The "Digital Trade Venture Capital Day" of the 4th Global Digital Trade Expo was successfully held in Hangzhou. Take a close look at the Digital Trade Venture Capital Day and see how the industry and capital resonate in sync.
"The short - term outlook for trade in services is far better than that for trade in goods, and the digital delivery model is becoming the core engine for the global trade recovery." This is the judgment of Ngozi Okonjo - Iweala, the Director - General of the WTO, in the "Global Trade Outlook and Statistics" in 2024. Now, this judgment has been confirmed by data: In Zhejiang alone, the import and export volume of digital trade from January to August 2025 reached 553.08 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 13.3%.
Against the backdrop of global capital's attention to the "Chinese opportunities" in digital trade, Zhejiang has taken practical actions, forming a full - chain digital trade system covering digital technology, digital services, data transactions, digital products, etc., and a number of innovative enterprises and projects have emerged.
On September 25, the 4th Global Digital Trade Expo (hereinafter referred to as the "Digital Trade Expo") opened at the Hangzhou International Expo Center. As the only national - level, international, and professional exhibition in China themed on digital trade, this year's Digital Trade Expo innovatively launched the "Digital Trade Venture Capital Day" event. Aiming at "promoting the efficient connection between innovation and capital in the field of digital trade", it is committed to building an international and practical communication platform integrating policy communication, capital flow, and industrial collaboration, attracting more than 500 global guests from government departments, investment institutions, industrial platforms, and science and technology innovation enterprises.
Targeting the pain points such as the difficulty in project - capital connection and the difficulty in digital innovation transformation, the "Digital Trade Venture Capital Day" built an unprecedentedly large - scale connection network to accurately match 100 science and technology innovation projects across the country with 100 funds, and jointly explore new paths for digital trade. A number of cooperation projects covering multiple fields such as biotechnology, intelligent technology, and educational technology were launched on - site at the event. According to incomplete statistics, the total cooperation amount exceeded 50 million yuan, and it is expected to drive investment of over 200 million yuan.
As a national - level window in the field of digital trade, the Digital Trade Expo has always undertaken the important functions of demonstrating trends, connecting resources, and linking the world. The establishment of the Digital Trade Venture Capital Day aims directly at the last mile of industrial innovation: putting policies, capital, and industries into a closed - loop scenario to truly turn innovation into reality.
I. The Zhejiang Characteristics of Digital Trade
Why did Zhejiang become the starting point for the Digital Trade Venture Capital Day? The answer lies in the long - term accumulated foundation of digital trade in this region.
In 2024, Forbes China evaluated in the series of reports "Digital Trade: China's New Global Calling Card" that the core competitiveness of Zhejiang's digital trade lies in the three - dimensional linkage of "policy setting the direction, capital providing strong support, and the ecosystem building barriers".
This development path, regarded as a "replicable model", was vividly confirmed in the opening speech of the Digital Trade Venture Capital Day. At the meeting, representatives from Chinese and foreign governments and institutions outlined the complete link from concept to practice in digital trade from four dimensions: policy guidance, financial empowerment, international cooperation, and national strategy.
Good policies that meet real - world needs are the "precise navigators" for digital trade to break through the fog and avoid hidden reefs. Zhejiang Province has targeted the new track of "artificial intelligence + digital trade", promoting triple innovation in scenarios, models, and business forms; aiming at the new goal of a global digital trade center, it has attracted high - quality capital such as the UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund and the second - phase Service Trade Fund; and created a business environment of "the best service, the lowest cost, and the highest efficiency", making the promise of "not leaving any enterprise feeling lonely".
Behind the implementation of policies is the in - depth collaboration of capital. In the first half of this year, the balance of ICBC's technology loans exceeded 6 trillion yuan, serving over 110,000 technology - based enterprises with loans. Different from traditional credit, ICBC has built an ecosystem through the "investment - loan linkage + cross - border service package", helping enterprises make up for their shortcomings with R & D loans and talent loans. Branches in 69 countries and regions assist enterprises in solving cross - border settlement, exchange rate risk - hedging and other problems when going global.
Meanwhile, the "borderless" nature of digital trade makes it possible for this local practice to extend globally. Dr. Ali Mohammed Al - Qarri, Secretary - General of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the UAE and Chairman of the Arab Digital Economy Alliance brought an "olive branch" from the Middle East market at the meeting.
