Martin Li

    martin.mouse@163.com

    OPEN models are the most successful when building a global innovation center, Sean Randolph, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute in San Francisco, said in a speech in Shenzhen yesterday.

    Randolph was one of six speakers at the annual government-sponsored conference that invited experts from home and abroad to share their views on Shenzhen’s ongoing drive to become an international metropolis. This year’s conference had the theme, “building a global bay area city.”

    “Open models feature a fluid movement of people and ideas,” said Randolph, who shared San Francisco’s development experience as a global bay area innovation center, where Silicon Valley is located.

    There is no dominant city in the San Francisco bay area, where cities are linked by networks. The area is home to a cluster of universities, laboratories and corporate headquarters. It also has a global workforce and 52 percent of company founders are immigrants, mostly from China and India, according to Randolph.

    Randolph said a bay area center city should also have an attractive environment with cultural amenities and a good urban design.

    He added that Shenzhen has great opportunities to expand its existing base as a model city in China.

    Fan Gang, vice chairperson of the China Society of Economic Reform and director of the National Economic Research Institute, also stressed openness in his speech.

    “An open mind is helpful for drawing in and taking advantage of advanced knowledge in the world, where economic growth has an increasing dependence on the development of institutional and human resources,” said Fan.

    Fan said institutional innovations, especially institutions concerned with the protection of intellectual property rights, is of great importance when building an innovation center.

    (Continued on P3)

    “In addition, the service industry should be well developed (in a Chinese city like Shenzhen) so that medical care, education, finance and legal services can all improve. Government’s job is to build or reform institutions, as well as improve infrastructure,” said Fan.

    Joel Kotkin, a professor with the School of Urban Development and Planning at Chapman University in the United States, said “size is not the answer (when building a global city).

    “(What is more important than size) is efficiency, connectivity and diversity.”

    Joseph R. Bankoff, chairperson of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, mentioned “innovation community” in his speech.

    “Innovation community is a place where innovation can grow and flourish…and has legal and physical superstructures to protect innovations,” said Bankoff.

    Bankoff said Shenzhen needs to find its own way to develop a bay area economy.

    “I’m not suggesting harmonization with Western models… Shenzhen should continue its commitment to innovation and attract educated people,” said Bankoff.

    Hai Wen, the dean of Peking University HSBC Business School, pointed out that Shenzhen’s disadvantages include insufficient services in the fields of information, education, medicine, technology and commerce.

    “There are 96 universities in the San Francisco bay area, but the number in Shenzhen is much lower,” said Hai.

    Shenzhen proposed a big bay area development covering Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao at the beginning of this year. The economic size of the area is 1.3 trillion yuan, according to Xu Qin, Shenzhen’s mayor.

    “The most well-known bay areas in the world, including San Francisco, Tokyo and New York, are all interconnected with many surrounding cities, so Shenzhen needs to cooperate with surrounding cities, share resources with them and integrate markets,” said Xu.

    “Shenzhen seeks to change from an exporter of goods to an exporter of services and capital. A bay area should gather talent people, products and capital,” said Xu.

    Xu added that Shenzhen would strengthen cooperation with international cities.

    Shenzhen has almost 60 foreign sister cities, according to Xu.