Victor and William Fung Foundation

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Big Data: Business Innovation and Application

On 9 November 2019, 89 Fung Scholars and Fung Fellows convened together in Shanghai for the annual Fung Scholars Leadership Conference 2019.

Themed with “Big Data: Business Innovation and Application”, the 2019 conference was a day of learning of big data, digitalization, design thinking and ideas sharing around the topic of innovation, social enterprise and businesses, together with excursions to a world-class expo and sight-seeing.

This year, the conference was tied around the 2nd China International Import Expo, where Fung Scholars and Fung Fellows paid a visit to the Fung Group booth to learn about the Group’s 113-years of experience in convening the global consumer goods supply chain and our leading solutions and technology across trading, logistics, distribution and retail.

At the conference, Victor Fung shared his insights on the changing geopolitical landscape which has resulted in a new flow of trade and the reorganization of the global supply chain. Leveraging our experience in the industry and our global production market network, he emphasized that Fung Group has never been in a better position to be the trusted partner to bring new added value for our customers in the complex era.

Other keynote speakers include Reto Matter, Head of Data of Li & Fung, and Herbert Chia, Venture Partner of Sequoia Capital China Fund, who both provided insights on the application of big data and data analytics, followed by two discussion panels ‘Ideas Polygram’ around the topic of Humanities and Technology and Innovation.

In the afternoon, the Fung Scholars and Fung Fellows were divided into groups and were tasked to solve a business problem: “How Might We Imagine the Future of Retail?” Participants were given the chance to learn about design thinking, the process, tools and mindset required to create a human-centric experience and innovation ideas.

The conference is an annual event organized by the Victor and William Fung Foundation, a way to nurture future world leaders through supporting university students to experience different cultures and environments early in their careers.

“With the increasing trend of globalization, graduates with an international outlook and experience in diverse cultures and environments are human capital critical to the continuous progress of a society,” said Victor Fung, Chairman of the Victor and William Fung Foundation and the opening speaker of the conference.

An excursion to the French Quarter was organized by local Fung Scholars Shanghai Chapter.  The participants were able to learn the history of Shanghai and to see this city from a different perspective. The annual Fung Scholars Conference came to the end with fun and laughers!

We appreciate all Fung Scholars’ engagement in the Fung Scholars Community, especially thanks to the long-term support from Mr. Kevin Lo (FS 06/07, City University of Hong Kong) to the Hong Kong Chapter and Ms. Jamie Ko (FS 09/10, Singapore Management University) to the Singapore Chapter who have been supporting the bonding among Fung Scholars with various initiatives every year.