The inaugural 2025 Sino-UK Entrepreneur Forum on May 14th, hosted by The 48 Group and China Daily, looked to the future of smart technologies between the UK and China.
Organised with the theme “Smart Decisions for Smart Technologies.”
The high-level forum was intended to spotlight groundbreaking AI and smart technologies, as well as their applications and impact across industries. Organised aimed for the forum to allow the exchange of ideas, forging partnerships, and exploring future business opportunities in smart technologies.
Opening the 2025 Sino-UK Entrepreneur Forum, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang gave a speech on AI technology and UK-China relations. Using this speech, he urged the UK and China to collaborate closely on AI. This included highlighting the UK’s participation in a recent China-hosted AI capacity-building workshop and hoping that the UK would participate in the World AI Conference this summer in Shanghai.
Ambassador Zheng Zeguang was followed by speeches from Mr. Jack Perry (Chairman of The 48 Group), Mr. Sun Shangwu (Deputy editor-in-Chief of China Daily), Alderman Timothy Hailes (Future Lord Mayor, City of London), Weiqiang Zhang (CEO of ATFX Connect Global), and Greg Jackson (CEO of Octopus Energy).
Chairman of The 48 Group Mr Jack Perry emphasised the importance of smart technologies such as AI for the future. He stated: “We are entering a new era, and the decisions we make now in AI, clean technology, and digital systems will shape the next phase of global development.”
In this area, he believes there are ample areas for China and the UK to develop and deepen relationships, cooperation, and investment.
As well as speeches, panel talks were organised featuring insights from experts and industry leaders on how AI is transforming a wide range of sectors, including power supply, green growth, shipping, finance, vehicles, cloud computing, and more.
The event ended with closing remarks from Editor-in-Chief of China Daily Europe Rebecca Yang before a dinner.
She pointed to the UK’s excellence in fundamental research, fintech, and regulatory frameworks, and China’s expansive market, digital infrastructure, and real-world application capabilities as a foundation for strategic bilateral collaboration. Arguing that “China and Britain are two global engines of innovation with deeply complementary strengths.”
The Chinese newspaper China Daily and The 48 Group co-hosted the event. The 48 Group originated in the 1950s when Jack Perry Senior led a delegation of British companies to a multinational economic conference in Moscow and began historic talks with representatives of the Chinese government. Today, they are a leading organisation in promoting China-British business ties.
Hosted at One Great George Street, an extravagant Edwardian building that functions as a conference centre in central London.
The Forum took place in the afternoon of May 14th.
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