The International Sustainable Cities Forum to be held on 30 March brings together government and business leaders from both China and New Zealand, in conjunction with the first anniversary of the signing of the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

The overall aim of this Forum is to establish and leverage effective long-term cooperation between Chinese and New Zealand business leaders and high-level government officials. The visiting Chinese entrepreneurs and investors have also expressed interest in exploring commercial opportunities in New Zealand as well as to understand New Zealand’s approach to sustainable development.

The organisers have managed to secure the attendance of approximately 50 senior business and government leaders from China to attend this Forum.  Key Chinese leaders confirmed attending include:

• Wang Shi, the Godfather of Chinese real estate, Chairman of Vanke, with market capitalisation over US$10b, the largest property developer in China;
• Feng Lun, Founder and Chairman of Beijing Vantone Group, significant property developer with market capitalisation over US$1b;
• Xia Gang, President of China International Industry and Commerce Company, significant commercial property developer;
• Zhou Qing Zhi, Chairman of Nandu Holdings, investor, philanthropist;
• Wu Xu, President of Chongqing Sincere Holdings, with interests in property and finance;
• Li Ai-Jun, Chairman, Taoyuan Habitat Group, property developer and investor, philanthropist;
• Meng Gang , Chairman of National Chiao Tung University Real Estate Group, City Union’s rotating presidency;
• Government delegations from Xia Men City in Fujian Province, Chang Xing County in Zhejiang Province, Zhu Jia Jiao Town in Shanghai City, Wu Jin District in Jiangsu Province.

On the New Zealand side, the organisers are expecting a number of senior Government ministers and mayors to be in attendance, in addition to business leaders representing a variety of business to attend.

At this Forum, participants will have unparalleled access to some of the top investors and decision makers in the booming Chinese real estate and investment sectors.

At a glance:

What: International Sustainable Cities Forum
Where: Langham Hotel, Auckland
When: 8am-5pm, Thursday, 30 November

Why attend:

• Unparalleled access to key investors and decisions makers
• Understand economic and political developments in China
• Obtain analysis of China’s future trends and the implications for your business
• Hear the latest updates from successful Chinese corporate and government leaders
• Appreciate Chinese culture and the business of relationships
• Fast track your China ambitions by connecting with China and NZ-based Chinese businesspeople
• Know how to deal with Chinese businesspeople and government officials

Who should attend:

• CEOs / Directors / Business owners who want to explore opportunities in China
• Business development professionals in the property/construction/engineering / design sectors
• Businesspeople who want to understand the mindset of Chinese investors and entrepreneurs
• Businesspeople who want to sell products / services to Chinese firms and need information/ networks
• Management teams seeking investors with capital and connections in China
• Professionals who can contribute expertise towards building sustainable cities
• Government officials desiring to strengthen connections with Chinese government officials

The organisers are anticipating a balanced crowd of approximately 25% Chinese, 25% Chinese New Zealanders and 50% other New Zealanders. This would enable good networking as we expect that attendees will not be at a forum where participants already know one another.

Limited tickets available. Check out: www.sustainablecities.co.nz

For more information please contact:
Kenneth Leong,
Director, Euroasia
09-3040100

Harvard University’s Samuel Arbesman recently submitted a paper to Physical Review E entitled “An Explanation of Superlinear Scaling for Innovation in Cities” (HT: New Scientist).  The major thrust of the paper (embedded among the erudite scientific analysis) is that larger cities have dispproportionally more innovation, because they allow for richer interconnection between different communities.

My initial reaction to this from my favourite hometown of merely 250,000 souls (counted on a fine day going downhill with a southerly tailwind) was “oh no, we’re fux0r3d!”  All this talk of the Innovation Capital and Business Innovation Strategies will come to naught, because we just aren’t big enough to compete with the larger locations overseas.

Rereading Arbesman’s article however, size is only one factor enabling innovation.  Sure, given a sample of a large number of cities puts Wellington in the same league as cities such as Birmingham Alabama, Czestochowa Poland, and Pau France – none of which are particularly well known for their innovation policies.  But Wellington and Auckland are very culturally diverse cities, and I would argue that their relatively small size enables rich interconnection between communities, precisely because the interconnected communities themselves are so small.

In Wellington we joke that we’re a “village with skyscrapers”, and that there’s only a degree-and-a-half of separation. The number of people from different walks of life that I’d talk to on any given day is staggering.  I can have a breakfast meeting with Pākehā colleages, meet with Māori clients in the morning, lunch with Asian colleagues, afternoon meetings with constellations of immigrants from Europe, North America, the Indian subcontinent and Southern Africa that define the local IT scene, dinner with my own family (between us we have rellies living on six continents) and then go to an evening Interfaith meeting with people from all over the world.  There are no ethnic neighbourhoods here; the ethnic groups are just to small to sustain whole geographic regions.

So far from being a hindrance, our small size combined with the diversity of modern New Zealand can be a real advantage for breaking down barriers that are common elsewhere.

Superlinear scaling breaks down here, and long may we remain an outlier in Arbesman’s data set.

Update: In a personal communication from Arbesman, he says

… you’re definitely right that the variations and exceptions to the patterns observed are the ones that can give us the most insight into the innovation process in cities. And it sounds like New Zealand is chock full of these exceptions.