Li Renhan, President of Shanghai University Strategic Research Institute, visited Shanghai Academy on April 18. He exchanged ideas with Zhao Kebin, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, on issues like thinktank construction, college education, and academic research.

Attendees of the meeting said, with the fast development of IT technologies and popularization of the Internet, knowledge and information are spread at a faster pace and by more means, and people have more choices in how to receive and process information. In this context, traditional paper media and paper reports face enormous challenges. The dissemination of information via print media is an important channel for thinktanks to submit ideas but owes to delays in transmission. So, thinktanks need to focus on discipline integration and strengthen exchanges and cooperation. Moreover, they need to have a global vision and strategic ways of thinking. They must not only explore reform theories and practice, but also conduct further study on Shanghai-related issues, such as launching big data service platforms, improving the business environment, advancing integration in the Yangtze River Delta, building Shanghai into a highland of artificial intelligence, and revitalizing the countryside. On such a basis, they are expected to develop in-depth reports that are different from the fragmented, perceptual and superficial Internet information, and thus become real thinktanks that influence government decisions and lead public opinions.

Yu Xiaoyu, Vice President and Li Juan, and General Office Director from the Shanghai University Strategic Research Institute, as well as Yang Huijun, Director and Zhang Jun, Deputy Director of the Secretariat of Shanghai Academy, also attended the meeting.

(Article and photos by Xiang Jinmei)