Smart City Workshop

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Intensive Exchange of views in the area of Smart City between Austria and China

Photo: Ambassador Dr. Friedrich Stift, Mr. Ernst Woller

Photo: Panel Discussion at the 2018 China-EU Conference on Sustainable Urbanisation

On Tuesday, the December 11th a Smart City Workshop was hosted at the residence of the Austrian Embassy in Beijing by the Science and Technology Section of the Austrian Embassy (OSTA Beijing) and opened by the Austrian Ambassador Dr. Friedrich Stift.

Mr. Ernst Woller, first President of the Parliament of the Province of Vienna was invited by Mr. Philipp Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary and Director of the OSTA Beijing to attend the Workshop and deliver a key note speech on the City of Vienna’s remarkable evolution over the last 100 years. Vienna now ranks first in various international ranking systems measuring quality of life and level of digitalization.

Mr. Bernhard Müller, Secretary General of the Urban Forum and former mayor of the City Wiener Neustadt also attended the event an presented his organization as well as the Agency for European Integration, a Vienna-based governmental agency set-up to manage large transnational projects.

The AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology, the largest Austrian applied research organization and the Austrian companies Swarco, Doppelmayr and Neubau, which are all present in China for several years as well as representatives from the China Centre for Urban Development (CCUD) of the NDRC, the China Academy for Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) of MoHURD and the Telekom-Giant Huawei gave informative Show-Case Presentations in the area of Smart City including cyber security, smart buildings, smart traffic and digitization.

On Wednesday 12 December, Mr. Ernst Woller, accompanied by Ambassador Stift, OSTA, AIT, Urban Forum, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology and of the Research Promotion Agency participated at the 2018 China-EU Conference on Sustainable Urbanisation dedicated on the planning of the Xiong’an New Area, organised by CAUPD and joined a Panel Discussion at the opening session of the event.

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The first Joint Working Group Meeting between ATC and Jiaxing Nanhu District

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Further enhance cooperation in the field of smart city

Photo: The first Joint Working Group Meeting between ATC and Jiaxing Nanhu District

06 November 2018 – The first Joint Working Group Meeting between the Austrian Technology Corporation (ATC) and the Nanhu District of Jiaxing City was successfully held in Jiaxing Science City. The Austrian delegation was headed by Mr Alexander Unkart, from the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology of the Republic of Austria (BMVIT). The Chinese delegation was headed by Mr CAO Jiandi, Director of Development and Reform Bureau (DRC) of Nanhu District and Mr ZHOU Chuangen, Deputy Director of DRC Nanhu and included representatives from urban planning organisations.

Both sides held in-depth discussions regarding the cooperation in the field of smart city. Following a general introduction of Nanhu District and Jiaxing Science City, Mr Tino Terraneo, CEO of ATC held an informative presentation on smart city solutions, focusing on urban planning, smart mobility, smart energy, urban farming, green city, urban environment, E-Government, E-Health, safety and security, etc. Ms Sandra Schneider from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) also introduced a new generation of urban planning tools and methods, such as rapid prototyping of cities, infrastructure and districts. Active and constructive talks were held after the presentations.

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BMVIT
ATC
AIT
Jiaxing Science City (CN)

Austrian Technology Day 2018 finished the first stop in Chengdu

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“Tecxport” achieved a futher step

Photo: Mr Martin Allgäuer, Austrian Consul General in Chengdu opened the event

05 November 2018 – The Austrian Technology Day 2018 (Chengdu), which was organized by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) and the Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province, co-organized by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), Office of Science and Technology (OSTA), Austrian Consulate General Chengdu Commercial Section and Austrian Technology Corporation (ATC), was successfully held at the Centre for China-Europe Cooperation (CCEC) managed by the EU Project Innovation Centre (EUPIC).

The Austrian Technology Day (Chengdu) was opened by Mr Martin Allgäuer, Austrian Consul General in Chengdu; Mr JING Shigang, Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province; Mr Alexander Unkart, BMVIT; Ms Segree Dai, President of EUPIC and Ms Birgit Murr, Austrian Consul for Commercial Affairs in Chengdu. Mr Max Pfeiler, Deputy Director of OSTA, moderated the event.

