During 20th and 22nd February, the Fifth Meeting of the 15th Ningbo Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Sixth Meeting of the 15th Ningbo Municipal People's Congress were successfully held. Participants of the 15th Session of the Municipal Committee of the CPPCC included Ningbo’s leading officials such as Peng Jiaxue, Secretary of Ningbo Municipal Committee; Yu Hongyi, Director of the People's Congress; Qiu Dongyao, Mayor of Ningbo; Xu Yuning, Chairman of the CPPCC; and 460 other CPPCC members from different fields. Professor Hua Xiuping from the Nottingham University Business School China, as a member of Ningbo CPPCC, gave earnest suggestions on promoting Ningbo's "246" development trillion-dollar industry and other topics.
Professor Hua Xiuping pointed out that in recent years Ningbo's GDP development has made great progress. However, the transformation of China’s economic development and the rise of trade protectionism worldwide means that achieving better scientific research in mechanical engineering, materials science and chemical engineering, etc., requires further development of Ningbo’s higher education foundation.
"In key production links in key industries such as automobiles, equipment manufacturing, and petrochemicals, we should increase the intensity of introducing advanced technologies from enterprises and scientific research institutes in surrounding first-tier cities through technology transfers or joint ventures. Attracting outstanding scientific research teams and local units to jointly tackle technical bottlenecks in key areas and promoting independent research and development is what we should do," she pointed out.
Regarding Ningbo's financial industry, its fundamentals are relatively weak. They cannot provide swift, sufficient financial support and insurance services to develop key industries, highly capital-intensive. Therefore, Professor Hua Xiuping believes that building a finance exchange platform for manufacturing enterprises is essential. Using this platform to regularly organise leading companies in related industries and companies with development prospects to negotiate financing projects will improve Ningbo's manufacturing industry's financing efficiency. Ningbo can draw on the development experience of neighbouring first-tier cities in terms of science and innovation insurance. Ningbo should introduce advanced insurance institutions, organise meetings between insurance institutions and science and innovation enterprises, and develop optimal insurance plans for high-tech fields.
Ningbo urgently needs to cultivate and bring in a large pool of scientific researchers with strong professional knowledge and entrepreneurial enthusiasm to attract talent. There is still a big gap between the quantity and quality of Ningbo talents and the needs of key industries. She suggested that Ningbo strengthen local talents training in key areas such as local automobiles, equipment, petrochemicals, etc. With the Yangtze River Delta's economic integration, Ningbo should vigorously promote technological innovation and industrial cooperation in this region and strengthen the integration of industrial and innovation chains.
"By establishing a talent information database and a talent resource exchange, supply and marketing platform, it will promote the transparency of talent information and the circulation of talent resources. Relying on Ningbo University, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and the Institute of Advanced Materials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as others, Ningbo can promote cooperation among regional colleges, universities, and research institutes to jointly tackle projects in key areas such as automobiles, green petrochemicals, and new materials. This will strengthen the joint construction of industry, university, and institutional cooperation, as well as increase the rate of scientific research."