IBLAC meeting aims to boost Shanghai’s innovation as it moves towards higher opening-up

The 36th International Business Leaders Advisory Council to the Mayor (IBLAC) begins in Shanghai on September 22, 2024. Photo: VCG

The 36th edition of the Mayor’s International Business Leaders Advisory Council (IBLAC) kicked off in Shanghai on Sunday, bringing together top executives from more than 30 leading international corporations to share global practices and insights on supporting the city’s innovative development and exploring investment opportunities in its dynamic market.

The theme of this year’s IBLAC conference is “Leading the Transformation of Paradigms and Expanding Openness and Cooperation” to advance the Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Center Initiative in the New Era, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the initiative.

In his opening speech on Sunday, Chen Jining, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, stressed the need to promote technological innovation as a driving force for Shanghai’s development, pledging to expand international cooperation and actively integrate into the global innovation network.

Severin Schwan, president of IBLAC and chairman of the board of Roche Group, said ahead of the event that this year’s IBLAC conference will be dedicated to discussing ways to work together to drive innovation and create an ecosystem of mutual exchange and win-win cooperation, local media outlet Shanghai Observer reported on Sunday.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, during a meeting with Schwan on Friday, pledged to further ease market access, including for biological drugs, Xinhua reported.

Shanghai, China’s reform and opening-up leader, has gone from rapid growth to high-quality development over the past decade, a milestone on the way to becoming a key player in global innovation, experts say.

On Saturday, Chen stressed Shanghai’s commitment to creating a first-class, market-oriented business environment that supports the development of foreign companies, and encouraged them to increase investment and optimize operations in sectors such as finance, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and healthcare.

“Shanghai offers a good and healthy environment for healthcare companies, supported by a solid industrial base,” Gary S. Guthart, CEO and board member of U.S. medical technology company Intuitive Surgical, said Saturday before the meeting.

According to a post on the local government website, the company’s promising future in Shanghai is based on three interconnected elements: excellent staff, forward-thinking customers and forward-thinking authorities.

Shanghai’s attractiveness to foreign companies shows the huge potential of the Chinese market as the country continues to push for high-level opening-up, Bian Yongzu, deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times on Sunday.

“Emerging sectors such as biomedicine, artificial intelligence and green energy play a key role in promoting Shanghai’s innovative growth and China’s high level of opening up, which is why IBLAC is focusing on developing new, high-quality manufacturing forces,” Bian noted.