Discussing the era of AI, Zhejiang merchants’ cultural integrity and innovation start a new chapter

China News Service, Hangzhou, November 7 (Xi Jinyan) Artificial intelligence is intervening in business operations at an unprecedented depth. For Zhejiang businessmen who have established themselves as "dare to be the first", what to maintain and what to create has become an unavoidable proposition.

The 8th World Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Conference Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Cultural Forum was held recently at the Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Museum of Zhejiang Gongshang University. With the theme of "Inheritance and Innovation of Zhejiang Business Culture in the AI ​​Era", this forum focuses on how Zhejiang business culture can actively expand into technological culture and AI culture, so that technological innovation and cultural precipitation can nourish each other.

Forum site. Photo provided by the organizer

Chen Jiayuan, former vice governor of the Zhejiang Provincial Government and former vice chairman of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that the "Four Thousand Spirit" is the survival wisdom tempered by Zhejiang under the realistic conditions of insufficient resource endowment. It is the spiritual foundation of Zhejiang businessmen's hard work. Zhejiang businessmen balance pursuit of profit and justice, efficiency and credit, and are rooted in the cultural context of equal emphasis on agriculture and business, and both justice and benefit advocated by Chen Liang of the Yongkang School of the Southern Song Dynasty. While accumulating wealth, the majority of Zhejiang businessmen must adhere to their responsibilities and contribute to common prosperity with wisdom and charity.

Fu Guanfu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Gongshang University, pointed out that “Zhejiang business culture” is the soul of Zhejiang businessmen. Facing the changing environment of the times and the rapid iteration of technology, how to keep this "soul" alive, spread, and used, and transform it into an endogenous force for economic and social development is a realistic proposition. The school will continue to promote the in-depth integration of Zhejiang merchant culture into the whole process of cultivating moral character and cultivating talents, cultivating a new generation of business talents with both professional qualities and practical spirit. At the same time, it will serve as a good bridge and link, do a solid job in theoretical research, practical transformation and cultural dissemination, and tell the story of Zhejiang merchants to the world.

Li Lifei, Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce and Vice Chairman of the Provincial Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that Zhejiang businessmen are shifting from an entrepreneurial culture to an innovative culture in the AI ​​era. The Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce will link up with university think tanks to deepen research on the culture of Zhejiang businessmen in the AI ​​era, promote the transformation of results, guide Zhejiang businessmen to deepen their cultural roots, shoulder the mission of innovation, and empower the high-quality development of Zhejiang's private economy.

Shang Qing, deputy director of the Zhejiang Merchants Research Center and former director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, said that Zhejiang Merchants is a world-renowned golden business card, and the "Four Thousand Spirit" is the foundation of Zhejiang Merchants culture. He looks forward to guests' suggestions and suggestions to jointly promote the inheritance and innovation of Zhejiang Merchants culture.

Wang Yonggui, President of Zhejiang Gongshang University, gave a keynote speech on the theme of "Digital Innovation and Development of Zhejiang Enterprises in the Smart Economy Era" to discuss the transformation direction of Zhejiang enterprises in the context of the smart economy. He said that the era of smart economy is profoundly reshaping the competitive logic and growth methods of enterprises. Zhejiang enterprises must not only accelerate the intelligent transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, but also look forward to layout future industries and new scenarios, realize value jumps, system jumps and space jumps through the collaborative efforts of technology, strategy, organization and culture, continuously improve global competitiveness, and continue to write a new chapter of Zhejiang businessmen bravely setting the trend and daring to be the first.

Zhou Guohui, president of the Zhejiang Business Development Research Institute and vice chairman of the 12th Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, gave a speech titled "The Evolution and Upgrading of the Connotation and Form of Zhejiang Business Culture in the AI ​​Era", proposing that in the AI ​​era, Zhejiang business culture must adhere to the cultural roots of the "Four Thousand Spirits" and maintain the people-oriented background of being practical, pursuing both justice and benefit, and benefiting the public. We cannot unilaterally pursue benefits and lose our human nature. It is necessary to face up to the tension between AI efficiency logic and humanistic background, be alert to the emergence of new capability gaps in small and medium-sized enterprises, hedge the capability gap with ecological co-construction, and eliminate short-term anxiety with long-termism.

According to Chen Miaolin, vice president of the Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Association and founder of Kaiyuan Tourism Group, entrepreneurs shoulder the livelihood and social responsibilities of their employees, and enterprise development is like a long-distance race. The "hitting the wall period" in Malaysia corresponds to the development bottlenecks encountered by enterprises; uniform pace, timely supply, and adjusting the rhythm according to the trend are the reference for enterprises to control expansion, reserve resources, and grasp the cycle.

Fang Yi, chairman of Daily Interactive and president of Zhejiang New Generation Entrepreneurs Association, advocates the concept of data humanism, advocating adhering to the humanistic background of technology, viewing human and machine capabilities and shortcomings from an equal perspective, and avoiding the lack of humanities caused by technological development. The speech site also used digital human demonstrations and exclusive digital human public welfare services to intuitively demonstrate the results and inclusive value of AI technology.

This forum was hosted by Zhejiang Gongshang University and the Zhejiang Provincial Zhejiang Business Research Center. It brought together more than 200 well-known experts and scholars and representatives of Zhejiang businessmen at home and abroad. They had in-depth discussions, dialogues and exchanges on topics such as the intergenerational inheritance of the spirit of Zhejiang businessmen in the AI ​​era, the symbiotic integration of science and technology and humanities, and injected lasting cultural momentum into the high-quality development of Zhejiang businessmen and Zhejiang's economy.

The forum released typical cases of "culture + AI" application innovation by Zhejiang businessmen. The cases cover multiple dimensions such as public welfare undertakings, cultural exports, industrial upgrading, corporate management and social responsibility. They showcase the vivid practices of Zhejiang enterprises empowered by artificial intelligence and provide "Zheli samples" that can be used for reference in the construction of corporate culture in the digital era.

The roundtable dialogue held in-depth discussions around such topics as the intergenerational succession of Zhejiang merchants’ spirit, cultural exchanges between Zhejiang merchants at home and abroad, cultural communication empowered by digital technology, and the balance between technological tools and traditional business ethics.