China-US innovation forum focuses on fintech, cooperation

SAN FRANCISCO - A China-US forum on financial technology (fintech), innovation and frontiers in Silicon Valley was held in Stanford University Tuesday.

Some 200 Chinese and American scholars, economists and entrepreneurs gathered at the 2018 China-US Economist FinTech Innovation Forum, discussing the two countries' economic development and cooperation, fintech, blockchain, and financial security.

"In recent years, the world economy and scientific technology have experienced unprecedented profound changes," calling for theoretic innovation that may solve today's financial problems, said Zhuo Zhi, president of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) based in Chengdu, China.

Driven by modern information technology, finance and the internet have gradually developed in various forms and in various sectors, Zhuo said, adding that innovations will probably change traditional financial theory, reshaping financial structure, behaviors and decision-making.

The forum is a meaningful gathering of Chinese and American scientists, economists and scholars who are concerned about the future development of fintech innovations, Tang Jiqiang, founder and chief researcher of SWUFE Institution, said.

"The people-to-people communication and exchanges between scholars will help boost the development of US-China relations in the right direction," Tang said.

"The friendly relations between China and the US in the past 39 years have brought tangible benefits to both peoples," Ren Faqiang, China's deputy consul general in San Francisco, said.

"Entrepreneurs in the US and China should continue to collaborate and cooperate, and look for the opportunities," Franklin Urteaga, former White House tech advisor, told Xinhua.

"I encourage entrepreneurs and CEOs of corporations in China and in America to collaborate, just like the Sino-US innovation forum," Urteaga said, adding that cooperation and collaboration are a key component of innovation.

"You cannot innovate in a bubble, and so I really believe that we need to do more with the China-US cooperation," he said.

The annual forum has been held for three times. The last meeting also took place in Stanford University.