China Italy, 12 agreements signed in the name of innovation – Fioramonti: Science, the supporting element of cooperation

12 bilateral agreements signed and three Italian startups awarded
         More than 2000 Italian and Chinese delegates 
               300 organizations (universities, research centers, companies) represented
872 collaboration agreements between Chinese and Italian universities

The China Italy Innovation Forum was held today in Beijing on Tuesday 26 November with  Research Ministers Lorenzio Fioramonti and Wang Zhigang

Two thousand Italian and Chinese delegates and about three hundred organizations including universities, research centers and businesses took part in the China Italy Innovation Forum held today * Tuesday, November 26th in Beijing as part of the China Italy 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, this year on its tenth anniversary.

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. This is 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.

Seminars, round tables, b2b meetings and startup contests provided the backdrop for an intense cooperation activity focused on six strategic sectors: artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, smart cities and sustainable mobility, biomedicine, technologies for cultural heritage and, in collaboration with the Italian and Chinese Space Agency, aerospace. Coordinating all the planned activities, from thematic seminars to match-making actions, was Città della Scienza of Naples together with its Chinese partners.

During the work 12 bilateral agreements were signed and the three winning startups of the Best Startup Showcase Enterprenurship Competition were awarded, a program that led 100 innovative Italian SME startups to meet in the last 12 months the most qualified Chinese Venture Capitalists, as well as visit and learn about the most important innovation and industrial centers of the Dragon, such as Alibaba and Huawei, as well as rapidly expanding cities on the innovation front.