He revealed that the Arab region is accelerating the construction of digital infrastructure, with data center investment expected to reach 6 billion US dollars by 2030, and the "Arab Digital Economy Vision" is expected to create an economic value of 1 trillion US dollars. The alliance has not only set up an office in Hong Kong but also plans to add more footholds in the Chinese mainland to ensure the smooth flow of Chinese - Arab goods, services, and data in a trusted ecosystem.
Dr. Ali Mohammed Al - Qarri, Secretary - General of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the UAE and Chairman of the Arab Digital Economy Alliance
From the local to the national level, the exploration value of Zhejiang is becoming more and more prominent. In 2024, the scale of China's digital service trade exceeded 3 trillion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 10.2%, becoming an important engine for stabilizing foreign trade. Zhejiang played the role of a "pioneer" in this process and provided valuable "Zhejiang experience" for the whole country.
II. A Concentrated Outburst of Hard - Core Achievements
Different from the concept output of regular conferences, the achievements released at the "Digital Trade Venture Capital Day" focus on "pragmatism". This could be seen from the preparatory stage.
As early as May this year, the "Digital Trade Venture Capital Day" started cross - city preparations. It successively delved into three innovation hubs of Beijing, Shenzhen, and Xi'an, connecting with regional capital and science and technology innovation projects in advance, and focusing on core digital trade tracks such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and future networks. In other words, the Venture Capital Day is not a hastily organized exhibition but a concentrated release of long - term incubation.
The concentrated outburst of achievements is first reflected in the awards. The "Pioneer Award (DT Award) of the 4th Global Digital Trade Expo", as the core award of the Digital Trade Expo, saw particularly fierce competition this year. The scale of participating projects expanded from more than a hundred in the first session to 277, and finally 64 projects stood out. The review committee led by academicians adhered to the principle of "selecting the best from the best", not only awarding gold, silver, and bronze prizes but also setting up the Newcomer Award, the Most Investment - worthy Award, and the Best Organization Award. Hangzhou Unitree Technology and Zhejiang Xunshi Technology won the gold awards, becoming representatives of hard technology and gradually forming a benchmark matrix for digital trade covering different growth stages for the DT Award.
In addition to the awards, the release of the "navigation tools" and "financial solutions" is also important. The Top 100 List of Zhejiang's Digital Trade, the 2025 Zhejiang Openness Index, the investment matrix of Zhejiang's venture capital funds, and the achievements in helping to cultivate new - quality productive forces were released together, providing a directional reference for local governments and enterprises; The "Comprehensive Financial Solution for Future Industries" launched by the Science and Technology Finance Center of ICBC tailored financing channels for science and technology innovation enterprises at different stages; The "Five - in - One" service model demonstrated by the "Hangzhou Innovation E - Station" covered the full - life - cycle financial support for enterprises from the seed stage to the growth stage; The State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Zhejiang Province presented 20 application cases of "artificial intelligence +", covering key scenarios such as energy dispatching, intelligent transportation, and medical image diagnosis, making the integration path of the combination of the digital and real economies more concrete.
The combination of capital and industry also advanced rapidly on - site. ICBC signed strategic agreements on - site with science and technology innovation enterprises such as Rokid Technology, with a total credit line exceeding 10 billion yuan; Institutions such as Zhejiang Innovation Investment Group, Binjiang High - tech Zone, and Anji Economic Development Zone also reached multiple cooperation intentions. The preliminary estimate of the total cooperation amount exceeded 10 million yuan, further opening up the link from capital to industrial implementation. More structurally significant is that the Professional Committee for Science and Technology Innovation and Venture Capital of the Global Digital Trade Expo was established on - site, aiming to integrate scattered capital, technology, and scenario resources into a combined force, avoid "going it alone", and promote systematic collaboration.
The awards, lists, financial solutions, signings, and the professional committee together form the "achievement closed - loop" of the Venture Capital Day. They do not exist in isolation but are progressive: the awards discover potential projects, the lists and indexes provide directional coordinates, the finance and cooperation solve the implementation problems, and the professional committee promotes long - term resource collaboration, helping the scientific and technological innovation in digital trade to go deeper and more real.
