On November 28, 2020, the 20th Summit Forum of Top 100 Chinese Listed Companies was held in Beijing. Shen Hanyao, Chairman of the Summit Forum of Top 100 Chinese Listed Companies and President of Walton Institute of Economic Research, delivered a keynote speech titled "Embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Pushing China's Economy to the Forefront of the World" at the forum.

The following is the full text of the speech.

Honorable Chairman Zheng Xinli and Chairman Ji Xiaonan, leaders of the Top 100 companies and Top 100 cities, distinguished guests and friends, good afternoon!

First of all, on behalf of the Bureau of the Forum and the organizers of the Forum - the Organizing Committee of China Top 100 Forum and Walton Institute of Economic Research, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come to this year's Summit Forum of China's Top 100 Listed Companies and Forum on Comprehensive Development of China's Top 100 Cities in the midst of the epidemic. The China Top 100 Listed Companies Summit Forum was founded by Walton Institute of Economic Research in 2001, and this year coincides with the 20th consecutive year of the Forum. Starting from 2015, we have launched the China Top 100 Cities Comprehensive Development Forum to realize the linkage development of the top 100 companies and top 100 cities.Over the past 20 years, the Top 100 Forum has gathered the top managers of China's top 100 listed companies, experts, scholars and top government officials in China's economic sector, and has grown into a platform for in-depth and high-end discussions centering on China's economic development, enjoying a certain reputation and influence both at home and abroad. It enjoys a certain reputation and influence at home and abroad.

The theme of my speech today is "Embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Pushing China's Economy to the Forefront of the World". Now we are talking about the world is experiencing a great change that has not been seen in a hundred years, in this great change, I personally believe that the fundamental, strategic and core influence is the fourth industrial revolution, which is also known as the scientific and technological revolution.

Looking back at history, human development has experienced three major developments from the first industry to the second industry to the third industry, corresponding to three major industrial revolutions and three major transformations and upgrades. The first industrial revolution was the agricultural revolution, which gave birth to the four major agricultural civilizations relying on big rivers. The second industrial revolution is the commercial revolution, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries relying on international trade, international shipping logistics, has grown into the world economic center. At the time of the first agricultural civilization the world was divided and fragmented, without forming a unified world. When Italy's voyage to the world into one after the commercial revolution, so the first world center is Italy, then Spain, and finally the Netherlands, while the financial industry for commercial services was born, such as the world's first bank was born in Italy, the first stock exchange in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, so the second industrial revolution, I think it is the commercial revolution. The third industrial revolution was the industrial revolution. Relying on the steam engine and textile machine, Britain became the empire of the sunset and the first economic center of the industrial world. Since then, the United States has become the economic center of today's world by relying on modern industries such as automobiles, electronics, and heavy chemical industries, which were the first three industrial revolutions.

In 1971, the world for the first time appeared a term called "Silicon Valley", from the emergence of Silicon Valley to the present 50 years, half a century has passed. Today, the world is witnessing the fourth industrial revolution, which is comparable to the first three industrial revolutions, and this is the scientific and technological revolution. Now some people say that today's world is the Information Age and the Intelligent Age, some say that it is the Age of Life, and some say that it is the Age of New Energy. All of these statements are right from a certain point of view, and all of them reveal the characteristics of today's era in one way or another. If we want to comprehensively and profoundly reveal the essential characteristics of today's era, we should call it the scientific and technological revolution and the era of science and technology. It is relying on the Silicon Valley's technological revolution, the U.S. economy from an industrial leader, industry-led world economic center transition to science and technology, science and technology research and development as the leader of the new world economic center. If California, where Silicon Valley is located, is counted as a separate economy, it is the world's fifth largest economy, after the United States, China, Japan and Germany. The great impact and power of this industrial revolution is thus evident. Therefore, I suggest that we should seize the opportunity of the technological and industrial revolution and embrace the fourth industrial revolution, so that China's economy can also come to the forefront of the world.

