Innovation is the soul of nation's advancement, Zeng

11 Sep '06

3 min read

The opening session of the World Economic Forum's China Business Summit heard how the country must harness its innovative capacity and find new, more efficient and equitable ways to deal with the strains of huge growth.

“In the new development stage, we cannot continue with the traditional development approach and growth pattern,” said Zeng Peiyan, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China, in a special address at the opening of the World Economic Forum's China Business Summit 2006 in Beijing.

“Innovation,” Zeng said, “is the soul of a nation's advancement and the everlasting driving power of national prosperity.”

The Summit is the culmination of 25 years of engagement by the Forum in China. Organized in collaboration with the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) and with the support of the National Development and Reform Commission, its aim is to bring key stakeholders together in Beijing to rethink and reshape the country's growth and industry agendas.

More than 500 participants from 27 countries are taking part under the theme Sustainable Growth through Innovation: China's Creative Imperative.

Even if it continues to grow in its present fashion, the risks of these trends would eventually prove overwhelming.

China's challenge is how to stop having to import such technologies and instead develop them at home. “A significant chunk of the profit has been ceded because we cannot buy core technologies right now,” said Chen Yuan, Governor of the China Development Bank and Co-Chair of the China Business Summit 2006. “We hope to absorb technologies from abroad and adapt them into our own.”

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