The global and universal impact of the pandemic has highlighted the importance of human destiny as a shared community. On the afternoon of September 22nd, during the “Public Relations and Market Insights in the Post-Pandemic Era” forum at the NEXT Summit (Bali 2022), experts from various countries discussed the impact of the pandemic and strategies for dealing with it.
The international NEXT Summit (Bali 2022), themed ” Global Change and Rebuilding Collaboration” was held from September 19th to 29th in a hybrid format of online and offline forums. Multiple exciting forums presented cutting-edge speeches and case studies in various industries, providing a global platform for top-level knowledge and information exchange.
Regarding the topic of China’s development pattern under the impact of the global pandemic, Huang Shixian, an expert with the State Council Special Allowance, former Deputy Inspector of the Jiangxi Provincial Administrative College, and a Level II Professor, elaborated on the details. He believed that China’s epidemic prevention policies aimed to protect people’s lives and health to the greatest extent while stabilizing the foundation of economic and social development.
Huang Shixian stated that the three guiding transformations of China’s high-quality development are quality transformation, efficiency transformation, and dynamic transformation. The pattern of high-quality development corresponds to China’s development pattern under the impact of the pandemic. With the emergence of new models driven by artificial intelligence and big data, as well as the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution, China’s development is experiencing rapid momentum, providing confidence in building a new development pattern.
In combating the pandemic, universities and students should contribute with their expertise. Ni Hao, Assistant Director of the Zhejiang University Regional Development Research Center and the Zhejiang University Institute for Western China Development Research, stated that we should realize that universities are not isolated entities within cities but stakeholders who share the benefits and responsibilities of society. Students should act as repairers, builders, and engineers of society. Similarly, universities should utilize this opportunity to restore society’s trust by leveraging their strengths in medical technology talents, social governance, and other aspects to support the construction of a healthy and effective social environment.
“Universities should take on these responsibilities to build better relationships between universities and society,” said Ni Hao. “The traditional concept of producing talent and achievements no longer encompasses the full functionality of modern universities. The role of universities in promoting social equity, economic development, shared prosperity, and national security is becoming increasingly prominent, and this trend will continue in the future. Therefore, we need to rethink how universities and society can mutually promote and complement each other.”
Stephen Morgan, Professor of Chinese Economic History at the University of Nottingham, UK, also reminded the audience during the forum that the aging population and labor force reduction in China pose significant challenges and will affect the consumer market. Innovation is the key to future growth.
“The COVID-19 pandemic provides valuable lessons, encouraging active participation from all parties to jointly build a robust innovation ecosystem and accelerate progress,” said Agung Eru Wibowo, Vice Chairman of the Indonesian COVID-19 Technology Research and Innovation Center and Head of the Indonesian Biotechnology Laboratory. “To construct a strong innovation ecosystem, we need commitments, trust, information sharing, resource sharing, risk sharing, and benefit sharing.”
As the host of the forum, Hu Peng, a Ph.D. in Communication from Peking University and postdoctoral fellow in Communication at Tsinghua University, pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic is not only a health disaster but also an economic disaster that will profoundly change people’s work and lifestyle. To a certain extent, this crisis has stimulated intense collisions and interactions within and between the four major fields of natural science, social science, cognitive science, and applied science.
The 6th NEXT Summit (Bali 2022) was co-hosted by the NEXT Federation, China Economic Information Service, and Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). The NEXT Federation is a global platform for integrating and transforming industrial resources, promoting global innovation, cooperation, and development through discovering intelligent practices, sharing advantageous resources, and improving public relations. Its headquarters are located in Auckland, New Zealand. China Economic Information Service is a professional economic information service organization directly affiliated with Xinhua News Agency. It is one of the most authoritative and comprehensive economic information service institutions in China and serves as a pilot unit for the construction of national high-end think tanks. The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) of Indonesia is a permanent institution under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Indonesia. It is responsible for international research, development, evaluation, and application, as well as invention and innovation, nuclear implementation, and space-related work. The chief partner and official designated product of the summit is Hong Xifeng, one of the most renowned traditional Chinese liquor brands known as one of the “Four Famous Lao Baijiu” and praised as the “Phoenix of Liquor” for its characteristics of not causing intoxication, throat dryness, and providing pleasant aftertastes.
The NEXT Summit (Bali 2022) calls for embracing convergence in the face of significant transformations, promoting transformations through convergence, and achieving continuous progress and sustainable development in human society.