創新與合作

◎盧兆興 邢云超

創新與合作

◎盧兆興 邢云超

21世紀之初，全球進入創新發展新階段。大中華區兩岸四地應該不失時機，從文化旅游，社會經濟和危機管制諸方面著手，從小學生到公務員和社會各階層逐步加強交流與合作。學界通過不同緯度進行研究和探索以影響政府行為和決策，從而在全球化和城市化進程中推進大中華區全面發展和偉大復興。

My draft essay for you to translate and you can present the latter half of it, while I introduce the first half to the participants on July 6

Innovation and Cooperation in Greater China: Areas, Scope and Suggestions

Innovation and cooperation can be enhanced in the four main regions of Greater China in this era of globalization: namely mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao. This conference presents a golden opportunity for us to explore these issues from the perspective of scholars. This sort of conference can be regarded as "public diplomacy," meaning that citizens including scholars at the level of society can interact with each other from different places freely so that our ideas can be gathered together. Although our ideas may not be able to influence or shape the governments at the higher level in Greater China, societal interactions are the first step, or the precondition, for greater cooperation at the formal and governmental level perhaps in the long term.

What is the meaning of innovation? Innovation refers to new ideas that we can improve the society and economy as well as governance. Innovation in one place alone is not a sufficient condition for success in improving our society, economy and governance. Innovation needs the inputs and ideas from, first, the societal level, and then such innovative ideas can ideally be practised at the economic and governmental levels in the medium and longer terms.

Innovation in Greater China can be defined as new ideas that can make the society, economy and governance of the four regions -- mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan --far more competitive and vibrant than ever before. These innovative ideas, if implemented or carried out, can be sustained and developed further in the long run. Innovation can and will bring about further new innovation. Hence, innovation can be seen as a long term, sustainable and permanent process of social, economic and even political development.

Let me focus on three areas of social, economic and governance aspects of innovation in Greater China. The main principle of fostering innovation in the social, economic and governance aspects is to find out the strengths of each place's development, and then utilizing such strengths, sharing the fruits of success with other places, and experimenting with new innovation through combined ideas, or borrowing one place's ideas to improve ourselves. Hence, learning from each other is the precondition of achieving the principle of fostering innovation in social, economic and governance aspects.

Socially, innovation in Greater China can experiment with several elements. First, while mainland China is the great motherland with traditional arts, music and cultural practices. These traditional artworks, music and cultural practices can be combined with the similar traditional artworks, music and cultural customs and habits in the other three regions, namely Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, to become a special sociocultural traditional hub. For such a combined Chinese socio-cultural traditional hub to be established, tourism can be used as a means to first stimulate all tourists to appreciate the cultures, traditional music and artworks and local customs and habits in all the four places. If this idea of innovative tourism, meaning that tourism can be combined more tightly with socio-cultural traditional tours and visits, then the tourism authorities in the four places --mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan -- may sit down in the long run to plan for new tourist routes, new tourist policies that aim at allowing tourists in the four regions to understand deeper all the customs, habits, socio-cultural practices of, say, Shezhen first (later other parts of mainland China), Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Specifically, sociocultural and traditional artworks tours should ideally be experimented in the four places. These socio-cultural tours can first be experimented at the school children level, allowing school children to understand the societies of the four places better, and then extending to other social groups, like teachers, parents, ordinary tourists, business people and even cultural entrepreneurs. Cultural tourism, in short, is an innovative area that has been neglected in Greater China and it should be experiemented as soon as possible.