SAIF MF 2020 International Young Leadership Finance Summit came to a successful conclusion

2020-02-25

On January 14th, 2020 International Youth Leadership Finance Summit (IYLFS), hosted by the SAIF MF Program, was successfully concluded in Shanghai.

This year, the International Youth Leadership Finance Summit (IYLFS) was centered at the current theme of "Innovation and Finance in the Sci-Tech Era", which attracted more than 2,000 registrations from students from all over the world. Eventually, the Organizing Committee invited nearly 120 participants from 27 top-notch institutions, including Stanford University, Columbia University, Cambridge University, London School of Economics, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University, to formed 22 teams for intense competition.

During the four-day event from January 11th to January 14th, leaders from academia and industry alike gathered with distinguished international youths and conducted in-depth discussions on how enterprises can be empowered by innovation and finance in the era of science and technology innovations.

The Summit kept up with the market trends and after plenty of discussions with top-class experts in both academia and industry, “Innovation and Finance in the Sci-Tech Era" was decided as this year’s theme, which covers six research domains, namely Artificial Intelligence, Biomedicine, High-end Manufacturing, Internet, New Energy and Consumption/Logistics. IYLFS is also committed to continuous refinement and innovation regarding the competition system year over year. 2020 IYLFS added the exciting session of two-to-two debates. With the tension of random position selection on the spot, the diverse perspectives, the witty attack and defense of the participants and the griping count of votes all became the highlights and fun of the event.

Let’s look back some amazing moments occurred during 2020 IYLFS.

Participants Welcoming Ceremony

At the Welcoming Ceremony held on the evening of January 11th, Ms. Lin Yang, Head of SAIF MF Program, extended a sincere welcome to all contestants. She pointed out that over the past seven years, the Summit has never stopped the pace of innovation. Innovation is never a slogan for SAIF MF, which focuses on innovation, but also infuse it into practices. In terms of content, before the event, the Summit had plenty of discussions with top-class experts in both academia and industry to ensure the final theme is in line with the latest market trends, represents practical value and benefits the academic community as well. Regarding format, it is determined to innovate, optimize and improve the agenda and arrangement year over year, by exploring new sessions. Organizationally, the Summit pays close attention to every detail to ensure that every participant will enjoy the experience of engaging in a world-class competition.

Opening Ceremony

When the competition kicked off on January 12th, Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean and Professor of Finance at SAIF, delivered an opening address for the Summit. Focusing on the theme of this year's IYLFS, he uniquely interpreted the current status and trends of corporate finance and innovation in the era of science and technology and told SAIF’s story of growth and innovation over the past decade. Prof. Chang mentioned that financial innovation is crucial to China’s innovation and development. On the one hand, from PE and VC to STAR Market, we need to explore a long-term model to facilitate those true innovators. On the other hand, we also need to drive the globalization of Chinese companies. When the market is deregulating foreign investments, in the future, it will become more important to learn about international financial business models.

Following Prof. Chang, Prof. Zhan Jiang, Faculty Director of SAIF MF Program and Professor at SAIF, reviewed the history and future of SAIF Master of Finance Program, also the organizer of IYLFS, along with to the participants and guests. Kicking off with the question “what is future?”, Prof. Jiang explained SAIF's mission of "Fostering the Future of Finance" and introduced how SAIF MF Program has quickly built up its advantages in a decade and topped Asia's financial education community.

This year’s Summit is honored to greet Ms. Lydia (Bingnan) Liu, Managing Director of Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited, as the keynote speaker, who delivered a keynote speech entitled "FinTech Disruption in Asia".

Ms. Lydia Liu first introduced her professional experience and the global trends of FinTech. After that, she started talking about the Asian market's position in fintech competition and analyzed the technological innovations of different financial companies in the Chinese market in detail. She pointed out that China has a great leading edge in the direction of Internet finance. Whether it is the giant population or the convenience of mobile communications, it provides a rich hotbed for the combination of the Internet and finance. Finally, Ms. Liu encouraged the young students present to keep learning at all times and make innovation the core competency in their career paths.

