China and Italy to Start up Cooperation on Digital Silk Road — 中意共创数字丝路合作

On 25th October, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Italy hosted ChinaEU’s roundtable on “the Digital Silk Road, an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Italy and China”. The event was part of the Diplomacy Festival, a week-long of events supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and centered around the role of Rome in the international arena.

10月25日，中欧数字协会主办的“数字丝绸之路——意中加强合作的契机”圆桌会议在中华人民共和国驻意大利大使馆举办。 此次圆桌会议是外交节的一部分。外交节由意大利外交部支持，围绕罗马在国际舞台上的作用这一主题开展为期一周的活动。

Held the day after the conclusion of the 19th Party Congress, the most important historic moment in China’s political calendar which reconfirmed the leadership of President Xi Jinping for a new five-year term, this roundtable was an opportunity for prominent representatives of the Chinese and Italian telecom and Internet industry, the government and the authorities to compare notes on how to increase economic cooperation in the digital sector.

中国共产党第十九次全国代表大会于此次活动前一天闭幕，这是中国政治时间表上最重要的历史性时刻——确定了习近平主席的新一届五年任期。这次圆桌会议也是中意两国电信和互联网行业、政府和有关部门的重要代表就如何加强数字经济合作交换意见的一次难得的机会。

Luigi Gambardella, President of ChinaEU, opened the works stressing the significance of working together to promote new generation networks. He mentioned some statistics that speak alone about the importance of China as a strategic partner for Italy in digital infrastructure upgrade: 930 million 4G users, 330 million fixed-line broadband users, 272 million fiber access users by 2016, and an estimated half billion 5G subscribers by 2023.

中欧数字协会主席鲁乙己在开幕致辞中强调了合作共同推动新一代网络的重要性。 他提到，一系列统计数字表明了中国作为意大利数字基础设施升级的战略合作伙伴的重要性：截止到2016年4G用户已达到9.3亿，固定宽带用户3.3亿，光纤接入用户达到2.72亿，预计到2023年5G用户将达到5亿。

H.E. Li Ruiyu, Chinese Ambassador to Italy, delivering a keynote speech at the ChinaEU Digital Silk Road Roundtable

中国驻意大利大使李瑞宇在中欧数字协会数字丝路圆桌会议上发表主旨演讲

China has clear ambitions and enjoys the privilege of fixing and ultimately meeting long-term goals of five years or even decades, which is what is needed to drive a sustainable industrial policy. The Belt and Road project is an example of these long-term strategies which takes very high priority in China’s agenda to the extent that it has recently gained a reference in the revised Constitution of the country. Ambassador Li Ruiyu, who was present throughout all the discussions, recalled an important message delivered by President Xi Jinping at the May High-Level Belt & Road Forum, when he called countries to strengthen innovation-driven development and digital cooperation to promote digital infrastructure construction, big data, cloud computing, smart city building, and cross-border e-commerce. Ambassador Li concluded his keynote speech citing an old Chinese saying: ‘The wheel of the history will only favor the determined, hard-working and persevering ones, it will not wait for those who hesitate, slack away or are afraid of difficulties’.

中国有明确的目标，并且具备制定和最终实现五年计划甚至几十年的长期目标的优势，这正是可持续工业政策所需要的动力。“一带一路”倡议就是长期战略之一，它在中国的议程中具有非常高的地位。十九大通过决议将推进“一带一路”建设写入党章。参会的李瑞宇大使引用习近平主席在今年五月份“一带一路”国际高峰论坛上的重要讲话，呼吁各国加强创新驱动型发展以及数字合作，从而推动数字基础设施建设、大数据、云计算、智慧城市建设和跨境电子商务。李大使在主旨演讲的最后引用了中国的一句名言：“历史的车轮只会有利于坚定的、勤劳的、坚韧不拔的人，不会等待瞻前顾后，懈怠畏难的人”。

Keynote speaker Deborah Bergamini, Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, speaking at the Roundtable

主旨演讲嘉宾、意大利众议院议员Deborah Bergamini在圆桌会议上发言

A similar call for action was launched by Deborah Bergamini, Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, who acknowledge her frustration to work in a system – the Italian country – which has many opportunities in front of itself, but struggles to timely grasp them.

