Held from June 30 to July 2 at the International Institute of Finance, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), the 2nd Frontiers in Finance Conference 2026 was co-hosted by the International Institute of Finance, Faculty of Business for Science and Technology, and School of Management. The event gathered more than one hundred distinguished experts and young researchers from world-class overseas institutions including Nanyang Technological University, the University of Hong Kong and the University of Chicago, as well as leading domestic universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and Harbin Institute of Technology. Participants carried out in-depth academic exchanges on cutting-edge financial topics covering digital finance, asset pricing, corporate finance, capital markets and technological innovation. Drawing on interdisciplinary strengths in mathematics, they shared theoretical innovations and localized practical paths amid profound shifts in global finance.
Opening Ceremony
Professor Chenglong Shen, Member of the Standing Committee of the USTC Party Committee, Director of the Organization Department, and Party Secretary of the Faculty of Business for Science and Technology & School of Management, delivered opening remarks and extended a warm welcome to all domestic and international scholars and industry practitioners. He pointed out that finance constitutes the lifeblood of the national economy and bears on the overall advancement of China’s modernization drive. Amid accelerated global changes, artificial intelligence, big data and computational science are reshaping financial markets, regulatory frameworks and academic research paradigms. Finance has evolved into a core disciplinary tool for interpreting technological transformation, industrial upgrading, financial security and global governance.
Professor Shen noted that USTC adheres to its founding mission of “Serving the Nation through Science and Education, Striving for Excellence”. Developing business and finance disciplines is a crucial step for the university to build a world-class institution and support national strategies for technological and financial strength. Rooted in profound strengths in mathematics, information science, computer science and artificial intelligence, USTC has developed a distinctive interdisciplinary finance program integrating science and engineering. It prioritizes research on tech finance, digital finance, green finance and financial security to ground financial studies in China’s real economic landscape. He stressed that young scholars underpin the long-term development of the discipline. The university will continue to build high-level academic platforms to create opportunities for faculty and doctoral students to engage with global frontiers and conduct international academic exchanges. He also conveyed sincere gratitude to alumni at home and abroad for their consistent support of the university’s finance discipline and dedicated mentorship of young academics.
Professor Qiang Ye, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business for Science and Technology & School of Management and Dean of the International Institute of Finance, presided over the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. He mentioned that the inaugural Frontiers in Finance Conference held in 2025 built a high-quality international academic platform relying on USTC’s interdisciplinary strengths and alumni networks, producing numerous high-quality research outputs and winning wide recognition from academia and industry. As USTC’s core platform for finance talent training, theoretical innovation and think tank services, the Faculty of Business for Science and Technology, School of Management and International Institute of Finance draw on USTC’s solid foundation in science and engineering to construct an interdisciplinary, globally connected finance system. Keeping pace with the AI revolution, the university advances cross-disciplinary research in digital finance and quantitative risk control, and bridges academic research and industrial application.
Professor Ye stated that the new round of technological revolution has reshaped knowledge production modes and disciplinary boundaries within finance. Contemporary financial research must balance theoretical rigor with practical relevance, and proactively adopt data, algorithms and artificial intelligence to deepen integration between finance, statistics, computer science and complex systems. Committed to high-standard, open, professional and standardized conference organization, the event serves not only as a venue for presenting research findings but also a hub for generating original ideas and methodological breakthroughs. Multiple parallel sessions were arranged to enable junior scholars and PhD students to communicate face-to-face with top global academics, encouraging participants to break free from traditional research frameworks, explore brand-new research paradigms for the AI era, and grow into core innovators of the discipline. He called on all attendees to engage in thorough discussions and exchange ideas to offer new perspectives for global digital finance research.
Professor Henry Cao, Conference Chair from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), delivered a keynote address. As an alumnus of USTC’s Special Class for the Gifted Young, he attributed his solid academic foundation to the rigorous mathematical training and the university’s educational philosophy of “Integrating Red Education with Expertise, Combining Theory with Practice”, and expressed full confidence in USTC’s distinctive finance discipline. USTC’s comprehensive strengths in mathematics, computing and artificial intelligence create unique edges for interdisciplinary finance research, enabling distinctive academic achievements in tech finance, risk measurement and AI-driven financial decision-making. He noted that numerous USTC alumni hold leading positions in global financial academia and industries, continuously supporting the university’s platform development and nurturing young researchers. As an alumnus, he will keep supporting the faculty’s international exchanges, academic cooperation and talent cultivation. Professor Cao emphasized that a vibrant academic conference lies in inspiring new research questions and establishing new collaborative ties, and he expected this conference to unite global academic forces and inject sustained momentum into the long-term development of finance research in China.
