On April 25, the launch ceremony of the 2025 2nd National College Students’ Cross-border E-commerce Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the AI+ Cross-border E-commerce University Seminar were held at ZUFE’s Xiasha Campus. , the event brought together faculty and students from 39 universities across the country, along with representatives from cross-border e-commerce. Zhai Weibin, Deputy Director of China International Electronic Commerce Center, ZUFE Vice President Li Zhanrong, and Yao Yuan, Director of University-Enterprise Cooperation at Alibaba.com, attended the ceremony. Participants gathered to explore how to deepen the integration of education and industry in the AI era, unlock the innovative and entrepreneurial potential of college students, and cultivate new engines of growth for the digital economy of cross-border e-commerce.Hosted by China International Electronic Commerce Center of MOFCOM, organized by Alibaba.com and ZUFE, and co-organized by Zhejiang Sirui Zhixun Technology Co., Ltd.
In his opening remarks, Zhai Weibin noted that China’s cross-border e-commerce sector has maintained rapid growth momentum, evolving from a single-channel dependency toward a diversified ecosystem. He emphasized that continued policy support and platform empowerment will help cultivate talent across the cross-border e-commerce industry chain and drive high-quality development of the sector.
Li Zhanrong highlighted the need to further streamline the Government-Industry-University-Research-Application Collaboration chain, cultivating top-tier talent for cross-border trade in the AI era and fully leveraging universities’ role in empowering the cross-border e-commerce ecosystem.
Yao Yuan encouraged students to harness cutting-edge technologies to address bottlenecks throughout the cross-border e-commerce industry chain. He hoped that young entrepreneurs would break through industry boundaries with innovative solutions, inject new momentum into more cross-border e-commerce enterprises and translate academic achievements from universities into a driving force for industrial upgrading.
During the seminar session, Liu Shiqi, General Manager of Quanzhou Tiwantans Trading Co., Ltd., shared his entrepreneurial journey as a member of the post-1997 generation in his talk titled “Cross-border E-commerce Entrepreneurship from a Gen-Z Perspective,” urging young people to “build localized brands with a global vision.” Ren Xiaodan, Product Specialist at Alibaba.com, focused on technology empowerment, stating that “AI will reshape foreign trade efficiency—from intelligent product sourcing to precision marketing, the technological revolution is already accessible.” Sun Zhou, Integrated Marketing Specialist at Alibaba.com, dissected case studies to reveal how “new online marketing models” can break through traffic growth bottlenecks and open up new horizons for growth. Professor Zou Yimin of Zhejiang Normal University delivered a presentation themed “AI-Empowered Cross-border E-commerce Education,” sharing insights on evolving talent demand in cross-border e-commerce, the construction of practice-oriented teaching systems, and innovative approaches to talent cultivation.
The event also witnessed the official unveiling of the Alibaba.com AI Employment Training Base. Alibaba.com will partner with universities to build a digital talent incubation platform, achieving deep integration between the education chain and the industry chain to jointly advance the high-quality cultivation of AI talent in cross-border e-commerce. Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Dalian Neusoft University of Information, and Linyi University were designated as the first batch of co-construction institutions.
The competition will run from April to December. Centered on core cross-border e-commerce processes—including store setup and product sourcing, marketing and customer acquisition, business opportunity conversion, and order fulfillment—it features three tracks: the Entrepreneurship Incubation Competition, the Creative Marketing Competition, and the AI Innovation Application Competition. Based on industry-proposed challenges and real-world enterprise scenarios, the competition progresses through stages of solution innovation, simulated operations, and live competition.
The National College Students’ Cross-border E-commerce Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition aims to deepen industry-education integration, cultivate innovative and practice-oriented talent for cross-border e-commerce, and boost entrepreneurship and employment among college students in this field. Qualified teams will receive hands-on training and mentorship from leading cross-border e-commerce enterprises and frontline AI experts, along with dedicated startup support including capital subsidy and workspace.
(Editor: Che Peng)
