The 2019 Sino-Japanese Academic Seminar on Economy & Enterprise Development, which was jointly organized by the China Center for Special Economic Zone Research (CCSEZR) and the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) of the Kumamoto Gakuen University (KGU), was held in KGU from September 20 to 22, 2019. More than 20 experts and scholars from China and Japan attended the activity, delving into how to support the collaborations among SMEs, universities, governments and banks, and drive regional economy and innovation.
Wu Dinghai, President of the Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences and Chairman of the Shenzhen Social Sciences Association, and Ryoichi Koda, President of KGU, delivered speeches respectively. President Ryoichi Koda, in his speech, first extended a warm welcome to the experts and scholars from China and then expressed his sincere pleasure to see the ever-deepening friendly cooperation between the two sides over the past three decades. He believed that such win-win move could expand the international space of both sides, and it was of great significance and necessity to hold this conference in the increasingly complicated global context. Looking ahead, he hoped that both sides can continue to deepen collaborations in all fields, so as to encourage more extensive and in-depth exchanges between the disciplines of the two universities.
President Ryoichi Koda delivers a speech
Wu Dinghai, President of the Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences and Chairman of the Shenzhen Social Sciences Association, first expressed his heartfelt congratulations on this international seminar in his speech. According to him, Shenzhen is building a pilot zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics, while higher education and academic culture are leaping toward the objective of developing Shenzhen School of Thoughts. He expected that both sides can, for cooperation, establish more flexible mechanisms, build platforms of higher level, open up new forms of channels, and conduct joint research on their intersected research fields in pursuit of mutual reference, close collaboration and common development.
President Wu Dinghai delivers a speech
Prof. Tao Yitao, Director of the CCSEZR, presents the academic publications of the CCSEZR to President Ryoichi Koda
Later, as a joint host, the CCSEZR (a key research base for humanities and social sciences under the Ministry of Education) appointed Prof. Tao Yitao to present some excellent academic publications by the CCSEZR to President Ryoichi Koda. Prof. Tao is the director of the CCSEZR and also the president of the Belt and Road Research Institute (Shenzhen) for International Cooperation and Development (BRRIICD). The presented publications are inclusive of the Special Economic Zones and China’s Path, which is published in five languages as an outcome of the Translation Project of Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences. As an iconic fruition of Prof. Tao’s team in recent years from the project sponsored by the National Social Science Fund, these publications are achievements of Prof. Tao’s team made by “Telling Good Chinese Stories with China’s Theories” and implementing the “Academics Going Global” strategy.
Following the opening ceremony, Prof. Tao gave a report on the CCSEZR’s research progress in the field of the special economic zones (SEZs) since 2018, especially in the rapid development of international exchanges and cooperation. She indicated that the CCSEZR, as a university think tank, is facing myriads of emerging policy issues in theory and practice against the backdrop where China keeps deepening reform and opening-up in an all-round way and implementing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area strategy and the State Council explicitly expressed its opinions concerning support for Shenzhen establishing an advanced demonstration zone for socialism with Chinese characteristics. The transition, for the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SSEZ), from blazing the trail to being a demonstration zone, reflected the recognition for the SSEZ practice and the chosen path of institutional change in Chinese society, and altogether, proved the correctness of the path China chose. For the future research, the CCSEZR will focus on the SEZs and the path for China to deepen the reforms, with a goal to provide convincing theoretical support for Chinese society to achieve innovation-driven and high-quality development.
Prof. Tao Yitao delivers a speech
Marston, Director of the IFA of the KGU, extended his appreciation for the remarkable achievements made by the CCSEZR. He gave an overview of the development of the IFA, the research the IFA had done and the scientific results it had obtained over the past one year. He also briefed the settings and faculty members of the IFA.
Marston, Director of the IFA, reports the development of the IFA
Both sides expressed their willingness to take the academic interactions between the two universities and two research institutions a step further, so as to reap the fruits of the era and embrace a bright future by learning from the past cooperation experiences. Young scholars such as Zhang Ping, Miao Lu and Wang Baowei made impressive reports respectively on the urbanization governance and green financial development in Shenzhen. Attendees showed much interest in such topics and had serious comments and discussions.
President Wu Dinghai, Prof. Tao Yitao, President Ryoichi Koda and Director Marston
Group photo of some attendees
The organizer also invited the head of the local government department to introduce Kumamoto’s developments, the talent nurturing and the industrial policies in favor of enterprise development. The attending experts, under the arrangement of the KGU, made field study visits to some outstanding local alumni enterprises, representative companies and research think tanks, to gain insight into Japan’s economic policies and business operation status quo, and to better understand the underlying culture and social system support that contribute to Japan-made products and its craftsmanship. The seminar came to a successful conclusion.
In 1987, The CCSEZR and the IFA of the KGU duly signed an academic exchange and cooperation agreement, which was one of the earliest international exchange and cooperation projects in the social science field in Shenzhen city. Over the past 32 years, the two sides have maintained mutual annual visits, exchanged scholars, hosted conferences and undertaken collaborative research, which has yielded fruitful academic results. The CCSEZR has published many representative works in multi-languages such as A Comparative Study on Economic Issues in China and Japan and the Sustainable Development in East Asia Countries. It has, down to earth, made every attempt to promote the successful practice of the SSEZ, and has become one of the key signature results of “Shenzhen School of Thoughts Going Global”.
Field visit
Field visit
Field visit
