By Mirjam Haab, Junior Project Manager - Science Outreach and Diplomacy
On July 15, the Academy of Internet Finance of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou held its yearly EMBA seminar on Fintech and Blockchain related topics. Zhang Ruidong, the Director and Founder of the Blockchain Labs, invited representatives from the Danish and Swiss Science & Technology Consulates to hold country-specific presentations along with industry experts, professors and other interested parties who covered more technical Fintech topics.
This year, the global leitmotif was “The Frontiers of Digital Convergence”. A total of 6 presentations were delivered on various themes, spanning from the newly launched Libra Blockchain by Facebook, its’ motivation and business models evolving from it, over Financial Big Data, how to conduct Artificial Intelligence research and apply it in practice, to Blockchain applications in Supply Chain traceability. Additionally, there were the two country-specific Fintech presentations. The first one covered recent Fintech developments in Denmark and was held by Ran Zhao from the Danish Consulate. The second was held by swissnex China Junior Project Manager Mirjam Haab and covered the Swiss Fintech Landscape, recent developments and an outlook into the future regarding regulatory, economic, social and technological challenges and opportunities.
This very interesting and insightful morning was then followed by a delicious Zhejiang cuisine lunch with all the participants, where further discussions and casual conversations took place. It was, for example, mentioned how Cryptocurrencies are experiencing some hardship in China and are nowhere soon to be integrated as a means of pay according to some participants. Zhejiang University also has a Fintech program and swissnex China would hope to bring together Swiss Fintech startups with their Chinese peers in order to exploit synergies, learn from each other and create added value for both.
Finally, the event, spanning all morning until the early afternoon, provided the occasion for very enriching conversations about cultural differences and drawing comparisons between sociopolitical and economic issues in China, Switzerland and Denmark. Undoubtedly, the exchanges and presentations added value to an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of digital convergence as well as the Danish and Swiss Fintech landscapes.
We cordially thank Zhang Ruidong for his very kind invite and hope to participate at the event in future occasions again.
Ran Zhao (left), Christina Mark (middle) and Mirjam Haab (right) at the Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station.