意大利议员Deborah Bergamini提出了类似的行动呼吁，她坦承了在一个意大利这样一个国家体系里工作的挫败感 – 有很多机会摆在自己面前，但是很难及时把握它们。

China and the digital revolution are two big opportunities that now Italy, and Europe as a whole, are confronted with. The roundtable dedicated two hours analyzing concrete initiatives and practical modalities through which such theoretical opportunities can translate into business results and economic growth for the two countries.

中国和数字革命是现今意大利和整个欧洲面临的两大机遇。这次圆桌会议耗时两个多小时的时间分析讨论了将这些理论机会转化为两国商业成果和经济增长的具体措施和实际模式。

Edward Chan, CEO of Huawei Italy, speaking on Huawei promoting digital cooperation and digital education

华为意大利首席执行官Edward Chan谈华为推动数字合作和数字教育

Edward Chan, CEO of Huawei Italy, listed a series of initiatives the leading telecom vendor launched in the past few years to foster digital cooperation. In 2016, it joined hands with Nokia, Ericsson and the automotive industry to accelerate the development of the infrastructure needed for self-driving cars, working both horizontally and vertically on 5G trials. He stressed the importance of creating partnerships not just with the industry but also with governmental bodies and universities to foster digital education. As part of its efforts to address the e-skills gap existing today, Huawei has initiated a project called ‘Seeds for the future’, an elite ICT training program for young Europeans in the form of a study trip to the company’s Chinese headquarters.

华为意大利首席执行官Edward Chan列举了过去几年来华为这一业界领先的电信供应商为推动数字合作所推出的一系列举措。 2016年，华为与诺基亚、爱立信和汽车行业联手，加快自动驾驶所需基础设施的发展，从横向和纵向两个方向进行5G试点工作。他强调不仅要与业界建立合作关系，还要与政府机构和大学建立伙伴关系，以推动数字教育。为努力解决当今数字技能短缺的问题，华为开展了一项名为“未来种子”的计划，这是一个面向欧洲年轻人的精英ICT培训项目，通过组织对华为公司中国总部的考察的形式进行。

Vincenzo Novari, CEO of Novari Holding, advisor to the Group of Li Ka-Shing speaking of the importance of developing network infrastructure in the uncovered or under-covered areas in the country

Novari Holding首席执行官、李嘉诚集团顾问 Vincenzo Novari先生谈网络未覆盖或覆盖不足地区发展网络基础设施的重要性

Vincenzo Novari, former CEO of Tre Italia and currently advisor to the Group of Li Ka-Shing and other Chinese funds in his current capacity of CEO of Novari Holding, spoke of the importance of developing network infrastructure in the uncovered or under-covered areas in the country, to make sure that all SMEs can fully participate in the digital revolution. He also praised China for its fast execution time, versus a country like Italy where too much time is spent on talk instead of action.

Vincenzo Novari，Tre Italia前首席执行官，现任李嘉诚集团顾问及Novari Holding首席执行官，谈到了在网络未覆盖或覆盖不足地区发展网络基础设施的重要性，以确保所有中小企业能够全面参与数字革命。他还称赞中国的执行速度快，相较之下意大利这样的国家则花费太多的时间在讲话而不是采取行动。

Infrastructure is arguably the backbone of an economy, as well as the enabler of a long list of innovative services and applications that run on its networks: IoT solutions like smart home and connected cars, e-commerce, e-health, big data and AI, industry 4.0, robotics, etc. Such services are also what create the demand for infrastructure upgrade. So, the two go in tandem.

基础设施可以说是一个经济体的中坚力量，同时也是在其网络上运行的一系列创新服务和应用的推动者：物联网解决方案，如智能家居和互联汽车、电子商务、电子医疗、大数据和人工智能、工业4.0、机器人等。这些服务也是带来基础设施升级需求的原因。 所以，两者应该并肩前进。

Claudia Vernotti, Director of ChinaEU, introducing the second panel discussion

中欧数字协会主任韦茉莉介绍第二轮专题讨论

In the introduction to the second part of the roundtable, focused on the opportunities for Italian companies to tap into China’s digital services market, Claudia Vernotti, Director of ChinaEU, highlighted that Chinese consumers are much more smartphone savvy than the average Italian consumer, and they are much more prone to download new apps and try new digital services, which from a day to another can become viral.

