Alibaba's founder Jack Ma said on Friday in a virtual interview with China Media Group that under the current situation of COVID-19, the internet economy is supporting the world and the internet is the technology of the future.  

"No country or enterprises can be isolated from the internet," Ma said, adding that every one of us must grasp the future and improve the country's economic system through future technologies and ideas.  

The importance of vaccine development to combat COVID-19  

Considering the uncertainty of the epidemic at the beginning of the virus outbreak, the Jack Ma Foundation set a donation program of 100 million yuan (about 14.26 million U.S. dollars) on January 29 to support the research and development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

Within that donation, 20 million yuan (about 2.85 million U.S. dollars) was donated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. 

"In my opinion, the epidemic will not end within a short time and it can only vanish by relying on technological breakthroughs, innovation and medical research. So, we have to make long-term preparation," Ma suggested.  

Most medical experts think that a vaccine in the fight against any epidemic is of great importance, while a few of them also have conservative suggestions that vaccines are not playing a key role in fighting the virus, but only effective in sci-fi films because of the difficulties and uncertainties in developing effective vaccines. However, in an attempt to end the epidemic, more money and support should be given to researchers and their studies.  

Only through the breakthrough in research and development of medicine can science and technology be innovative.  

E-commerce will be the key for enterprises to survive

While there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the economic impact of the pandemic, one thing is certain: It will change the way we do business in the long-term.  

People are gradually moving from brick and mortar shopping to online, and the habit is unlikely to disappear when the pandemic is over. Implementing ecommerce technology could be the key to retaining customers and leveraging the change in consumer behavior moving forward, which also means people should find innovative ways to adapt to the current situation.  

As Ma has suggested in a recent interview, e-commerce will be the key for enterprises to survive, for countries to prosper, and for the world economy to get boosted. The virus is a signal for the world, raising alarms for countries around the world to step up their moves to reinforce their economic system.  

Under the current situation, maybe we can't allow all things to grind to a halt, but it's the time to adapt, to evolve and move forward. In the fight against the COVID-19, Ma hopes to influence more people in the world and awaken more social conscience.