The World Youth Forum 2024 in Hong Kong brought together over 300 high school students from around the globe to explore financial quotient and AI, highlighting their role in shaping the future economy.

People often discuss IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient), but financial quotient, or FQ, is another crucial skill in modern society.

FQ refers to a person's ability to manage financial matters, reflecting their survival skills as an economic agent in a market-driven world.

Alongside IQ and EQ, many educators now include FQ as part of the "three quotients" essential for youth education.

An event centered around FQ — the first World Youth Forum Future Economics Leadership Summit 2024 & SKT-NEC Global Round (Asia) (WYF) — was held at the Asia-World-Expo in Hong Kong from Aug 5 to 10.

Over 300 high school students from nearly 10 countries and regions gathered, including the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, the United States, India, South Korea, and Turkiye.

These students were selected from over 20,000 participants in global economics challenges to advance to this high-level global youth leadership summit.

The event was co-organized by China Daily 21st Century Media and Education, SKT Education Group, a global leader in youth literacy education, and the Council for Economic Education (CEE), a renowned institution in financial education.

The WYF was held during the opening of the 2024 Hong Kong Youth Day. Tan Yan, deputy general manager of the Asia-Pacific Bureau of China Daily, stated in her speech that Hong Kong, as a global economic and cultural hub, is an excellent host city for this event and an ideal location for global youth to explore diverse perspectives of the world.

Houston Hou, founder and CEO of SKT Education Group and one of the initiators of the WYF, emphasized that the most crucial aspect of having a global perspective is the ability to view all of humanity as a unified whole.

"I believe that this generation of young people, as well as future generations, have the responsibility to share the Chinese culture of universal harmony with the world through the World Youth Forum," he said.

The summit focused on economics and artificial intelligence (AI) with the theme "Future Economy in the AI Era".

During the event, students participated in challenges and discussion panels, communicated with industry experts and scholars, attended social parties, and visited prominent financial and technology institutions such as Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Hong Kong Productivity Council.

Through these activities, the WYF encouraged students to explore how technology can better serve humanity, mitigate risks, and how the youth can seize opportunities in the AI era.

A total of 28 groups from seven countries participated in the U20 challenge. Among them, four high school students from the US teamed up to present a multimedia project on AI, incorporating board games, documentaries, and videos. Their presentation focused on two main aspects: regulations and policies for AI innovation and risk management, and AI's impact on the economy.

According to them, the most crucial aspect for high schoolers is to "stay informed and educated about AI because we live in a time where there is a lot of disinformation".

They emphasized that it is important for everyone, even those not pursuing a career in computer science, AI, or machine learning, to be prepared for the future.

Justin Wang, a student at Lambert High School in Georgia, US, and one of the four members, described his experience at the WYF as "unique".

"There has been no comparative economics research competition in the past, so we were very excited to essentially compete in the new lens beyond just showing economic knowledge through tests and case competitions," he said.

He also noted that the curriculum in the US is uniform across states, so students learn 90 percent of the same content. In contrast, students from other parts of the world come with varied curricula from their respective countries.

"So, I'm looking forward to seeing the different perspectives toward economics and just learning and expanding my worldview," Wang said.

Shao Ruohan, an 11th grader from Jinan Foreign Language School in East China's Shandong province, participated in an economics challenge and a critical thinking competition during this forum.

As the team leader for both events, she stressed the importance of recognizing team members' strengths and delegating tasks accordingly.

By adjusting strategies over three rounds, her team improved performance and achieved commendable results in the end.

Shao found the experience valuable for her career aspirations. "I plan to be a manager or start my own company. Participating in the challenge made me realize that managing a business is much more complicated than I initially thought. It's very demanding, and I still need to put in a lot of effort," she said.

guiqian@i21st.cn