The Silk Road Entrepreneurship Education Network (SREEN), Zhejiang University’s Global Entrepreneurship Research Center, the Faculty of Business, the Faculty of Finance, and the Institute for Research on Portuguese-Speaking Countries of the City University of Macau (CityU) co-organized the 5th Annual Conference of Silk Road Entrepreneurship Education Network today at the Taipa campus. This year’s edition, themed “Sustainable Entrepreneurship and leadership Development”, invited scholars from the United Kingdom, Japan, and China to share their insights via virtual conference. CityU Rector Jun Liu and Professor Zhongming Wang, Chairman of the Board of SREEN and Professor of the School of Management at Zhejiang University, delivered their opening addresses.
Rector Jun Liu mentioned that sustainability is the ability to achieve stable development through strategic and forward-looking plans and actions. In response to the current global crisis, the United Nations has set some Sustainable Development Goals, including building resilient infrastructure for sustainable industrialization and promoting innovation. Innovation is an important source of economic growth, and it is entrepreneurship and leadership that turn innovation into reality.
In his speech, Professor Zhongming Wang introduced the development background of the International Silk Road Entrepreneurship Education Alliance (SREEN). He pointed out that the SREEN has established bases in many universities around the world and formed a global base network, which plays an active role in promoting the construction of a community of shared future for mankind and has an important impact on the economic development of the world.
During the keynote speech, Professor Zhongming Wang, Professor Andrew Godley from Henley Business School of University of Reading, Professor Ito Takehiko and Professor Tadao Onaka from Business School of Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, and Professor Jose Alves from Faculty of Business of City University of Macau expounded their thoughts, respectively. It is pointed out that sustainable entrepreneurship is a new field, and goal-oriented leadership and determination of mechanisms to resist competitive forces are the keys to success. Social participation and ecosystem creation are key elements of a sustainable society, so it is suggested to broaden the focus to industry, society, biodiversity and the planet.
Two round tables followed. The first one, themed "Sustainable Entrepreneurial Leadership Development", was hosted by Professor Zhongming Wang. Representatives from SREEN bases, including Professor Wenzhong Zhu from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Professor Yangao Xiao from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Professor Hao Wen from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Professor Liangxing Shi from Tianjin University, Professor Eva Khong from City University of Macau, and Director George Iliev of the Association of MBAs & Business School Accreditation and Silk-Road Entrepreneurship Education Network, shared their efforts and achievements in promoting sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainable leadership, as well as their future development orientation. The City University SREEN Macau Base, positioned as a financial service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, will continue to build a "low-carbon Macao" and guide more financial resources to China's green industries and sectors. Green finance will play an important role in Macao's sustainable economic and social development.
The second roundtable, with the theme of "Green Management and Leadership Development of Financial Managers", was hosted by Professor Peng Chao, Director of Macao ‘One Belt, One Road’ Research Center. Professor Zhongming Wang, Professor Jun Chen from School of Management of Zhejiang University, Dr. Tian Meng from MBA Education Center of Shanghai University, Associate Professor Yanhai Zhao from School of Management of Lanzhou University, and Professor Tao Xu from Business School of Soochow University, delivered speeches, proposing to understand green management from the perspective of green investment. Carbon management and carbon economy training direction, green management leadership and entrepreneurial social responsibility were deeply discussed, and the differences between entrepreneurial social responsibility and social responsibility were analyzed.
At the end of the conference, Vice-Rector Kuai Peng Ip from City University of Macau, together with Professor Adrian Cheung, Dean of the Faculty of Finance, and Professor Zhongming Wang, made comments on the conference and summarized the key points. They made clear the importance of innovation and development, and the role of "One Belt and One Road" entrepreneurship in promoting scientific and technological progress and national development, helping to build a more ideal international education platform.
Guests attending the conference include Deputy Secretary-General Paulo Jorge Rodrigues do Espirito Santo of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation Between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries, Deputy Coordinator Chongwei Yang of the Macau Office for Personal Data Protection, Mr. Kin Mou Wong, Head of Department of Educational Research and Planning of Education and Youth Development Bureau, Pro-Rector Vince Chu and representative of City University of Macau