This event gathered over 120 participants from both Austria and China, who discussed the following areas of possible cooperation: “Aeropolis” (Chengdu Tianfu International Airport), Environment & Energy and Urban Development & Disaster prevention. Representatives from 12 Austrian technology-oriented companies and research organisations (ATC, BT Seals Austria, Getzner, GWT, Lumitech, Neubau, M-U-T, Austrian State Printing Office, RISE, Geodata, AIT and FFG), held interesting presentations during the event, presenting various state-of-the-art Austrian technologies, products and services. Participants from the Chinese side came from local government, S&T organizations and over 40 companies. 6 Chinese companies also held presentations at each topic. On the margin of the event, participants of both sides were able to find potential partners at networking tea break and lunch buffet.

The Austrian Technology Day 2018 in Chengdu offered another outstanding opportunity for information exchange and further technology cooperation between Austria and Sichuan.

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BMVIT
FFG
ATC
AIT
Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province (CN)
EUPIC

Meeting with the Chengdu DRC and S&T Department

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Preparing Austrian Technology Day in Chengdu

Photo:Bilateral talks with Chengdu DRC and S&T Department

20 September 2018 – An Austrian Delegation, headed by Mr Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary and director of OSTA, accompanied by Mr Martin Allgäuer, Consul General of Austria in Chengdu, met representatives of the Chengdu Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Chengdu Municipal Science and Technology Department. Both sides exchanged opinions regarding specific cooperation fields and possibility of co-hosting the event Austrian Technology Day, which will presumably take place on 05 November in Chengdu.

Focused on the new Chengdu Tianfu International Airport and actual urban development of Chengdu, Mr Agathonos “offered” „Aeropolis“ (border control, crowd-management), environmental technologies (drinking water management, wastewater management, CO² conversion technology, passive house), mobility (smart transport system) and disaster management (Geo-mapping) etc. as possible cooperation fields between Austria and Chengdu.

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Meeting with the Sichuan S&T Department

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Exploring further cooperation fields and preparing Austrian Technology Day

Photo: Lin, Thenmayer, Zanetta, Agathonos, Liu, Allgäuer, Zhao in front of Austrian booth on WCIF

Photo: Bilateral talks on margin of WCIF

20 September 2018 – In the margin of WCIF – Western China International Fair, Mr Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary and director of OSTA and Mr Martin Allgäuer, Consul General of Austria in Chengdu met the Director General of Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province, Mr LIU Dong. Mr Agathonos firstly presented the Austrian booth to DG Liu and both sides subsequently held fruitful talks regarding the possible fields for bilateral cooperation and the preparation of Austrian Technology Day, which will presumably take place on 05 November in Chengdu.

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The 2nd High-Level International Forum on Sustainable Urban Development

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Austria as an Innovation Leader in Sustainable Urban Development

Photo: HE Ambassador Dr. Stift held a presentation on the forum

01 August 2018 – The 2nd High-Level International Forum on Sustainable Urban Development, organised by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the China Center for Urban Development (CCUD), was opened in Chengdu. HE Ambassador Dr. Friedrich Stift held a presentation on Austrian cases of sustainable urban development with the example of the Smart City of Vienna. Mr. Ingolf Schädler, Head of Innovation at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, delivered a speech at the event and introduced the EU – Joint Programming Initiative URBAN EUROPE, underlying that new ways of citizens participation in urban development will be needed in order to tap the full potential of technology driven innovation within cities. Dr. Margit Noll, Chair of the Management Board of JPI Urban Europe, also held a presentation on Sustainable Urban Development. Deputy Director of OSTA, Mr. Max Pfeiler also attended the Forum and assisted the representatives from Austria.

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2018 EU-China Forum on Sustainable Urban Development

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Fruitful participation and information exchange of the BMVIT with Chinese city representatives

Photo: Inaugural ceremony of the “Horizon 2020” EU-China Sustainable Urbanization Pairing Cities

Photo: bilateral meeting between BMVIT and chinese city representatives

18 Mai 2018 – The fourth EU-China Forum on Sustainable Urban Development & EU-China Intelligent Technology Innovation Summit organized by the China Center of Urban Development (CCUD) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) took place in Tianjin. More than 300 city representatives, experts, high-tech corporate leaders and media elites both from China and Europe participated at the forum and exchanged ideas on technological innovation, smart cities and related topics.

