Nobel laureate talks about technology driven globalization: China lags behind in the fields of digital services and artificial intelligence
Nobel laureate in economics Christopher Pizarides is a staunch supporter of economic globalization. At the 10th anniversary forum of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone held on September 20th, he delivered a speech titled "The Development of Economic Globalization and China's Contribution to the World Economy.".
In his speech, Pisarides mentioned that globalization is the result of global industrial division of labor, using the automotive industry as an example. So far, the largest foreign investment project in China is Tesla's Shanghai super factory located near the port in Pudong.
"I believe that the rapid expansion of China's electric vehicle industry in recent times must be related to this development. Seeing foreign electric vehicle leaders laying out their presence here, peers will think, 'This seems like a good idea, why don't we do it?' This is also beneficial for humanity as a whole, as we need to protect the environment and energy, and cars are the main source of pollution. I really see multinational companies like Tesla laying out their presence in Shanghai and other regions, and I hope that the production of electric vehicles can become a trend, which should be our future mode of transportation." Pizarides said.
Pizarides believes that globalization today relies on technology driven development. The development of digital technology and artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in the process of globalization, and communication and data processing costs are replacing transportation costs, becoming the key to cost reduction. In this era of booming knowledge economy, most workers are also using their knowledge and skills to carry out production transformation. The main investment in this process is data. So data becomes a new "gold mine", and through global deployment, modern enterprises can collect more data and gain competitive advantages by processing it faster.
He believes that China has caught up in the fields of digital services and artificial intelligence, and has begun to play a leading role. "10 to 15 years ago, we only had American companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon. But now, you can see the same scale and advanced technology in China. We now know that some famous American companies are imitating Chinese companies to provide more complete digital services."
As a member of the World's Top Scientists Association settled in Lingang, Shanghai, Pisarides and other Nobel laureates as well as Turing Prize winners are boldly promoting scientific research cooperation, hoping that scientific research can be free from the interference of geopolitical conflicts and benefit more people. Pisarides has been dedicated to research on employment issues and how to alleviate the burden of unemployment, including avoiding the problem of unemployment leading people into poverty. He believes that modern technology can help improve the information flow in the labor market, achieve supply-demand matching, such as what skills you need, where your needs are, and the special advantages of each country. Through international cooperation, more achievements can be achieved.
Text: Xu Sufei
text