The Jury

The jury of the competition was comprised of SAIF faculty members and expert guests, including Prof. Zhan Jiang, Faculty Director of SAIF MF Program and Professor of Finance; Prof. Jie Hu, Professor of Practice at SAIF; Prof. Xin Chen, Professor of Accounting; Jinlu Guo, Chief Investment Officer of ICBC AXA Life Insurance; Xianghui Li, President of Canyon Capital China; Zhongyu Zhang, Partner of Lantern Capital; Yanhua Yang, Chairman of PEMA PLUS; and Yeliang Zhang, Investment Director of Canyon Capital, who professionally commented and rated the performance of each team.

The judges highly recognized the participants for their professionalism and maturity, which was extremely impressive. The students in the audience also cherished this opportunity to communicate with top-class professors and industry leaders. They actively grasped every chance of Q&A and were eager to exchange opinions with the judges.

Prof. Zhan Jiang                            Prof. Xin Chen
Prof. Jie Hu                                    Mr. Jinlu Guo   

Ms. Zhongyu Zhang                                     Mr. Jinlu Guo              
Mr.Yanhua Yang                                            Mr. Yeliang Zhang       

The Competition

At the final, all participating teams successfully completed their highly specialized case presentation in English and the judges provided each team with targeted comments and advices.

After the presentation session, the teams studying the same target company drew lots to decide whether to invest or not and engage in two-to-two debates. 45 public judges from 20 universities around the world voted for the contestants' performance. The witty responses demonstrated the wisdom of the participants, while full of tension and excitement, the live voting also maximized the fun and interest of the audience.

In the end, the team named "Gone with the Holidays" from Shanghai Jiao Tong University won the first prize of the Summit. The team from the Western University, the team from McGill University and a united team consisting of students from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Nanyang Technological University, Tsinghua University in Taiwan and the Chinese University of Hong Kong grabbed the second prizes. Three other teams from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, King ’s College London, Xi'an Jiao Tong University and two from Peking Universities harvested the third prizes.

Panel Discussion

After the intense competition, on the afternoon of January 14th, Prof. Zhan Jiang mediated a panel discussion among Ms. Zhongyu Zhang, Mr. Yanhua Yang and Ms. Lin Yang, Head of SAIF MF Program about the market changes in the Sci-Tech era, how businesses should transform via finance and innovation and what are the considerations young students should take account in when outlooking their future careers. The conversation between SAIF professors and industry experts in a rapturous way revealed a higher level of connotation and extension of the topics covered at this Summit.

Closing Ceremony

At the closing ceremony of the Summit, Mr. Zhen Lin, Chairman of Zhuyuan Capital Management Co., Ltd. and SAIF alumnus, came to the scene as a special guest. In 2019, Mr. Lin generously donated RMB10 million to SAIF and set up Zhen Zhen SAIF Master of Finance (MF) Scholarship Fund. At the Summit, Mr. Lin shared his original intention of setting up a scholarship, extended his hopes for young students and welcomed outstanding students from all over the world to come to SAIF for study.

Finally, Mr. Jie Pan Deputy Dean of SAIF, made a closing address for the Summit representing SAIF leadership. He noted that Shanghai was once the International Economic Center, the International Financial Center, the International Trade Center and the International Shipping Center, and today, it is also the Sci-Tech Center. Mr. Pan hoped that IYLFS is only the starting point for the connection between all young students and SAIF. He also invited every participant to visit Shanghai and SAIF again in the future.

Farewell Dinner

On the evening of January 14th, the 4-day Summit came to an end. All the participants came to the Bund to attend the farewell dinner carefully prepared by the organizer. At the dinner, many participants stepped onto the stage and showed their talents through singing and dancing. International students from Stanford University, McGill University, University of Weston, University of Alberta and King's College London met in Shanghai through the competition, which helped shape their friendship. They jointly prepared the cup dance performance of "When I'm Gone", expressed their gratitude to the organizer with original lyrics and extended the wishes for continued friendship.

The participants from different cities around the world lamented that this visit to the Summit was a worthwhile trip. They had the opportunities to discuss and exchange with world-class professors and business leaders in both academia and industry, practice financial expertise around the current market topics, make friends with like-minded peers and nurture friendships across borders and cultures.

2020 International Youth Leadership Finance Summit is over, though every valuable and memorable moment harvested here will be treasured forever.

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