitical changes and the shock brought by technological developments and nature, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The risks are shared by the whole world instead of a single nation,” he said.

He suggested China further develop its economy and intensify supply-side reform, especially in developing science and technology. He also said it’s important for China to further open up to enhance international cooperation and cultivate high-end talent.

Cui Baisheng, a professor at Shanghai Normal University, said the interest rate in China is at a very low level and it should avoid the plight of monetary policy featuring negative interest rates, like the EU and Japan, and adopt mixed monetary policy rules to improve the effectiveness of its monetary policy.