Mr. Gernot Grimm, Head for Technology Transfer and Security Research, Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and Mr. Philipp Agathonos, Director for the Science and Technology Section of the Austrian Embassy Beijing participated in thematic panel discussions. The Austrian Institute of Technology – AIT and the Austrian Technology Corporation – ATC were also present at the event and were asked to hold presentations.

During the forum BMVIT also held several bilateral meetings with the vice mayor of Jiaxing Nanhu New Area, the Chief Ingenieur of the Construction Committee of City of Huangshi, the vice director of the Changde Administrative Committee and the vice mayor of the Changbaishan Chibei Area and discussed opportunities for cooperation.

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EU-China Research and Innovation Tour comes successfully in Suzhou to an end

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Further opportunities for science and technology cooperation with Austria

Photo: Philipp Agathonos held a speech about the current and potential cooperation with Austria in Hefei

After the launch of the EU-China Research and Innovation Tour at the Italian Embassy on 27^th October 2017 in Beijing and the station on 1^st November 2017 in Hangzhou, the Tour continued its track further to Shenzhen, Changsha, Wuhan, Hefei, Shanghai and ended on 1^st December successfully in Suzhou. Representatives from the EU Delegation, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Croatia attended the events. They introduced their current situation on science, technology and innovation and presented opportunities for bilateral cooperation with China.

In Hefei station Austria was represented by OSTA Director Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr Philipp Agathonos. Max Pfeiler covered all other stations. They held speeches presenting the current and potential S&T cooperation between China and Austria. In Hefei Prof. Kai CHEN, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), a collaborator of Austria’s most prominent Chinese alumnus, Prof. Jianwei PAN, gave a testimonial on cooperation in field of quantum communication following the speech of Mr Agathonos.

The EU-China Research and Innovation Tour received great responses from local S&T departments and created more opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation with a variety of covering areas in the promising future.

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2017 China-Europe Research and Innovation Tour in Hangzhou

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Presenting possibilities for science and technology cooperation with Austria

Photo: Max Pfeiler held a speech about the potential cooperation with Austria

On 1 November 2017, the second station of the EU-China Research and Innovation Tour 2017 was held at Hangzhou Dianzi University in Hangzhou, Province Zhejiang. Staff of OSTA, Mr Max Pfeiler, as well as representatives from the EU Delegation, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain attended the event. They introduced their current situation on science, technology and innovation and presented opportunities for bilateral cooperation with China.

Chinese representatives, such as Mr. WANG Jian, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Department, Mr. DONG Keqin, Director of the Division for European Affairs of MOST, Mr. ZHU Zefei, President of Hangzhou Dianzi University, participated actively in the event and announced their willingness to accelerate the EU-China cooperation activities.

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Austrian Science and Technology Days in Chengdu 2017

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Photo: Group Photo

OSTA organized on October 11 and 12 the Austrian Science & Technology Days in Chengdu. The days, which were organized with the support of the EU Project Innovation Centre (EUPIC) for the first time within the framework of the Tecxport programme of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) in collaboration with the city of Chengdu and the Province of Sichuan, were opened by the Ambassador of Austria to China Mr Friedrich Stift.

Gernot Grimm (General Director in the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology), Philipp Agathonos (Director of OSTA), Christian Frey (Director at the FFG), Xuehua CHEN (Deputy Director-General of the S&T Department of Sichuan Province), Fuyi XU (Vice-Party Secretary of the Chengdu Industrial Hi-Tech Development Zone Work Group) and Tao LIN (Department Manager of the Chengdu Industrial Hi-Tech Development Zone Administrative Committee) played an active role on the first day, which was dedicated to presentations of Austrian technologies by Austrian research institutes and companies (ATC, AIT, SWARCO, MUT and Doppelmayr) in the areas of urban transport, waste management and geological disaster prevention. The presentations were followed by intense discussions between the two sides and marked out the high potential for concrete project-based cooperation.

In the evening the delegation visited the future HQ of EUPIC and attended a reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), which was hosting an exhibition by Austrian and Chinese contemporary artists. The event was attended by more than twenty provincial and city government officials of Chengdu and the Province of Sichuan as well as representatives of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and relevant universities.

On October 12 HE Ambassador Friedrich Stift met with the CPC party leader of the city of Chengdu, Ruiping FAN, and the vice-governor of Sichuan province, Hexin ZHU and had an open and constructive dialogue.

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