圆桌会议第二部分重点关注了意大利企业进入中国数字服务市场的机会，中欧数字协会主任韦茉莉强调，中国消费者比一般的意大利消费者更依赖智能手机，他们更愿意下载新的应用，尝试新的数字服务，这样的消费者行为可以成全数字产品和服务一夜之间风靡市场。

Many are the exemplifications of these trends in the daily lives of China’s 694 million mobile Internet users: the easiness at which Chinese consumers use mobile payments for daily transactions, in some regions bypassing completely the credit card generation; the over-night explosion of connected bikes sharing applications like Mobike or Ofo, which are now also entering Italian cities; or again, the influence that certain individual personalities – the so-called ‘key opinion leaders’ – have built on social media platforms, transforming themselves into powerful tools for brand promotion and online marketing. It is no surprise in China to hear stories like 100 Maserati cars being sold on Alibaba’s T-mall platform in 18 seconds, or tourist offers of 88-days world tours at the price tag of USD 200,000 being sold out on China’s leading online travel agency Ctrip in 17 seconds.

在中国6.94亿移动互联网用户的日常生活中，能够体现这些趋势的例子有很多：中国消费者在日常交易中使用移动支付的普及程度，一些地区甚至不再使用信用卡; Mobike或Ofo等共享单车手机应用程序的一夜爆红，现在这些共享单车也进入了意大利城市; 还有某些个人 ，即所谓的“关键意见领袖”，在社交媒体平台上建立影响力，并把他们自己转变成为品牌推广和在线营销的有力工具。 在中国，阿里巴巴天猫平台18秒内售罄100辆玛莎拉蒂汽车、中国领先的在线旅行社携程网17秒成交价格为20万美元的88天环球旅行的故事并不足为奇。

All this means great potential for Italian companies who want to tap into the Chinese market. E-commerce can be an excellent instrument to promote the ‘Made in Italy’ to a growing middle class which today is as big as the total population of the US. The roundtable was honored by the presence of two important channels that promise to turn this potential into reality.

所有这些意味着有意进军中国市场的意大利公司有着巨大前景。电子商务可以成为将“意大利制造”推向中国中产阶级的有力工具，而今天日益增长的中国中产阶级的人数已相当于美国总人口。此次 圆桌会议荣幸地邀请到了能够让这一可能变成现实的两个重要渠道。

Alibaba is today the world’s largest market-place with over 450 million clients. Manfredi Minutelli, Senior Business Development at Alibaba Group Italy explained that Alibaba, who established its first European office in Milan two years ago, aims at introducing SMEs to the Chinese market. This is good news for Italy, whose economic structure is mainly composed of SMEs and family-based businesses, especially those operating in sectors like fashion, design, home furnishing, baby care, cosmetics and agrifood. At the same time, he warned that an approach to the Chinese market needs adequate preparation and should be coupled with the appropriate investments to stand out from a crowd of millions of other suppliers.

阿里巴巴目前是全球最大的市场平台，客户超过4.5亿。 阿里巴巴集团意大利高级业务发展部Manfredi Minutelli解释说，阿里巴巴两年前在米兰建立了第一个欧洲办事处，旨在将中小企业引入中国市场。 这对意大利来说是非常好的消息。意大利的经济结构主要由中小企业和家族企业组成，特别是时尚、设计、家居、婴儿护理、化妆品和农产品等行业。 同时，他警告说，进入中国市场的正确方式是做好充分的准备，并配合适当的投资，才能使企业从众多供应商中脱颖而出。

The other powerful channel is the one offered by Tencent, number one Internet company in China.

另一个强大的渠道是由中国第一大互联网公司腾讯提供的。

Andrea Ghizzoni, who has been leading the efforts of Tencent’s WeChat – China’s super app with over 900 million active users – in Italy and is now replicating this big initial success to the rest of Europe. Born as a social media platform, WeChat has consequently built itself into an Internet ecosystem integrating mobile payments (WeChat Pay) and marketing tools (Social Ads) to allow for direct connections between retailers and the end consumer, who can be targeted through tailored marketing campaigns based on age, consumer power, geographic location, etc.

