China Italy Innovation Forum

Ministers Wang Zhigang and Lorenzo Fioramonti

Rome/Beijing [ENA] Two thousand Italian and Chinese delegates and about three hundred organizations including universities, research centers and businesses have participated in the China Italy Innovation Forum held today, Tuesday 26 November in Beijing as part of the China Italy Week of Science, Technology, and Innovation. The Italian Minister for University and Research, Lorenzo Fioramonti, and the Chinese Minister of Science

and Technology, Wang Zhigang, inaugurated the event. Promoted by the respective Governments, China Italy Week has so far involved more than 10,000 experts in cooperation projects and 5500 entrepreneurial realities, favoring about 5200 technology transfer actions and 620 scientific cooperation agreements. The project, this year on its tenth anniversary, represents a best practice that over the years has brought Chinese delegations to Rome, Bergamo, Bologna, Cagliari, Florence, Milan and Naples, and the Italian delegations to Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Foshan, Guiyang, Hangzhou, Jinan, Nanjing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Tianjin, Yancheng.

Twelve bilateral agreements between research centers, universities and Italian and Chinese companies have been signed in Beijing today on the occasion of the China Italy Innovation Forum in the framework of the China Italy Innovation Week. In detail, the following cooperation agreements have been signed: 1. Chinese Academy of Sciences Holdings and China Science and Innovation Industry Fund of Funds with Città della Scienza, Naples: Strategic partnership for the design of a Hub for innovation and Sino-European Innovation.

2. Beijing Changfeng ICT Industry Alliance and Cluster Smart Comunities Tech with Torino Wireless Foundation: Collaboration platform on manufacturing 4.0, technological exchange projects, co-incubation; 3. Zhongguancun Smart City Information Industry Alliance and Research Association for Urban Renewal and Smart City China Europe: Cooperation in the application and promotion of technologies, services and products for urban regeneration and smart city; 4. Beijing New Energy Vehicle Technology Innovation Center Ltd and Turin Polytechnic: Co-incubation, technological exchange and joint research. 5. China Federation of Industrial Economics and General Confederation of Italian Industry: Promotion of industry and commercial cooperation

between China and Italy; construction of an advanced platform for collaboration between industrial and commercial brands of the two countries. 6. China Culture and Technology Innovation Service Alliance, Sino-Italy Ningbo Ecological Park and ETT Spa: Definition of strategic partnership. 7. National Institute of Metrology (Nim) and National Metrological Research Institute (INRIM): Definition of strategic partnership. 8. Xi'an Univeristy and Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering University of Florence Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Definition of strategic partnership 9. TJ Innova Engineering & Technology with Marea Scarl: Organic collaboration agreement for the promotion and enhancement of research and

technological innovation focused on sustainable mobility. The two businesses are committed to fostering a mutual technological transfer and joint business initiatives in the European, Middle Eastern and African markets.10. University of Xi’an Shiyou and the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Federico II University of Naples: Cooperation and research exchange in the field of training and scientific training aimed at teachers. 11. Fuzhou University and Polytechnic of Bari: Co-incubation, technological exchange and joint research. 12. Xi'an Sino - European Enterprises Management Consulting Co., Ltd and SPICI srl - Society for Innovation, Cooperation and Internationalization Cooperation in the field of science, technology and culture

to facilitate collaboration between stratup, companies , research institutes, businesses, startups, research institutes and universities, science and industrial parks in the key technology fields. Historically, the 2,000-year-old Silk Road was a great instrument of connectivity between China and Europe through Central Asia. It proved to be a true mechanism of globalization at that time. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping came up with a proposal to revitalize the ancient Silk Road by forming an economic belt to unfold a transportation channel “from the Pacific to the Baltic Sea.” China Italy Innovation Forum represents well People’s Republic of China utilization of soft rather than hard power to boost its standing in the global arena.

Moreover, the issue of soft power has grown in importance in the post-Cold War period due to enhanced globalization. The conceptual background of Chinese efforts to enchance its soft power can be seen in the concepts of “peaceful development” (heping fazhan) 和平发 展 and “harmonious world” (hexie shijie) 和谐 世界, which underline international cooperation and the peaceful settlement of disputes, predominantly within multilateral principles.