Research Academy Chengdu, University of International Business and Economics

1 Overview

Research Academy Chengdu (RAC) was established jointly by the city of Chengdu and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in July 2019, based on the principle of “to achieve mutual benefit via complementary advantages and cooperation, to enhance common development by interaction between higher education institutes and local economy and society”. Building upon an international platform, RAC aims to become an innovative model for the joint development of international and domestic first-class schools, universities, enterprises and local society. As an innovative comprehensive platform, the work of RAC is grounded in the expertise of scientific research, education, international exchanges, commercialization of research findings and industrial cooperation. The legal representative and executive dean of RAC is Dr. Feng Xiaohu, who is also a professor and doctoral supervisor at UIBE and external doctoral supervisor at Humboldt University of Berlin. RAC combines advantages of UIBE’s superior international resources and discipline cluster with the development strategy of Chengdu, which aims to be one of the leading areas of China. Besides, RAC offers a wide range of support to the research community, including multi-level talent training, research in process of the Belt and Road Initiative and integration between industry and education in clean energy. Serving as a governmental think tank, RAC provides a full range of consulting services to governments at all levels in Chengdu and in Sichuan Province.

2 Education

The Center for Continuing Education and Training Research (CET) is a sub-sector of RAC and offers courses for part-time graduate students in four majors including finance, big date research, international law and business English in partnership with School of Law, School of English and School of Statistics of UIBE. At the same time, RAC has a tight collaboration with local administrations of Chengdu, with Sichuan Province and Southwestern China in talent and officer leadership training in order to assist them to achieve a high-level development under the new situation of changes and challenges in the 21st century. So far, RAC has successfully carried out the Leader Training Program for Chengdu Bureau of Commerce, Chengdu Exhibition Bureau and Program for a variety of administrations, including Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the success of these programs has helped relevant governmental departments gain a group of outstanding talents.

3 Scientific Research

Research at RAC is diverse and covers many aspects. Across the spectrum, the primary mission of RAC is to assist UIBE, the City of Chengdu and southwestern China to keep up with new theories of development, to seize new opportunities and to transform research findings under the current economic situation by using a global perspective of thinking. RAC aims at the integration of industrial development, local economic society, education and the real benefit of people’s livelihood.

The Center for the Belt and Road Initiative/BRICS/RCEP Research of RAC has Professor Zhao Zhongxiu as director, who’s a leading researcher in national key discipline of international trade, leader of the national teaching team in international trade, chairman of the Beijing Humboldt Forum, and the president of Shandong University of Finance and Economics. Together with a large number of well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad, the center has successfully conducted researches and organised seminars on topics such as economic belt in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, regional economic partnerships, economic cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea, the multilateral trading system, and practical economic and trade cooperation between the BRICS countries. Besides, the center is at the forefront of expanding the path of regional economic integration, promoting trade liberalization and exploring the practical significances and guiding role of policies for the potential economic effects of the country in researches on the Belt and Road Initiative, BRICS, the China-Japan-Korea relations and RCEP. The center is striving to explore the path and to conduct researches with the purpose to help upgrade domestic industries, enhance market competitiveness and promote regional economic integration.

The director of the Center for Clean Energy Research is Professor Andreas Löschel from the University of Bochum, Germany. He is also an Academician of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and Chairman of the Expert Commission of the German Government to monitor the energy transformation. Professor Löschel is responsible for organizing well-known experts and scholars worldwide to do research on clean energy, which covers various aspects like exploring path for “Emission Peak and Carbon Neutrality” under the guidance of national carbon policy, focusing on key issues of sustainable development, finding integrated solutions via systematic thinking, international cooperation and knowledge sharing, building new sustainable development models of cities and traditional large-scale enterprises to help Chinese cities deal with climate change.

“Promoting the Opening-up Policy” is a clear direction for China to implement the “Western Region Development Strategy” in the new era. From the very beginning of its establishment, RAC undertakes the research work of the governmental project of Tianfu New Area with the theme “Bravely undertake the national mission and build an inland open gateway”. It consists of theoretical supporting research, international comparative research, establishment of a sound indicator system with first, second, third level for inland cities, setting phased goals for 2022, 2025 and 2035, establishment of a sound policy supporting system and releasing policy dividends, etc. At the same time, RAC aims to assist Chengdu to develop steadily in economy and to increase its ability in opening-up to the world, helping Chengdu in achieving the goal of “bringing in and going out” by strengthening international cooperation.