Keynote Session
After the opening ceremony, two keynote sessions were held, moderated respectively by Professor Jiaquan Yao (USTC) and Associate Professor Guanhao Feng (City University of Hong Kong). Distinguished keynote speakers included Professor Jianjun Miao (Zhejiang University), Professor Simba Chang (Nanyang Technological University), Professor Xiaolei Liu (Peking University), Professor Henry Cao (CKGSB), and Professor Dacheng Xiu (the University of Chicago). They delivered speeches on frontier topics including digital finance governance, environmental economics and sustainable development, industrial policy and technological innovation, risk evolution in innovative markets, and AI-enabled economic forecasting. Combining new trends in global finance, cutting-edge theoretical models and empirical market data, each scholar shared their latest research outcomes, balancing international forward-looking insights with localized practical reflections. The speakers’ rigorous academic attitude and pragmatic research spirit fully demonstrated top-tier research standards of the international finance community. The five high-level keynote talks provided fresh theoretical ideas for USTC’s finance discipline, valuable references for domestic financial market development and industrial growth, and important inspiration for participating young scholars and students. The sessions featured extensive exchanges and a vibrant academic atmosphere.
Parallel Sessions
Four parallel sessions ran simultaneously, covering four mainstream research branches of finance: AI finance, asset pricing, corporate finance and capital markets. A total of 12 selected papers were presented, followed by Q&A and in-depth discussions among global attendees. The sessions were moderated by Professor Jiaquan Yao (USTC), Associate Professor Guanhao Feng (City University of Hong Kong), Professor Qi Liu (Peking University), and Professor Xiao Wang (USTC). Every session maintained a strong academic atmosphere. Presenters and participants exchanged views on model identification, empirical design, mechanism interpretation and practical application. These thorough dialogues provided valuable research references for young scholars and established a long-term communication channel for academics worldwide.
Best Paper Award
The conference launched a global open call for papers and received nearly 300 submissions. After strict review and academic evaluation by the conference committee, 12 high-quality papers were selected for presentation in parallel sessions. Taking into account on-site presentation performance, Q&A performance and comprehensive scores from reviewers, the paper Dynamic Optimization of R&D Options by Professor Ruixun Zhang (Peking University) was awarded the Conference Best Paper Award.
Special Panel on Economic Practices
A special panel focusing on industrial and economic practices was hosted by Associate Professor Xin He (USTC). Invited speakers included Qiaogen Luo (First-Class Research Fellow, General Office of Anhui Provincial Party Committee, PhD in Economics), Hong Song (Former Chief Editor of the Theory Section of Anhui Daily, Senior Editor, Former Deputy Director & Research Fellow, Institute of Innovation and Development, Anhui University), Ying Li (Research Fellow, Institute of Urban and Rural Economics, Director of Digital Economy Research Office, Anhui Academy of Social Sciences), and Professor Li Zhou (School of Economics, Anhui University). Centered on the theme From Mid-Game Advantage to Endgame Victory: The Centennial Cyclical Pattern of Global Currency Power Shifts — Financial Power and Regional Development Practices Through a Chess Game Game-Theory Lens, the panel bridged global financial theories, national top-level strategies and local implementation practices. It further enriched the conference’s integrated academia-industry-government research framework, and offered practical ideas and theoretical support for central China to advance high-standard opening-up under the Yangtze River Delta integration strategy.
As an internationally influential academic exchange platform in finance, Frontiers in Finance Conference consistently brings together top global scholars and industry practitioners, facilitates in-depth dialogue between cutting-edge global financial theories and China’s domestic economic realities, and expands the boundary of integrated financial academic research and industrial practice.
Moving forward, the Faculty of Business for Science and Technology, School of Management and International Institute of Finance at USTC will further develop open academic exchange platforms, continuously improve the system for finance talent cultivation and scientific research innovation, and strive to produce high-quality research outputs rooted in China’s context and aligned with international standards. The university will contribute USTC’s wisdom and strength to developing a Chinese path to finance and building a stronger financial nation.