THE China Global Investment Summit: Hangzhou 2015 is set to kick off tomorrow. The two-day event is co-sponsored by the Hangzhou government, the Zhejiang Department of Commerce and Euromoney.

According to organizers, the summit will focus on China’s “new normal” — a slogan used by officials to describe the trend toward slower GDP growth amid efforts to reform and restructure the economy. The event — now in its third year — is billed as one of the largest city-level economic investment conferences in the world.

Activities include speeches, project signing, project matching and visits to local development zones.

About 500 commercial leaders, economists and foreign investors are slated to attend the event, including senior executives from Macquarie Group, LVMH Group and McKinsey Global Institute.

In total, representatives from nearly 50 global Fortune 500 companies, as well as 120 local Hangzhou enterprises, have signed up to take part in the conference.

The summit will also host the first-ever unveiling of the China’s Best Cities ranking, as determined by Euromoney.

Panel discussions about the global investment market will be held at the event.

Topics for discussion include the global business outlook, foreign direct investment and Chinese overseas direct investment under the “new normal,” the Internet economy and the “next industrial revolution.”

A series of seminars on specific projects will connect domestic and foreign enterprises.

Authorities in Hangzhou have also arranged signing of 15 major foreign investment projects to take place during the summit.

These projects involve a wide range of industries and themes, including equipment manufacturing, bio-pharmaceuticals and information economy. The total investment is about US$2.1 billion, with the foreign contract of US$1.4 billion.

Promoting Zhejiang’s development zones to global commercial elites is another important goal of the summit.

Participants will visit Hangzhou towns, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou Chengxi Sci-Tech and Innovation Industrial Cluster Area and Jiaxing City.

“The summit aims to build up new business partner relationships,” said a representative from Euromoney. “Any organization which plans to extend its business or investment in China should take part in the summit.”

Yet, the continued success of the summit in Hangzhou is due in no small part to the involvement of Euromoney.

THE China Global Investment Summit: Hangzhou 2015

9-10AM
Opening remarks and welcome addresses

10-10:10am
Euromoney China Best City Awards announcement

10:10-10:20am
Signing ceremony of Hangzhou Foreign invested projects

10:40-11:30am
Panel I: Global business outlook

Panelists in this panel will discuss what China means for their companies and the global economy.

• Outlook on the global business environment and growth strategies

• What are some of the future industries and disruptors to look out for?

• How are foreign companies in China adapting to the “new normal?”

• China and the world — opportunities from the “One Belt, One Road” initiative

• How is the province of Zhejiang and the city of Hangzhou positioned in China’s new economy?

11:30-11:45am
Presentation: The China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Experimental Zone

11:45-12:35pm
Panel II: FDI and Chinese ODI in China’s New Normal

Panelists in this panel will talk about the opportunities and barriers of doing business and investing in China.

• What are the popular sectors for FDI in Zhejiang?

• Anticipating the opportunities arising from China’s upcoming 13th Five-Year Plan

• Trends in FDI, Chinese ODI and M&A

• How can FDI and ODI help Zhejiang develop global Chinese companies and drive corporate growth?

• What’s driving the growth of inbound and outbound investment flows?

• Are private or state-owned enterprises driving outbound investments?

• Which countries are attracting the most Chinese investments and why?

• Impact of an internationalizing RMB

1:35pm-2:25pm
Panel III: The Internet economy

Panelists in this panel will discuss how businesses can look to the Internet to disrupt instead of being disrupted.

• China’s e-commerce boom

• Enabling SME growth and empowering them to become micro-multinational businesses

• Fintech: The potential for crowd funding and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing

• How will internet finance change traditional financial services providers?

• Cashless society: mobile and digital payments

• Striking a balance between regulation vs innovation

• Is Hangzhou the Silicon Valley of the East?

• International interest in partnering with Chinese internet companies

2:25pm-3:15pm
Panel IV: The next industrial revolution

Panelists in this panel will share their understanding of new concepts such as “Made in China 2025,” “Internet Plus” and “Industry 4.0.”

• What will these new manufacturing concepts mean for the world economy?

• Which industries will benefit most? Which will be most vulnerable?

• Assessing China’s manufacturing transition from quantitative to qualitative

• Manufacturing in the era of mobile, big data, and the internet-of-things

• Smart cities, smart production, smart homes, smart health and societal change

• How should businesses adapt and be part of the new digital value chain?

• What is attracting foreign industry 4.0 companies to the province of Zhejiang and the city of Hangzhou?

3:15pm-3:20pm
Closing remarks: Christopher Fordham, chief executive officer of Euromoney Institutional Investor

3:30pm-4:30pm
Workshops

A1: Hangzhou Da Jiangdong Industry Cluster Zone: The new engine of Hangzhou’s economy

A2: Jiande City: Jiande Aviation Town

B1: Gongshu District: Hangzhou North Software Park

B2: Xiacheng District: Cross-border Trading Town

C1: Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone: Advanced manufacturing industry (the manufacturing bases for Lego, Abbott, MARS, Hormel, Hella, etc.)

C2: Taizhou Bay Cycle Economy Industry Cluster Zone: The circular economy industry (resource efficient economy: reuse, repair, refurbish, recycle)

C3: Yangtze River Delta Manufacturing Center of China Makeup Base in Huzhou: Cosmetics industry