On November 30, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and Ant Financial held a university-enterprise strategic cooperation framework agreement signing ceremony at Antai College of Economics and Management (ACEM). Jiang Sixian, Secretary of the CPC of SJTU, and Eric Jing, Chairman and CEO of Ant Financial, attended the signing ceremony and delivered speeches. Gu Feng, Deputy Secretary of the CPC of SJTU, and Rui Xiongwen, Vice President of Ant Financial, signed the agreement on behalf of the two sides. The ceremony was chaired by Wu Jiannan, Head of Division for Development of Liberal Arts and Director of the Think Tank Center.

Jiang Sixian delivered a speech on behalf of SJTU. He said that Ant Financial has been committed to building an open and shared credit system and financial service platform through technological innovation to provide safe, convenient and beneficial financial services to consumers and small and micro enterprises in China and around the world and has now become a benchmark for the sound and standardized operation of the online financial industry in China and even the whole world. Based on the previous cooperation between the two parties, Jiang mentioned three hopes for their comprehensive strategic cooperation in the future. First, jointly develop a new model of university-enterprise cooperation. Meet the needs of the national economy and society and the development of FinTech industry, establish a system of mutual training of talents, cultivate innovative talents, and provide support for Shanghai’s development into an international financial center. Second, jointly set a new benchmark for industry development. Address the concerns of industrial transformation and upgrading driven by technological innovation together, undertake the mission of promoting industrial development, and pay attention to the frontier fields related to FinTech to carry out in-depth cooperation. And third, jointly build a new platform for integration and win-win cooperation. Rely on their own advantageous resources, achieve resource sharing, complementation, mutual support, and common growth through strategic cooperation, establish mechanism of cooperative research and joint talents training for the FinTech industry, and achieve mutual benefit and deep integration.

Eric Jing made remarks on behalf of Ant Financial. He said that the development of a first-class enterprise couldn’t be separated from the support of a first-class university, and the development of a first-class university also required the cooperation of a first-class enterprise. In recent years, the two sides have carried out forward-looking cooperative research on the sound development of Internet finance, payment security, and the development of new finance and new technologies, providing important support for the Group’s development. The industry-university-research cooperation between the two sides that covers talent cultivation and technological innovation and application has profound implications for building Shanghai into an international finance center and a science and technology innovation center. The global Tech for Inclusion Program to be carried out in the future will help developing countries gain the opportunity of utilizing technology to acquire benefits and sustainable development, which is of great significance to the sound development of global economy.

Through the interdisciplinary study between arts and sciences, SJTU has in recent years integrated a number of research institutions and platforms, journals, scholars, and scientists in the FinTech field from like ACEM, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Koguan School of Law, and the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering (SEIEE), and conducted proactive research and forward-looking exploration in the relative cross-disciplinary fields. According to the strategic cooperation agreement, SJTU and Ant Financial will undertake joint researches in financial technology (including mobile payment, consumer credit, intelligent technology and other sub-sectors), digital financial supervision and legislation (the legal issues concerning financial technology, online payment, data governance, and artificial intelligence, etc. under the new situation), regulation technology (sandbox experiments and integration of blockchain services, etc.) and other areas. At the same time, the two sides will actively promote university-enterprise joint talent cultivation in various forms such as joint education and curriculum design, jointly building a system of mutual talent training to develop leading talents for Shanghai’s construction into a science and technology innovation center and an international financial center.

During the preparation of this strategic cooperation framework agreement, Dean Chen Fangruo, Secretary of College CPC Committee Yang Jie and Associate Dean Liu Shaoxuan of ACEM have exchanged visits and exchanges with Eric Jing for many times. In order to implement the strategic cooperation agreement between SJTU and Ant Financial, ACEM will carry out in-depth cooperation with Ant Financial in industry research, talent training and brand campaigns. The two sides have already started to work together in many affairs including the joint admission and curriculum design of the 10*1000 Tech for Inclusion Program, the establishment of the Financial Technology direction in the ACEM MBA and MF programs, and co-hosting of the global FinTech meeting "Inclusion - The Bund Conference", etc. In addition, Eric Jing will soon serve as a member of the Advisory Committee of ACEM.

Nie Zhengjun, Chief Data Privacy Officer of Ant Financial, Li Zhenhua, Executive Dean of the Ant Financial Research Institute, He Jianying, Director of the Technology Strategy Development Department, Song Chong, Director of Security Ecology Development and Operation, Luo Shaowen, CEO Assistant, Cheng Zhiwen, Research Director of the Research Institute, Chen Fangruo, Dean of ACEM, Yang Jie, Secretary of College CPC Committee, Zhu Qigui, Secretary of the CPC SAIF Committee, Wang Houji, Party Secretary of Koguan School of Law, Gu Dawu, Dean of School of Cyber Security, SEIEE, Xie Zhitao, Associate Head of Division for Development of Liberal Arts and Executive Deputy Director of the Think Tank Center, Liu Shaoxuan, Associate Dean of ACEM, and other relevant department and office heads attended the signing ceremony.