III. How to Synchronize Capital and Industry?
As digital trade enters the deep - water area driven by technology, despite the remarkable achievements, an unavoidable contradiction still exists: on the capital side, there is money to invest in early - stage and small - scale projects, but there are concerns about the inflated technology and the lack of implementation channels in early - stage projects; on the industrial side, there are core technologies to be promoted to the market, but there is a lack of mass - production resources, supply - chain support, and cross - border channels.
How to synchronize capital and projects, technology and the market? Two round - table discussions at the Venture Capital Day delved into this contradiction.
The first round - table discussion was chaired by Huang Jinping, the founding partner and chairman of Rongyi Investment. Representatives from leading institutions such as Li Xiao, the deputy general manager of Zhejiang Financial Holding Investment Management Co., Ltd., Lu Shengdong, the chairman of ICBC Capital, and Zong Peimin, the chairman of Huarui Investment, gathered with Zhang Min, the overseas general manager of Unitree Technology, and Mi Qun, the secretary of the board and senior vice - president of Rokid Technology. They dissected the co - construction logic of the hard - technology ecosystem from "capital supply" to "industrial implementation".
Li Xiao said that against the backdrop of the country's encouragement to invest in early - stage, small - scale, and technology - based projects, Zhejiang Financial Holding focuses on the transformation of achievements from "0 to 1", cooperating with provincial laboratories and technology innovation centers to help scientists turn technology into products one - on - one.
Although "investing in early - stage and small - scale projects" conforms to the trend, early - stage science and technology projects have high risks and great uncertainties. How to balance the enthusiasm for investment and risk control?
Lu Shengdong detailed ICBC Capital's "risk - control balancing technique". On the one hand, it has built a mechanism of "six special measures", and on the other hand, it uses a "card, a form, and a meeting" for due diligence. "For example, a medical AI enterprise invested last year passed the evaluation quickly with this mechanism and has now entered the clinical verification stage." Lu Shengdong added.
Zong Peimin, who has been deeply involved in the investment field for 23 years, returned to the essence of investment and proposed the core standard of "evaluating people": "When investing in early - stage and small - scale projects, the key is to look at the 'five characteristics' of the entrepreneurial team - the wisdom to make concessions during negotiations, the learning ability to listen to suggestions, the cooperative spirit of being inclusive of shareholders and employees, the execution ability to take action on the same day when contacting customers, and the diligence of starting work as soon as they wake up."
Compared with the strategy sharing on the capital side, the practice on the enterprise side more intuitively reflects the binding value of capital and industry. Zhang Min recalled Unitree's "comeback journey" and admitted that the enterprise would have been difficult to move forward without capital injection. With capital support, it achieved mass production of robotic dogs in 2016 and entered the humanoid robot track with the help of the large - model trend in 2023... Behind this is that the capital helped make up for the shortcomings in mass - production equipment and the supply chain.
Mi Qun took the AR track as an example to emphasize the significance of capital as a "timely help". From the popularity of "My manuscript is in the glasses" to the real breakthrough in mass production and the start of large - scale delivery, the 100 - million - yuan credit provided by ICBC and others was the key support. "The capital helped us become the chain leader, promoted compliance construction, and helped us become co - builders of the industrial ecosystem."
The second round - table discussion was chaired by Feng Dagang, the CEO of 36Kr. Five guests, including Xia Lin, a partner of Zhongke Chuangxing, Deng Zelin, an executive committee member of the Service Trade Innovation and Development Guidance Fund, Cao Guoxiong, the chairman of Puhua Capital, Jian Yiwen, the innovation and development director of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, and Wassim Nayef Musalam Karaleh, the marketing director of UAE Legend Holdings Group, dissected the core capabilities of "industrial partners" from the perspectives of hard - technology investment, national - level funds, market - oriented VCs, cross - border incubation, and international cooperation respectively.
Xia Lin believes that to be an industrial partner, one needs to have three capabilities: cognitive synchronization, resource connection, and long - termism. Specifically in project selection, Zhongke Chuangxing focuses on domestic substitution and disruptive innovation. "Although it is difficult to implement cutting - edge fields such as controlled nuclear fusion, the original innovation based on scientific principles is worth long - term layout."
Deng Zelin emphasized "getting involved personally". As a national - level fund led by the Ministry of Commerce, the second