On April 13 and 14, the 4^th Sino-German Innovation Conference took place in Berlin, Germany. Wan Gang, Minister of Science and Technology of China, and Georg Schuette, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Hu Zhijian, President of CASTED, representing the Chinese and German expert groups, reported to the conference on the progress of Sino-German STI cooperation and gave a keynote speech. Other CASTED researchers attending the conference also gave speeches on topics including industrial cluster and S&T financing. A total of more than 200 representatives of Chinese and German government agencies, research institutes and companies attended the conference.

In 2011, under the joint initiative of Chinese Premier and German Chancellor, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany established an innovation platform cooperation mechanism for research in areas including innovation policy, clean water, electric mobility, urban future, semiconductor lighting and life science, under which the Chinese and German sides have organized leading research forces to engage in high-level cooperation in those research areas. The 4^th Sino-German Innovation Conference was attended by Chinese and German research collaborators in all research areas, where they demonstrated their cooperation results, summarized cooperation experience, and explored potential of future cooperation. CASTED, serving as the Chinese coordinator of the Sino-German Innovation Platform, was responsible for the conference’s agenda design, organization and coordination.

The conference consisted of three sessions on national innovation system, urbanization innovation, and R&D cooperation. During the session on international innovation system, the Chinese and German representative had full discussions on the latest innovation development trends, policy directions and cooperation opportunities regarding such subjects as innovation strategy, regional innovation system, patents and standards, and S&T investment. During the session on urbanization innovation, the representatives introduced their cooperation results and shared their research progress in such areas as climate control, water pollution control, urban environment control, and urban planning towards the building of cities of the future. During the session on R&D cooperation, the representatives had in-depth discussions on priority areas of cooperation including ICT, smart manufacturing, smart lighting, electric mobility, and biotechnology.

The conference provided an excellent opportunity for Chinese and German experts to communicate, coordinate and interact, where experts with different backgrounds gathered to discuss innovation and cooperation. As a new milestone of Sino-German Innovation Dialogue, the conference will bring Sino-German innovation cooperation to a new level.

Info link: Minister Wan Gang Attended Sino-German Innovation Conference

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