Speed, Strategy and Synthesis: Decoding the China Innovation Engine
Lyn Kwek, second from left, and Yvonne Soh, third from left, at the Daxing International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone in Beijing, China during NTU PACE Travel and Learn programme.
In an era defined by breakneck technological shifts and complex geopolitical dynamics, the traditional classroom is often only the beginning. For senior organisational leaders, true clarity comes from ground-level immersion where the action is. In March 2026, two professionals — Yvonne Soh, CEO of Singapore Green Building Council and Lyn Kwek, Director of Communications at ACI Worldwide — embarked on the NTU PACE Travel and Learn programme to Beijing designed to decode China’s unique innovation ecosystem.
Here is how their perspectives evolved from the departure gate to the return flight.
The Departure: Seeking the Strategic Edge
Before the trip, both participants were looking for more than just a business tour, they were seeking a framework to understand the elements contributing to regional competitiveness and avenues for cross-border collaboration.
Yvonne’s Objective: With a focus on Singapore’s built environment, Yvonne wanted to decode China’s supply chain management and infrastructure development. She noted the growing presence of Chinese green-tech providers in Singapore and aimed to gain the cultural and strategic fluency required for more productive partnerships.
Lyn’s Objective: Operating at the intersection of business and policy in her role, Lyn sought to understand how strategy and regulation converge in China. Her goal was to sharpen her ability to anticipate regional shifts and engage stakeholders with a more informed perspective.
The Immersion: Seminars and Systems
The programme’s impact began even before the participants touched down, thanks to academic foundations laid by NTU faculty Dr. Yan Li. Yvonne highlighted the pre-trip lectures as a masterclass in Chinese entrepreneurship and strategy that set the stage for the impending immersion.
The experiential learning during the trip focused on how growth is operationalised at scale for various organisations. For Lyn, the most meaningful takeaway was witnessing how China turns strategy into execution through tightly coordinated ecosystems and rapid iteration. She observed that policy, technology and market demand move in sync at a remarkable speed.
The Transformation: Shifting Perspectives
Post-trip, both Yvonne and Lyn revealed a significant pivot in how they view global innovation.
Yvonne noted that the widespread availability of data has allowed Chinese firms to cultivate sophisticated competitive advantages by synthesising both lead and lag indicators. Meanwhile, Lyn found that the network built alongside a diverse group of leaders and alumni from NTU Singapore and Tsinghua University is as valuable as the site visits themselves for deepening cross-market understanding continually.
The Return: Applying Lessons to Singapore
As these organisational leaders return to their roles, the insights gained from the Travel and Learn programme have direct applications for the Singaporean market.
Strategic Narratives: Lyn plans to use her new regional insights to elevate how she shapes strategic narratives and engages stakeholders.
Intelligence-Led Growth: For Yvonne, the focus shifts to how digitalisation and data can be leveraged to navigate future growth more effectively within the built environment.
Agility vs. Governance: The trip highlighted how ideas move from concept to deployment when stakeholders are aligned, a lesson Lyn believes can help balance agility with strong governance to establish long-term resilience.
The consensus is clear: while research and reading provide the "what", NTU PACE’s Travel and Learn programme provides the "how". By stepping into the heart of a global innovation hub, these leaders have returned not just with information, but with a refined lens for the future.
-
The upcoming Travel and Learn programme to Hangzhou will be having its information session on Wed 3 Jun. Sign up here.
