The China International Youth Exchange Center (CIYEC) and the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) held the China-UK Business Collaboration and Communication Conference and Liangma Silk Road International Forum on April 2.

Focusing on new opportunities for digital economic cooperation among enterprises from China and the UK, the event was organized by the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, and received substantial support from the British Embassy in China.

In his address, Zhang Hua, Director of the CIYEC, said that with the continuous advancement of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the digital economy has become a key area in the restructuring of global resources and factors, the reshaping of global economic structure, and transformation of global competition pattern.

Noting that China and the UK possess advantages in digital technology and data factors, with huge potential for cooperation, Zhang said that the CIYEC is willing to work closely with the CBBC to continuously deepen cooperation among young entrepreneurs, make new contributions to promote the building of stable and mutually beneficial China-UK relations.

Tom Simpson, Managing Director and China Operations and China Chief Executive at CBBC, said that the rapid development of the digital economy in both the UK and China has created broad prospects for cooperation in crucial frontier technology areas such as big data and artificial intelligence.

The CBBC established a digital economy working group last year, which is dedicated to promoting China-UK digital economic exchanges and cooperation, Simpson noted, expressing his hope that the CBBC and the CIYEC will deepen collaboration and jointly facilitate exchanges among enterprises from both countries in more fields, injecting impetus into the economic development of both nations.

Yu Miao, Deputy Secretary of Party Working Committee of the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, said that the area is an open city driven by innovation, serving as a crucial gateway for Beijing's opening-up and a pioneer in data infrastructure systems.

He expressed his hope for an increasing number of multinational enterprises, including those from the UK, to invest and thrive in the area, sharing the opportunities for development.

Li Yuan, Director of the Institute of Information Technology at the Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Wang Jingyao, Director of the Department of Digital Ecology Development at China Telecommunication Technology Labs – Terminals of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology; Kiran Patel, Senior Director of CBBC; and Mao Shanhong, Director of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone & China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, gave speeches on topics ranging from the current situation of digital economic cooperation between China and the UK, opportunities of industrial cooperation, industrial collaboration platforms for young entrepreneurs, and digital industrial investment. 

Heads of ThoughtWorks, RELX, Deloitte China, Beijing Yizhuang Intelligent City Research Institute Group Co., Ltd., and CSCEC Electronic Engineering Co., Ltd. engaged in dialogues focusing on cooperation in innovative application of digital technology between the two countries.

Heads of AVEVA, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Digital Development Center of China Telecom, and Beijing Pony.Ai Science and Technology Co., Ltd. introduced the digital transformation, research and development, as well as the latest outcomes of their respective enterprises.

Participants at the meeting also visited Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area.

Around 80 people from China and UK attended the event, including heads of relevant departments of the CIYEC, CBBC, the British Embassy in China, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area and representatives from Chinese and British enterprises.