On April 28, Qikun XUE, President of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), spoke at the 2022 Times Higher Education (THE) Innovation and Impact Summit co-hosted by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

President XUE joined a panel discussion at the prestigious event entitled “Is big better?”. They explored whether universities can provide a “safe space” to encourage risk and allow failure to facilitate fundamental breakthroughs, to see if there is a formula to find the right balance of diversity of talent and restricted funds that can support innovation, and the importance of geographic location for universities and their quest to generate innovation.

The other panelists alongside President XUE were Dr. Deana Anglin, Senior Staff User Experience Research and Strategy Lead at Google, Lisa Coleman, Senior Vice-President of Global Inclusion and Strategic Innovation at New York University (NYU), and Petri Suomala, Vice-President of Education at Aalto University. The panel was moderated by Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer of THE.

At the summit, President XUE shared his experience at SUSTech with the other panelists. He said that universities are “safe spaces” that encourage exploration and reward failure. Great innovation stems from breakthroughs in basic research, and we must make breakthroughs, change short-term evaluation methods, reduce over-evaluation, and provide a research-friendly environment for the scientists.

“Only by striving to create a good environment for immersing ourselves in science and research can we cultivate major breakthroughs with a global impact, and generate new knowledge and ideas that can promote scientific and social progress,” said President XUE.

With the theme of “What Makes a Successful Innovation Climate”, the Summit focused on the impact the University made on the international community and the problems that came out of the crossover cooperation. The participants discussed the contribution that higher education can make to a successful, prosperous, and sustainable innovation ecosystem.