To understand Alibaba’s history, entrepreneurship and its intellectual property protection, more than 30 students from Asian Future Leaders Scholarship Program and International Affairs and Global Governance Program visited Alibaba Group Corporate Campus on December 21st, 2018, led by Professor Yu Xunda.
The visit featured a tour and three presentations. The tour around the exhibition hall, led by a bilingual guide, began with the history of Alibaba. Ali was founded in 1998 by 18 people under Jack Ma. The founding story made Ali a unique enterprise with a unique spirit and great mission. The guide focused on the enterprise mission “To make it easy to do business anywhere” and gave us an insight into related main strategies and products including the new retail model, China’s Taobao Village, inclusive financial service and inclusive globalization. After introducing the corporate mission, the guide showed a bicycle hung on the motley wall, indicating Ali’s spirit that imagination is the primary productive force.
The subsequent part included three talks about intellectual property rights given by three experts from Ali Research.
The focus of the presentations was how Ali protects intellectual property rights, exploring Ali’s idea and practice on such issues. Alibaba Group IPP platform, Alibaba Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance and Ali IPR Research Institute have been established to form a complete protection system. As for the tools of IPR protection, Alibaba prioritized advanced technology, which was followed by perfect business models and concrete regulations. Moreover, Ali touched on young generation’s originality and creativity and offered platforms to popularize emerging products. For instance, Taobao Maker Festival was one of the most representative events launched by Alibaba, where China’s top independent designers showcased their latest collections. It was both a celebration of creativity and design, as well as a demonstration of cutting-edge technology by Alibaba. Three presentations were followed by a Q&A session, during which three experts interacted with international students from more than 10 countries. Several international students compared the experience of using Taobao and online shopping in their home country and provided some suggestions.
This visit allowed international students to get a fresh impression of Alibaba. It was interesting for students to learn about Ali’s story, corporate culture, business model and IPR protection. Students commented that it was a precious opportunity to visit Alibaba. It inspired students to apply Ali’s model in their home country and hometown.
