More provincial research grants secured by NUBS post-80 generation researchers

25 November 2020


UNNC NUBS researchers have received more grants in this year’s Zhejiang Soft Science Programme application. Dr. Zhijing Zhu has secured a key project entitled “Research on what drives Zhejiang and China’s firms to create original innovations” among all 46 funded key projects. It is also the second key project that UNNC was awarded under the Zhejiang Soft Science Programme. The project aims to develop a multilevel theoretical framework accounting for the mechanisms that drive firms in China and particularly in Zhejiang Province to develop original innovations. It will infer the theoretical rationales and policies on China's grand innovation-driven development strategy.

Dr. Zhijing Zhu received a BSc and a MBA degree from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL) in China, as well as a PhD from the University of New South Wales Sydney in Australia and joined UNNC in 2017. Prior to her PhD research, Dr. Zhu had taken charge of international accreditation and international collaboration at the MBA School of ZUEL for 3 years, and held mid- and high-level management positions for international business in private high-tech Chinese firms for 7 years. Her research interests cover innovation, firm and industry evolution, international strategy, etc..

In the meanwhile, another NUBS young researcher Dr. Zhao Cai’s project entitled “Understanding the approach and mechanism of business model innovation enabled by digital technologies in Zhejiang province” was funded as a general project under the Zhejiang Soft Science Programme. His project mainly discusses business model innovation issues under the digital revolution, and provides ideas for companies to use IT capabilities, transform business models, and enhance competitive advantages from the aspects of technology, operation, and systems.

Prior to joining NUBS in 2018, Dr. Zhao Cai received his PhD from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He served as a post-doctoral fellow at USTC, during which he was a visiting scholar at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. His research interests focus on the intersection among digital supply chain management, platform competition, and sharing economy. He has already attained some innovative research outputs related to IT value creation in digital platforms.

About the Soft Science Programme:

The soft science is a kind of intersection and combination of natural science, social science, engineering technology, mathematics and philosophy. To help with policy making of government officials of various levels, the study of Soft Science designs to solve decision making, organizing and managerial problems confronted by the governments at each level, aims at harmonious development in economy, research & technology as well as in society, by taking advantage of modern technological method and approaches. It is kind of comprehensive research activities involving multiple disciplines and areas, depends upon both qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis. Its research areas include studies on strategy, policy, planning and management, system reform, tech and legal study, economic analysis, feasibility study of key projects, and on basic theory and methodology of soft science, etc..

The call of the Provincial Soft Science Programme opens from May or June each year and the funding amount varies from RMB 30k to 100k depending on different sub-schemes.