On May22nd 2015, “University • Technology • Innovation” Fudan Development Forum 2015 organizedby FDDI was successfully held in the Students’ Plaza in Guanghua Building inFudan University. The forum was hosted by Yang Yuliang, the president of FDDI. Theguests invited included David Willetts, the former Minister for Universitiesand Science in UK, Joanna Newman, the Vice Principal of King’s CollegeLondon, Carl Amrhein, the Distinguished Research Chair of the Conference Boardof Canada, and Jin Li, the vice president of Fudan University and the academicianof Chinese Academy of Sciences. Focused on the theme of “university, technologyand innovation”, the panelists made excellent speeches and discussions.

In the beginning,the president of FDDI, academician Yang Yuliang welcomed the guests. With thetheme of the forum, Yang Yuliang pointed out that our era was confronted withlots of challenges and opportunities. The mission of Universities is to respondto the call of the times with the power of science, technology and innovation.

InProfessor Carl Amrhein’s speech, he discussed how to balance the relationbetween universities and enterprises on the topic of scientific research andcommercial transformation. He also elaborated on some problems thatuniversities should think and solve during the process of technology transferand commercialization.

AcademicianJin Li mainly introduced a relatively matured way of promoting science,technology and innovation explored by Shanghai and Fudan University during hisspeech. He also pointed out that universities are supposed to contribute theirpower and wisdom to science, technology and innovation based on the era ofChina’s social transformation.

ProfessorJoanna Newman elaborated on the relation between universities’internationalization and innovation incentives based on the development historyand managerial experience of King’s College London.

TheRight Honorable David Willetts emphasized that scientific innovation ofuniversities must leap over the obstacles such as finance. Universities willplay a more and more important role in social innovation and social change asthe “incubator” of innovation and frontier technology.

At theend of the forum, the audiences had an active interaction with the speakersthrough some deep discussions around the Forum’s theme.

FudanDevelopment Forum, hosted by FDDI, was founded in 2011, and has been heldsuccessfully for four times. As an important measure of exploring theconstruction of new think tank by Fudan University, forums such as FudanDevelopment Forum and Shanghai Forum are going to create high-end platforms forfamous experts and scholars both domestic and overseas. The forums will also insistentlyexplore deep research on strategic issues of China’s development and reformtactic.