The afternoon of March 7, 2019 saw the “Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Sharing Meeting”. The meeting was the product of a joint project between HBUT and Hubei Province’s University Graduates Employment Guidance Center. The meeting was attended by HBUT’s president Liu Defu, Ding Xuefeng， the director of Hubei Province’s University Graduates Employment Guidance Center and Paul Marca, an associate vice provost from Stanford University along with several other important officials from all of the parties.

Liu Defu began the meeting with a speech stating that innovation and entrepreneurship is the theme of the current era but it has actually always been at the core of HBUT’s teaching philosophy, emphasizing that HBUT had been selected as one of first batch of entrepreneurship and innovation demonstration schools by the Chinese government. Liu continued by saying that HBUT was currently ranked No. 73 in China for training in entrepreneurship and innovation before praising Stanford University as a world renowned research university that has always been at the forefront in entrepreneurship and innovation training. Liu further stated that he hoped that by holding this meeting HBUT would be able to benefit greatly from the experience of Stanford in its efforts to improve its international development and entrepreneurship and innovation training.

The next to speak was Stanford University’s associate vice provost Paul Marca. Marca shared with the attendees the five points that made Stanford University’s innovation and entrepreneurship programs so successful. The five points he posited were: In-depth technical competency, creativity and innovation, the ability to think outside the box, being able to excel in group work and multi-disciplinary understanding. Referring back to these five aspects he introduced Stanford University’s model for innovation and entrepreneurship training. Marca finished his speech by emphasizing that entrepreneurs will always fail but how they react to failure will be the difference between failing and succeeding in the future.

The final speaker was Wang Cheng, Chief Operating Officer of China Chuanglian Education Finance Group. Mr. Wang shared his thoughts on innovation and entrepreneurship training based on models from Harvard University. Wang went on to discuss how these models could be implemented into Chinese universities to the betterment of entrepreneurship and innovation training.

Following the speeches, all of the parties took part in a discussion on how to further improve innovation and entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities. The discussion was varied and fruitful with all parties contributing fully. The final section of the meeting invited students to join a Q&A session with the speakers. The atmosphere was warm and lively and with students actively enquiring about all aspects of entrepreneurship.