Under the current situation of digital economy development in China and abroad, RAC is dedicated to the continuous research of digital economy theory and practice. In October 2021, Dr. Yang Jun was invited by RAC to visit Tianfu New Area. He is a professor at UIBE, the Director of the Digital Economy Laboratory, and also Chinese Director of the Center for Economic and Trade Policy Analysis (CETPA), which is affiliated to UIBE and the Centre of Policy Studies in Australia (CoPS). Professor Yang shared the latest progress in the construction of the digital economy laboratory and his latest academic research on digital economy. Moreover, he discussed the possibility of jointly establishing a “Center for Digital Economy Research” with the Bureau of New Economy of Tianfu New Area, aiming of apply into the latest research findings to the economic development of Tianfu New Area as soon as possible.

4 International Academic Activities

RAC works closely with institutions, experts and scholars from all over the world to jointly organize international conferences and seminars. “Beijing Humboldt Forum-Chengdu Sub-Forum” has been held twice before the pandemic. Besides, RAC constantly works on international exchanges and cooperation and maintains close relations with countries and regions including Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and the United States. It has built a “RAC-UIBE International Scholar Think Tank” consisting of more than 100 international experts and scholars, such as Professor Andreas Löschel, Academician of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech); Dr. Gerald Reisinger, President at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria; Professor Dr. Hans van Ess, Vice-President of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Professor Achim Wambach, President of the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research-ZEW and Dr. Mario Holzner, Executive Director of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies(wiiw), which has created a vibrant and international academic environment for the Institute.

In May 2021, RAC has successfully held a seminar on “New Trends in Sino-European Relations and Construction of China’s External Discourse” after “Video Summit of Leaders from China, France, Germany” in April. The seminar focused on Sino-European relations in a new era and RAC has invited a large number of experts and scholars from well-known universities and scientific research institutions at home and abroad including the Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai International Studies University, Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Nanjing Normal University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, etc.

In September 2021, RAC was invited to the “16th EU-China Business & Technology Cooperation Fair”, and gave a keynote speech on “Green Transformation of EU SMEs–Business Environment in Southwest China”. During this large international convention, RAC has contributed to and benefited from a lot of in-depth exchanges about academic issues, jointly analyzed China-EU relations and business environment and actively participated in the discussion about paths of sustainable economic growth between China and Europe.

With the help from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, RAC has set up a secretariat of “Beijing Humboldt Forum-Chengdu Sub-Forum”, which has a focus on international issues and organization of academic seminars. In September 2021, under the framework of “Beijing Humboldt Forum-Chengdu Sub-Forum”, RAC has invited well-known scholars from China and abroad to a series of seminars discussing “New Patterns of Energy and Low-Carbon Economy under China’s Dual-Carbon Goal”. Scholars and experts at the conference gave respective speeches, which includes Li Yang, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Zhang Xiliang, Executive Director of the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University; Tu Jianjun, Senior Advisor at Forum of Agora Energy Transition (Agora Energiewende) in Germany/Guest Researcher of the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University; Andreas Löschel, Academician of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)/Chief Professor at Bochum University, etc.

RAC pays close attention to the international environment and academic topics and actively participates in international academic activities. At the same time, it continuously improves its academic research skills in an open and inclusive international academic environment.

5 Publications

While RAC is dedicated to the transformation of academic research findings, relevant experts and scholars actively published books and articles, including scholarly monographs, conference papers and articles in special issues.

In response to the question “how new issues arising from the digital economy era affect the adjustment of traditional anti-monopoly policies and competition policies”, Dean of RAC, Dr. Feng Xiaohu, who is also Professor at UIBE, Director of the Sino-German Center for Economic, Trade and Culture Studies and Executive Director of the Austria Center of Institute of Regional and International Studies at UIBE, has participated in the production of the book “Uneasy Change: Market Competition and Public Welfare in the Digital Age” and has successfully held a book launch ceremony in the “Academic Conference of Antitrust Guideline for Platform Economy” in December 2020.

On August 4th 2020, Professor Feng Xiaohu and Dr. Ulrich Blum, Professor at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany and former Dean of the Center for Economics of Materials (CEM), published an article with the topic “The World Must Reach a Consensus on the Destiny of Mankind after the Pandemic” in a full-page special issue of Guangming Daily. On March 12th 2021, Professor Feng Xiaohu and Dr. Achim Wambach, Dean of the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Chair Professor at the University of Mannheim, and former Chairman of the German Monopolies Commission, published their exchanges of views on “Opportunities and Challenges for Digital Economy in Post-COVID-19 Era” in a full-page special issue of Guangming Daily with the theme “A Community of Shared Future for Mankind: How Will the Pandemic Change the World”. In this article, they discussed in-depth on issues such as national strategies, benefits and risks of digitization, and competition in the digital economy during COVID-19 pandemic.