IMD has announced the IMD Shenzhen Global Hub, a dedicated facility for business training and research in one of China’s leading innovation centers. Set to open in the spring of 2027, the Hub will build on IMD’s ongoing activities in China, bringing together IMD experts, executives, and companies to exchange knowledge and explore business challenges.
The announcement was made during the annual IMD Alumni Symposium in Shenzhen on 25–26 October, which convened alumni from across the school’s global community.
“Expanding our geographic presence and deepening our impact in Asia’s high-growth regions is a strategic priority for IMD, and Shenzhen is a natural place to do that,” said David Bach, President of IMD. “A dedicated space in Shenzhen will allow us to host executive training sessions locally and, alongside our base in Singapore, strengthen our connections with leading enterprises across Asia.”
The new Hub will occupy approximately 900 square meters in the Huahai Financial Innovation Center in Qianhai, a Shenzhen–Hong Kong cooperation zone focused on modern services. The facility will include flexible areas, with the main space designed to accommodate up to 130 participants, alongside breakout rooms and workspaces for IMD faculty and staff.
Why Shenzhen matters to global business
Forty years ago, Shenzhen was half the size of Lausanne. Today it is home to 18 million people, more than twice the population of Switzerland. Shenzhen offers a close view of how Chinese companies are reshaping global competition. Its concentration of technology firms, manufacturers, and suppliers allows companies to connect product development, production, and customer feedback, bringing innovations to market at speed. For international executives, understanding how these capabilities are built and organized is increasingly important as Chinese businesses compete in industries from electric vehicles to advanced manufacturing and digital technologies.
IMD’s research on Shenzhen-based BYD, for example, examines how the company has built capabilities over time and translated technological innovation into competitive advantage. Such developments raise questions for executives elsewhere about how their own organizations approach innovation, coordinate resources, and respond to changing competitive pressures.
“Shenzhen gives leaders an opportunity to understand how its distinctive business ecosystem supports innovation in practice and at scale,” said Mark Greeven, Professor of Management Innovation at IMD and founding director of IMD’s China Initiative.
“The value comes from examining how companies work and asking which lessons apply in different contexts. Having a dedicated Hub will help us deepen that engagement and connect what we find with the strategic choices executives face elsewhere.”
Connecting China and the world
The Hub will build on the work of IMD’s China Initiative, which provides international executives with research and insights into China’s business and innovation landscape, including company case studies and research on how businesses in China are responding to changes in their markets.
The Hub will host IMD’s new program Inside China’s Innovation Ecosystem: A Shenzhen Immersion, which will allow individual leaders and small teams to examine AI, innovation ecosystems, and global competition through a four-day Shenzhen immersion. Drawing on research from the Center for Future Readiness and the China Initiative, the program combines company engagement and executive dialogue with strategic discussions led by the program directors, helping participants consider the implications for their own organizations.
The Hub will also host weeklong Shenzhen immersions for IMD’s MBA and EMBA programs. It will provide a base for existing advisory work with Chinese companies and multinational businesses operating in China, including engagement with executive teams on their strategic priorities and leadership capabilities.
For international leaders, these activities offer a closer understanding of Chinese businesses and their implications for global competition. For executives in China, they create opportunities to exchange ideas with IMD faculty and peers from other markets. The IMD Shenzhen Hub will provide a lasting base for this exchange, strengthening the school’s role as a bridge between China and the world.
