“I have known Li Zexiang, Gao Wen and Shen Xiangyang since the early years. Now, they’ve all returned to China, and they all came to Shenzhen!” Xu Yangsheng, president of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said in high spirits in an interview with Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Sunday.
Xu, and the other three heavyweights he mentioned, had quite a past together though each has obtained their own accomplishments in different life stages.
Xu recalled that he and Shen met at an international conference in the 1990s. Xu was still working as a professor at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University at that time, but because of their same research field, he recommended Shen to study for his doctorate at the school.
Xu also recommended Gao to be a visiting scholar at the university. In 1979, Li was a government-sponsored student to the United States and studied as an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University.
Xu exclaimed, “The four of us were not Shenzheners, but we all like Shenzhen!”
Xu told the Daily that Shenzhen has three characteristics that attract them most — the city’s openness and inclusiveness as a migrant city, its passion and vitality as a young city and its innovation atmosphere, as well as its well-functioning marketization, legalization and internationalization mechanisms.
“These three features are very important not only for economic development, but also in the field of scientific research. This is Shenzhen’s eternal appeal,” Xu said.
“Twenty years ago, what we wanted to do, even what we didn’t expect, has become a reality today,” said Li, who won the title of innovation and entrepreneurship figure and advanced model figure for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in 2020.
In 1999, Li came to Shenzhen and founded Googol Technology and has helped incubate some well-known technology companies such as DJI.
Li once closely observed the Silicon Valley in the U.S. to get a glimpse of the innovation secrets behind high-tech companies. And, where is the next world-class Silicon Valley most likely to appear? Li believes that it is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
According to Li, Shenzhen probably has the most complete, responsive and cost-effective supply chain ecosystem in the world, attracting entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley to come to Shenzhen for product upgrades.
Xu returned to China to teach at The Chinese University of Hong Kong after Hong Kong’s return to the motherland in 1997. In 2013, Xu came to Shenzhen and served as the founding president of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.
Xu said the GBA is bound to move toward greater integration and development. In the next 20 years, Shenzhen will become a global international talent center, innovation and technology center, and fintech center, playing an increasingly important “leadership” role in the GBA.
“We need first-class international research universities to cultivate leaders for the GBA. Such schools are most likely to appear in Shenzhen,” Xu said.
In March 2018, Gao came to Shenzhen and became the director of Pengcheng Laboratory.
“Since the beginning of my scientific research career, I have invested the most efforts in Pengcheng Laboratory,” Gao said.
Toward the goal of building China into an innovation-driven country, Gao said they will try their best to build the laboratory into a world-class strategic scientific and technological force.
“The responsibility of Pengcheng Laboratory is to solve some problems, gain some experience and form a core team. I firmly believe that this can be achieved,” Gao said.
Shen came to Shenzhen at the end of 2020 and served as the director-general of the International Digital Economy Academy (IDEA).
According to Shen, both Shenzhen and IDEA have a DNA for entrepreneurship. With the strong support of the government and the in-depth participation of enterprises, he hopes that IDEA can create an innovation loop and cultivate a large number of excellent scientific research and industrial talents for the society.
Shen said when he went to the U.S. for the first time to attend an academic conference in 1990, Xu and Li were the only Chinese people he met there. In 1993, when he was taking up his doctorate at Carnegie Mellon University, Gao was the first visiting scholar from the Chinese mainland he received.
“Now we four are all in Shenzhen,” Shen said with great emotion. Shen believes Shenzhen has a good industrial environment and an increasingly sound academic atmosphere that help cultivate great talents in the future.