What exactly are the major impacts of this industrial revolution? I would like to briefly talk about two aspects. First, R&D in science and technology is an industry that nurtures and manufactures new technologies, products and industries. It is the mother industry, which will create a series of "offspring industries", such as new secondary industries like cell phone manufacturing and computer production, as well as new tertiary industries like the Internet, e-commerce and science and technology finance, all of which are hard economies that can generate GDP and tax revenue. tax revenue. On the other hand, after the science and technology R&D industry becomes an industry on its own, it will affect the existing industrial structure, and science and technology and some other soft economy industries will combine together to form the fourth industry. The fourth industry mainly consists of science and technology R&D and its "sibling industries", such as science and technology, education, culture, health, etc., which together constitute the fourth industry. The fourth industry is the dominant direction leading the development of today's world. Whoever grasps this direction, whoever grasps this industry, and whoever occupies the forefront of this industry, occupies the forefront of the world, and whoever occupies the center of the world, this is the law of the history of the four industrial revolutions. Therefore, we say that we should embrace the fourth industrial revolution in this era.

How to embrace the fourth industrial revolution? We here are mainly representatives of the top 100 companies and top 100 cities. Our top 100 companies should embrace the fourth industry, focusing on science and technology research and development, as well as the descendant industries it creates, new technologies and new industries. If the new industries have market prospects and are strategic, then these offspring industries can be developed into strategic emerging industries, or even leading and pillar industries, resulting in a fundamental transformation of the entire economic structure. We are here are listed companies, more can use the power of capital, first do some high-tech, scientific and technological achievements of the transformation, industrialization, they grow, through the capital market IPO direct listing, or listed companies directly acquired, mergers and acquisitions restructuring of the new industry. On the other hand, when the listed company makes the new industry bigger, it can in turn privatize it or spin it off and list it independently. Therefore, it is necessary to make full use of the capital market to cultivate small and emerging enterprises to grow bigger and become listed companies. After the listed company grows big enough, it will be independent and spun off for listing, so as to promote the rapid growth of the whole high-tech industrialization with the help of the power of the capital market.

How do we top 100 cities embrace the fourth industry? The fourth industry is science and innovation plus science and technology, education, culture, health care and other industries, which are mainly public economy, and we classify it as soft economy. In the selection index of the top 100 cities, the soft economy index is these four items, science and education, culture, health and ecological environment, accounting for 38.2%. In addition, the hard economy accounts for 61.8%. Therefore, our top 100 cities should also embrace the fourth industry, with science and technology research and development as the core, vigorously develop its children and grandchildren's industries, but also focus on the development of its sibling industries, and develop the city's science, education, culture, and health, to satisfy the needs of the people's all-around development, to meet the needs of the people in pursuit of the highest quality of life, and to put people at the center of all-around development; that's why we call our forum of the top 100 cities the All-around Development Forum.

In addition, we also need to correctly sort out the relationship between the four industries, in general, the primary industry as the foundation, the secondary industry as the main body, the tertiary industry as the support, the tertiary industry as the dominant, and the focus of the overall coordination and development of the four industries. Next, how do we connect with the world's frontiers, how do we embrace the fourth industrial revolution and move towards the world's frontiers? We can adopt the strategy of "comparing goods with goods", suggesting the use of a competitive mechanism to gather global scientific and technological achievements. This year, we held the first Global Top 100 Science and Innovation Competition, through which we have gathered a number of cutting-edge achievements in the world, some of which are the world's only and most advanced technological projects, and several of which have industrialization prospects of hundreds of billions of dollars. We are here today to launch the second Global Top 100 Science and Innovation Competition. The first Global Science and Innovation Competition was mainly funded by the city of Wuxi, and Wuxi is still participating in this year's competition, but in the future, it will be mainly participated by the top 100 companies and top 100 funds. Now the main participants of the second competition include Joyo Group, Three Gorges Capital, He Yuan Capital, etc. We also welcome the top 100 companies and cities to participate in this event. The scientific research results of our top 100 companies will also participate in the competition, and the capital of our top 100 companies will also participate in the investment, so that through the Science and Technology Innovation Competition, we can gather the world's top cutting-edge science and technology resources and combine them with the capital of China's top 100 companies and the fertile land of China's top 100 cities, so that the global scientific and technological achievements can take root, blossom, and bear fruits in China, and in this way, we can push China's economy to the frontiers of the world, first synchronize with the world, and then lead the world's development, and go to the forefront of the world. The development of the world, to the forefront of the world.

Over the past 20 years, the success of the Top 100 Forum could not have been possible without the care and support of old and new friends. We hope that in the next ten or twenty years, the Top 100 Forum will grow together with all of you! I also wish all the guests good health and all the best!

(Organized by the Walton Economic Institute based on the recording of Shen Hanyao's speech)