The G20 Entrepreneurship Roundtable 2023, co-hosted by the Entrepreneurship Research Center on G20 Economies at Tsinghua University (the Research Center) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), was held on October 23, 2023 in Jiangsu Foho New and Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone (Foho Hi-tech Zone). This year's roundtable had a theme of "Promote entrepreneurship Employment in Platform Economy." This was the seventh consecutive year the Research Center hosted the event, and it was the first time it co-hosted it with an international organization.

At the meeting

LV Yulin, deputy director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Rie Vejs Kjeldgaard, director of the ILO Department of Sustainable Enterprises, Productivity and Just Transition (ENTERPRISES), and WU Weibin, deputy director of the Administrative Committee of Foho Hi-tech Zone, attended the meeting as speakers. GAO Jian, director of the Research Center and professor of the Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Tsinghua SEM, Uma Rani, a senior expert from the ILO and Marco Bianchini, a renowned economist from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), delivered keynote speeches.

Since its establishment, the Research Center has actively organized roundtable discussions about entrepreneurship and conducted research, building an excellent platform for stakeholders to share entrepreneurial knowledge and exchange experience, LV said. The Research Center participated in the G20 employment channel activity and reported to the G20 Employment Working Group on its progress in implementing the "G20 Entrepreneurship Action Plan." At the G20 Labor and Employment Ministers' Meeting in July, ministers from several countries spoke about the center's work and said they looked forward to the annual entrepreneurship roundtable, an important measure to implement the consensus of labor and employment ministers of the G20 this year.

LV Yulin delivers a speech at the roundtable.

Kjeldgaard said the ILO was pleased to co-host the roundtable. She said growth of the platform economy has created employment opportunities and organized production in a more flexible way. But there are challenges in terms of fair competition between enterprises and in ensuring employment protection and social protection for workers and maintaining international labor norms. The roundtable discussion is intended to deepen understanding of these issues, she said.

Rie Vejs Kjeldgaard delivers a speech at the roundtable.

WU Weibin welcomed international representatives and guests to participate in the G20 Entrepreneurship Roundtable and introduced Fenhu Lake's positioning, industry, and ecological advantages as a pioneering zone for China's national strategy of integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta.

WU Weibin delivers a speech at the roundtable.

GAO Jian delivered a keynote speech titled "Analysis of Entrepreneurship and Employment Driven by Global Major Platform Enterprises." He argued that the large platform enterprises are a positive force for global economic development. There are 55 platform enterprises with a global market value exceeding $10 billion. These platform enterprises have created many jobs through direct employment, providing flexible employment opportunities, and promoting an ecology of direct and indirect employment. In addition, platform enterprises can generate new careers, improve employment inclusivity, and promote entrepreneurship by providing markets, short-term loans, and technology empowerment to entrepreneurs and small or medium enterprises (SMEs).

GAO Jian delivers a speech at the roundtable.

Uma Rani said in her keynote speech that digital labour platforms are providing new job opportunities - especially for women, people with disabilities, young people, and those marginalized in the traditional labour market. But workers on these platforms face challenges in terms of working conditions, work regularity, income, and social security, she said.

Uma Rani delivers a speech at the roundtable.

In his speech, Marco Bianchini emphasized the importance of digital transformation for SMEs, and of policy recommendations for the governments to encourage such digitization.

Marco Bianchini delivers a speech at the roundtable.

The event included in-depth exchange and discussion on five topics: the policies and experiences of G20 members in promoting platform enterprises to drive entrepreneurship and employment; the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurship and employment brought by platform enterprises; the ecology of platform enterprises and the development of SMEs; global development trends and innovation in platform enterprises; and the contribution of platform enterprises to achieving global sustainable development goals.

Government officials representing G20 members, scholars from research institutions, business leaders of globally-renowned platform enterprises, representatives of venture capital and service institutions, and representatives of international organizations such as the ILO, OECD, UNESCO, and the World Bank, attended the meeting as speakers.