How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted educational technology?

In this video, David Gosset, senior advisor to the emlyon business school Asia, founder of the Europe-China Forum, has a conversation with Professor William Hua Wang, Dean of emlyon business school Asia and French Dean of Asia Europe Business School. They share their views on how to connect the crisis with entrepreneurship, the role of innovation and the China-France relationship.

A Time of Resilience——EdTech, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

David Gosset Qustions & William Wang Answers

D：How do you see the impact of the COVID-19 on EdTech?

W：What we can see is that this COVID-19 really accelerates in fact the whole education industry,in particular the EdTechnology to boost its own business. So there is a huge demand.

And when we talk about the education,you can see that we are in the position of the high education then you have the young kid`s education.So it covers all the education part without talking about another very important (aspect) (which) is the lifelong learning for the business world.So it definitely is a kind of acceleration.

D：Clearly we are in a time of crisis.The way we react to this crisis is about resilience.Now, how do you see the role of innovation in this moment of resilience?

W：I think that the resilience is the grounding for innovation.If you take a look on  innovation,in fact behind a successful innovation,there are lots of difficulties,lots of hurdles,lots of pitfalls.So for the people,the team getting involved in this innovation process,there is the need of the resilience attitude.So this is really the foundation.

D：Now in the time of crisis,how do you connect the crisis and entrepreneurship?

W：The first layer is about resilience,you can see that there will be the separation of different attitudes.One is more reactive or even negative,the others will be more positive,proactive.Secondly is to say,in such a kind of pressure coming from the outside,how you can stay calm,still even think out of the box and identify new business opportunities.So find out the creative work.So in that perspective,for the school is not only teaching about those technical part like marketing,human resources management,this type of thing. So there is also a collective awareness about the soft skill part,including the entrepreneurship.

D：As you know very well in Chinese,when you say crisis,two characters,“危机”,danger and opportunity.An opportunity is an invitation for innovation,but also it gives the opportunity also for entrepreneurs to begin new journey.

W：We understand entrepreneurship,sometimes we only think about launching a business,whatever kind of skills,and another fundamental layer of the entrepreneurship for emlyon business school is about enterprise yourself.So each person can become the boss of your own.

D：It is also always very important to remember that to be an entrepreneur is also about reinvention,to reinvent oneself.Can you tell us a bit more about why do you think that the relations between France and China are so special?

W：It`s a kind of humanity about what we call the chaleur of human being,the warmth of human being.I think that everybody agrees that two nations are great nations with long civilization.Personally,I think that if we summarize in one word about the common point between China and France,I can summarize like it`s a kind of tolerance and appreciation about diversity.

D：Thank you so much for these very inspiring words.The crisis is testing us as individuals,nations,companies,but it tests also the friendship between nations.And what we can say is that between France and China,this crisis makes the friendship between the two countries even stronger.