New Ventures China hosted two forums in Shenzhen and Shunde on November 17 and 19, respectively, in collaboration with the Information Center of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The two events, under the umbrella of the annual High-Tech Fair and Exhibition in Shenzhen, mark a solid step taken by New Ventures to deepen its in-country collaboration particularly at the government level.

Kirsty Jenkinson speaking at the China New Industrial Development Forum

The main forum, China New Industrial Development Forum, was hosted by the Information Center of MIIT, one of New Ventures China’s in-country partners. Kirsty Jenkinson, Director of the Market & Enterprise Program at WRI, delivered a keynote speech on how SMEs can contribute to sustainable development in emerging markets.

During the main forum on November 17 in Shenzhen, a city bordering Hong Kong, New Ventures China announced the upcoming launch of a report on Green Impact of Chinese SMEs in collaboration with the Information Center of MIIT, highlighting the environmental impact of China’s SMEs. The report is scheduled to come out in March 2012.

Based on WRI’s environmental metrics, the report collects and analyses the financial, environmental and social performance of Chinese green SMEs, highlighting their environmental and social contribution as well as the challenges on their way of development. Walter Ge, New Ventures China Country Director, gave a presentation to highlight New Ventures’ environmental performance indicators based on an analysis of 18 New Ventures China portfolio companies in 2010.

The report will not only put the Chinese government in a better position to help local SMEs, but also help companies that have completed the report to understand their companies’ environmental and social impact. Additionally, completing the impact report can help companies to identify areas of potential risk, improve operations, and drive technology innovation, and the results of the impact report are useful for marketing and communicating with other stakeholders.

Yang Dongqing, Division Chief of the Business Development Division of MIIT’s Information Center, moderating New Ventures China’s 2nd Investor Forum.

“The forum is a solid step taken by New Ventures and the Information Center of the MIIT. We are looking forward to moving things forward and achieving concrete results in collaboration with the World Resources Institute,” said Ms. Yang Dongqing, Division Chief of Business Development Division of MIIT’s Information Center.

If everything goes well along the way, there is a high possibility that MIIT will partially adopt New Ventures’ environmental performance indicators for green SMEs and potentially all SMEs in the country.

Following the successful launch of its first 2011 Investor Forum in Beijing where six green SMEs were showcased, New Ventures China’s 2nd Investor Forum in 2011 that was held in Shunde on November 19th certainly provides more evidence of such increasingly deepened collaboration between New Ventures China, the MIIT and Shunde’s municipal government. Shunde, in Guangdong Province, is one of the most dynamic areas of the Chinese private sector that is well known for being a key manufacturing base of electric appliances.

SME Showcasing

The Shunde investor forum showcased a total of 4 outstanding SMEs in the clean energy and energy-efficiency sectors to demonstrate their business and investment value. Approximately 120 people, primarily leaders from local business and investor communities, attended the forum where the SMEs demonstrated how their firms can contribute to China’s sustainable economic development.

Leading thinkers and practitioners of sustainable development were invited for a roundtable discussion. Moderated by Tao Zhang, New Ventures Chief Operating Officer, the participants discussed the following topics:

• The energy-saving policy and requirement in China’s 12th five-year plan and the opportunities and challenges brought to private sectors;
• The technological innovation policy in the 12th five-year plan and the opportunities and challenges brought to private sectors;
• Funding challenges for Chinese SMEs and possible solutions;
• The changing priority of Chinese SMEs from growth to quality.

The Shunde investor forum was one of the sub-forums for the China New Industrial Development Forum (the main forum) held in Shenzhen, Guangdong on November 17th.