July 16, sponsored by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and organized by China Centre for International Science and Technology Exchange (CISTE), the Global Digital Economy Summit for Small and Medium Enterprises 2020 (DES 2020) was held in Beijing. Nankai University’s Center for Digital Economy participated in the event. President of the Center and WFEO President Ke Gong joined in the forum dialogue. With the theme of “Digital Economy Challenges and Opportunities: SMEs Digital Transformation”, the Summit gathered experts in all circles of industry, education and research, focusing on the obstacles and opportunities of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development under the background of digital economy and discussing the digital process of small and medium-sized enterprises from the perspectives of technology, system and practice.

In the forum dialogue, talking about the challenges and countermeasures of SME’s digital transformation, Ke Gong said, “There is no general solution to the digital challenge of SMEs. Every enterprise must have its own strategic planning.” He pointed out, “The SME’s digital transformation should include the following factors: first, the recognition and determination of the leadership, because the digital transformation is not only the application of digital technology, but also the reform of enterprise governance, organization and process; second, a breakthrough point and path is necessary. Consideration of the specific business requires the overall thinking; third, it must be fully embedded in the digital ecology.”

The Summit includes 6 sub-forums, which are (1) Open Data: Unleashing the Original Drivers for New Factors; (2) Cooperation and Symbiosis: New Practices of Platform-based Organizations; (3) Building Platforms: Digital Technology Helps Companies Resume Work and Production; (4) Open Ecology: Achieving Inclusive and Enabling Integration; (5) Lean Startups: A Novel Mode for SMEs to Start New Business in Digital Economy; and (6) Bridging the Digital Divide: Addressing New Issues in Governance of the Digital Economy. The forum was held online through new media. Within four hours of the opening of the forum, a total of 10.4 million users from all around the world participated in forum through CCTV, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms.

In the post-epidemic era, the development of digital economy will be an important driving force of global economic transformation and upgrading. To serve for the digital economy development, on June 24, on the sub-forum of “Digital Economy and Future Development” on the 4th World Intelligence Congress, the inauguration ceremony of the “Center for Digital Economy”, jointly built by the CAST, Tianjin Municipal Government and Nankai University, was also held. The “Research Report on the Development of China’s Digital Economy 2020” was also published on the sub-forum. According to the report, new data-driven enterprises are becoming the driving force for China’s and global economic development.

(Reported by Mingxi Liao, Translated by Yuchen Shi, Edited by Davide Francolino and JianjingYun)