腾讯微信——中国超过9亿活跃用户使用的超级应用程序的意大利负责人Andrea Ghizzoni正在向欧洲其它地区复制这一初步的成功。因其社交媒体平台的属性，微信建成了一个集移动支付（微信支付）和营销工具（社交广告）为一体的互联网生态系统，为零售商和终端消费者之间建立直接联系，基于年龄、消费者能力、地理位置等量身定制营销活动。

China, Italy and e-commerce appears as a promising combination particularly due to the size of the Chinese market – 1.4 bn people, 731 million Internet users. But the market size explains only part of the attractiveness of China. An immense pool of data for big data analysis and AI research and the availability of skilled researchers and scientists for instance explain why Google decided to set its AI team in Beijing. Many speakers pointed out the importance of accelerating the proliferation of joint projects between European and Italian technical universities and scientific research institutes, who have the important task to prepare new generation to the digital age.

中国、意大利和电子商务似乎是一个非常有前景的组合，特别是考虑到中国市场的规模——14亿人口、7.31亿互联网用户。但是市场规模仅仅解释了中国吸引力的一部分。大数据分析和人工智能研究的海量数据以及大量的研究人员和科学家解释了为什么谷歌决定在北京设立人工智能团队。许多嘉宾指出，加速扩展欧洲和意大利科技大学和科研机构之间的联合项目非常重要，这些大学和科研机构肩负着教育数字时代新一代的重要使命。

The presence of some of the world’s most active investors and the thirst of local governments for innovative foreign projects make China an incredibly relevant partner for the Italian startup community. And last but not least, an increasing outbound tourism market – today reaching 122 million tourists – make China particularly interesting in the eyes of Italy and its sophisticated hospitality industry.

一些世界上最活跃的投资者的出现以及地方政府对创新型国外项目的渴望使得中国成为意大利创业圈的一个非常契合的合作伙伴。最后，越来越大的出境旅游市场（今天达到1.22亿游客）使得中国在意大利及其成熟的酒店业眼中显得格外有趣。

Andrea Cerbone, CEO of Italian news agency ANSA, spoke about the recent agreement reached between ANSA and Xinhua – China national news agency – on information exchange, with a particular focus on providing new knowledge instruments, including on social media, to increase bilateral investments. He also mentioned how such cooperation could pave the way to the creation of an information silk road, as a complement to the digital silk road.

意大利安莎通讯社首席执行官Andrea Cerbone谈到了近期安莎通讯社和新华社这一中国国家通讯社就信息交流达成的协议，重点是提供包括社交媒体在内的新知识工具，以增加双边投资。 他还提到，这样的合作将为创建信息丝绸之路铺平道路，为数字丝路作补充。

Vinicio Peluffo, President of the Parliamentary Association for Italy-China Friendship, delivering his closing remarks, together with Luigi Gambardella and Ambassador Li Ruiyu

意中友好关系协会会长Vinicio Peluffo和李瑞宇大使及鲁乙己一起总结发言

It was up to Vinicio Peluffo, President of the Parliamentary Association for Italy-China Friendship, to conclude a vibrant event with enthusiastic speakers, underlining one last time the huge potential to strengthen Italy-China cooperation in the digital economy and expressing his sincere hope to see more and more concrete initiatives like the ones mentioned by the speakers taking shape.

意中友好关系协会会长Vinicio Peluffo在总结发言时指出，这次圆桌会议气氛热烈、发言嘉宾热情洋溢。他再一次强调了意大利与中国在数字经济领域加强合作的巨大潜力，并表示真诚希望看到越来越多的像发言嘉宾提出的具体举措。

Claudia Vernotti, Director of ChinaEU, and Federico Barilli, Secretary General of Italia Startup, signing the Memorandum of Understanding

中欧数字协会主任韦茉莉与意大利创业企业协会秘书长Federico Barilli签署备忘录

At the conclusion of the event, an MoU was signed between ChinaEU and Italia Startup, the association representing over 600 Italian startups, on top of a large community of incubators, accelerators, investors and corporates who works together to support the growth of the Italian startup community. According to the agreement, ChinaEU and Italia Startup will work together to stimulate the internationalization of the startups and build closer ties between the Chinese and the Italian startups ecosystems.

活动结束后，中欧数字协会与意大利创业企业协会签署了备忘录。意大利创业企业协会代表600多家意大利创业公司，在一大批孵化器、加速器、投资者和企业的共同努力下，支持意大利创业圈的发展。 根据协议，中欧数字协会将与意大利创业企业协会共同推动创业公司的国际化，加强中国和意大利创业企业生态系统之间的联系。