Ms. Zhao currently serves as Head of UNIDO ITPO Shanghai. She is also Dean of SJTU-UNIDO Joint Research Institute of Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development. Ms. Zhao once served as Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Harbor City Development (Group) Co., Ltd. In her previous career, Ms. Zhao also served as the General Manager of the Investment Promotion Center of Shanghai Zhangjiang (Group) Co., Ltd. and the General Manager of Shanghai Zhangjiang Investment and Entrepreneurship Services Co., Ltd.

Ms. Zhao has more than 20 years of experience in promoting international and domestic project investment, and has rich experience in regional economic development, especially industrial park planning, construction, investment promotion and investment. She has researched and proposed models for creating a three-dimensional investment environment from industrial chain, value chain, and ecological chain. She has participated in the negotiation of thousands of investment projects and has accumulated profound experience in international cooperation, promoting the implementation of investment projects, project life cycle services and policy coordination. She has proposed a regional economic upgrading model from “Industry-People-City” to “People-Industry-City” and put it into practice in Harbor City of Shanghai.

After joining the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, she received the 2020 United Nations Industrial Development Organization “Director-General’s Exemplary Excellence Award” in recognition of her global achievements in promoting industrial technology innovation and global cooperation with local governments and the private sector.

In terms of research, Ms. Zhao presided over the preparation of high-quality reports such as “Research on the Experience of Digital Factory Construction in Developed Countries and the Digital Development of Shanghai Manufacturing Industry” and “Bridging the Gender Divide in the Digital Age”. Currently, Ms. Zhao also serves as the Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Equity Investment Association, opening up the value chain of government, industry, academia, research, finance, services and use for industrial development.