Organizer: Center for Chinese Business Studies, The University Of Kitakyushu

             Co-organizer: Overseas Environmental Project Department, Environment Bureau, City of Kitakyushu

New Year Special Seminar 2022

Theme：Building Sustainable Business Networks in East Asia

Date & Time：Tuesday, March 15th, 2022  09:20-17:20

Format: Online (via Teams, Express in Chinese and Japanese)

 On March 15th, 2022, the New Year Special Seminar 2022 was successfully held. This was the 6th in a series of East Asia Forums. It was hosted by the CCBS of The University of Kitakyushu. In light of the recent outbreak of COVID-19 infection, as in the previous year, micro-soft teams application was used to connect experts from all over the world remotely this time also.

 A total of 11 representatives from academic and business communities were invited to the seminar, which was divided into two sessions which consisted of the morning session and the afternoon session. These sessions were for research presentations and general discussions. The opening speech was given by Tagashi MATSUO, President of The University of Kitakyushu on behalf of the organizers. The morning session was moderated by Prof. Xiaoping WANG, director of the CCBS. The afternoon session was moderated by Prof. Tomoyuki Fukumoto, from the faculty of economics, Osaka university of economics. There were about 60 participants in total, including attendees from business, government, academia and the private sector, as well as related exchange partners, came online to listen and exchange ideas.

 In this seminar, we discussed how Japan’s experience and achievements in prior development should be utilized by the emerging industrial clusters in East Asia, which have entered a new stage of development under the framework of the RCEP. It was noted that the  industrial development of Japan has entered a mature phase and has domestic market that has been shrinking due to the declining birthrate and aging population. This factor can take advantage of the dynamism of sustained growth in neighboring East Asia. The panelists shared their knowledge on how to absorb the new business model and how to shift to a profit co-creation business model based on cooperation between local regions and private capital. This entailed a particular focus on the creation of international cooperation promotion schemes in the fields of medical health and welfare and environmental business.

 In the morning session, under the theme of “Exploring International Strategic Alliances Post-Corona”, Prof. Taiyan HUANG, Director of the Research Center of China’s Private Enterprises, Renmin University of China; Prof. LIU Hong, Dean of the Nanyang Center for Public Administration, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Prof. Ku-ho Lin, Vice Dean of college of Management, National Chung Hsing University; Mr. Hao YAN, Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Representative Director of EPS Holdings, Inc. ; and Prof. Kazunari KUDO, Dean of the Kita-Kyushu Business School(K2BS), gave presentations.

 In the afternoon session, under the theme of “Rebuilding East Asian Environmental Business Cooperation Schemes”, Dr. Daniel M. Cheng, Managing Director of Dunwell Technology(Holdings) Ltd., President of Hong Kong Environmental Industry Association; Ms. JIN Duo, Representative of Grandblue Environmental Co., Ltd. ; Jason CHOI, Director of GD-HK-Macau Greater Bay Area, Sunwah Group; Benjamin Yau, Chief Representative of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) in Japan; Dr. Yaoping LIU, Dean of Institute of Science Innovation and Culture, Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, Thailand; and Mr. Toshikazu MATSUOKA, Director of the Kitakyushu Environment Museum, gave presentations.

 During the panel discussions in each session, moderators and panelists discussed issues related to health and welfare systems and policies in different Countries and regions.  Specific measures for cooperation in this field within East Asia; as well as the promotion of business-based environmental cooperation with Kitakyushu as an environmental model city; the role of local governments in this cooperation were added. They also exchanged opinions on the difficulties and challenges in promoting cross-border environmental business; the obstacles faced by the Greater Bay Area, which straddles Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, in promoting environmental business under the “one country, two systems” policy, as well as efforts to overcome difficulties. Finally, on behalf of the organizers, Prof. Xiaoping WANG, Director of CCBS, concluded the seminar with a comprehensive summary.