Keywords at 2023 Summer Davos

TIANJIN -- The 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, will be held from Tuesday to Thursday in northern China's Tianjin City.

About 1,500 participants from business, government, international organizations, and academia will attend the event, which will offer insights into global economic development and potential in the post-pandemic era.

With the theme of "Entrepreneurship: The Driving Force of the Global Economy," the event covers six key pillars: rewiring growth; China in the global context; energy transition and materials; post-pandemic consumers; safeguarding nature and climate; and deploying innovation.

Ahead of the event, some of the participants anticipated the following keywords to be discussed at the event and shared their opinions on the topics.

WORLD ECONOMY OUTLOOK

Global GDP growth in 2023 is projected to be 2.7 percent, the lowest annual rate since the global financial crisis, except for the 2020 pandemic period, according to an economic outlook report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in June. A modest improvement to 2.9 percent is foreseen for 2024 in the report.

"I am cautiously optimistic about the Chinese and global economy," said Guo Zhen, a marketing manager with the PowerChina Eco-Environmental Group Co., Ltd.

Guo said the speed and extent of economic recovery vary from country to country, and the economic recovery also depends on the recovery of global trade and international cooperation, which requires more effort.

Tong Jiadong, a council member of the global government in Davos, said in recent years, China held many trade expos and fairs to promote the recovery of international trade and investment.

China is expected to make greater contributions to the global economic recovery, said Tong.

GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Generative artificial intelligence (AI), a major topic of several sub-forums, will also be expected to draw heated discussion.

Gong Ke, executive director of the Chinese Institute for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies, said that generative AI spurred new impetus for the intelligent transformation of thousands of businesses and industries and raised new requirements for data, algorithms, computing power, and network infrastructure.

Experts have urged management framework and standard norms based on broad social consensus, as Bloomberg's report suggested that in 2022 the industry generated revenues of around 40 billion U.S. dollars, and that figure could reach 1.32 trillion U.S. dollars by 2032.

GLOBAL CARBON MARKET

Faced with the downward pressure on the economy, the heads of multinational enterprises, foundations, and environmental protection agencies have believed that the carbon market may be the next economic growth point.

China's carbon trading market has evolved into a more mature mechanism that promotes environmental protection through market-based approaches.

Data reveals that as of May 2022, the cumulative volume of carbon emission allowances in the national carbon market is about 235 million tonnes, with the turnover amounting to nearly 10.79 billion yuan (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars).

In 2022, Huaneng Power International, Inc., one of the power generation enterprises participating in the national carbon emission trading market, generated approximately 478 million yuan in revenue from selling the carbon emission quota.

Tan Yuanjiang, vice president of Full Truck Alliance, said the enterprise in the logistics industry established an individual carbon account scheme to encourage fewer carbon emissions. Under the scheme, more than 3,000 truck drivers nationwide have opened carbon accounts.

The scheme is expected to help reduce 150 kg of carbon emissions a month on average among these participating truck drivers.

BELT AND ROAD

In 2013, China put forward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to foster new drivers for global development. More than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have signed documents under the BRI framework, bringing an economic boon to participating countries.

Ten years on, many enterprises have benefited from the BRI and witnessed its development globally.

Auto Custom, a Tianjin-based enterprise engaged in automobile modification and customization services, has participated in relevant automobile product projects along the Belt and Road multiple times in recent years.

"As more China-made automobiles have been exported to countries along the Belt and Road, companies along the entire industrial chain will see great development," said Feng Xiaotong, founder of Auto Custom.