OSTA participates to High-Level International Forum on Sustainable Urban Development

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Talking about the future Sustainable Urban Development

21 July 2017 – During a full day seminar and panel discussion at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Chengdu, academic and political experts on urban development took a deep look into the topics of Urban Drivers and Financial Innovation, Urban Infrastructure Connectivity and Spartial Development, Urban Resilience, Prosperity and Livability, Urban Innovation and Sharing Economy, Urban Culture and Featured Development, Urban and Smart Cities, and other key issues. The Forum was hosted by Chengdu Municipal People’s Government and China Center for Urban Development (CCUD) under the framework of the cooperation agreement signed by United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) and CCUD in 2016.

The forum guests were warmly welcomed by Mr. Li Tie, director general of CCUD, Mr. Yang Hongbo, Vice Governor of Sichuan Province, and Mr. Luo Qiang, Mayor of City Chengdu. Mr. Joan Clos, Under Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), was holding an impressive Keynote Speech about the world-wide urban development status quo. From the EU side, representatives of Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland and EU Delegation took part of the High Level Forum.

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JPI Urban Europe and CAUPD signed an agreement during the China-EU leaders‘ meeting

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The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Wan Gang and Carlos Moedas

Photo: Yang Baojun, Wan Gang, Carlos Moedas, Ingolf Schädler

2 June 2017 – JPI Urban Europe (JPI UE) and the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) signed a memorandum of understanding to intensify the partnership in the field of urbanisation. The formal ceremony took place in the course of the 3rd EU-China High Level Innovation Cooperation Dialogue in the presence of Wan Gang, China’s Minister of Science and Technology and Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation in the EU headquarter in Brussels in Belgium. The agreement was signed by Yang Baojun, President of CAUPD and Ingolf Schädler, Chair of the governing board of JPI UE and deputy Director General at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology. Afterwards, all the participants had a group photo with China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

Links:

China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD, press release in Chinese)
JPI Urban Europe

BMVIT establishes contact with Ministry of Water Resouces

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Laying cornerstone for new cooperative projects

17 May 2017 – Led by Philipp Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary for Science and Technology and director of OSTA and Dr. Gernot Grimm, head of staff group for technology transfer and security research, Austrian federal ministry for science, technology and transport (BMVIT), an Austrian delegation came together with Liu Zhiguang, director general of department of international cooperation, science and technology, ministry of water resources; Li Yun, vice president of the Nanjing hydraulic research institute and other representatives to discuss about the on-going as well as further collaboration. After reviewing the achieved progresses, both sides confirmed the great cooperation potential between Austria and China, especially in the field of water management. Elisabeth Rysanek, head of the environmental and agricultural section of the Austrian Embassy in Beijing also attended the meeting.

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Ministry of Water Resources (MWR)

First contact with Binhai New Area

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Extenting Sino-Austrian collaboration in Tianjin

Photo: Liu Yue, Xia Qinglin, Gernot Grimm

16 May 2017 – An Austrian delegation led by Dr. Gernot Grimm, head of staff group for technology transfer and security research, Austrian federal ministry for science, technology and transport (BMVIT) and Philipp Agathonos, minister plenipotentiary for science and technology and director of OSTA, visited the Binhai New Area in Tianjin in the company of representatives from the China center for urban development (CCUD). The delegation was warmly welcomed by Xia Qinglin, deputy director of the people’s government of Tianjin Binhai New Area and Tang Zhongfu, deputy director of development and reform commission of Tianjin Binhai New Area. After an informative introduction and intensive discussion with the local governmental authorities, the delegation also had a tour through the China-Europe Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Park in Tianjin Harbor Economic Area.

Tianjin Binhai New Area is a national comprehensive reform pilot area. Based on the integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, it is regarded as the opening-up gateway of northern China as well as the high level modern manufacturing and R&D transformation base.

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Tianjin Binhai New Area

International Urban Cooperation Launch Event

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Introducing strategies for City to City Cooperations

Photo: EU Ambassador Mr. Schweisgut

15 March 2017 – Philipp Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary for Science and Technology and director of OSTA, participated in the EU-China International Urban Cooperation Launch Event. The IUC programme boosts international urban cooperation with EU partners in Asia. With a budget of over EU 20 million, the IUC effectively supports Habitat III goals as well as the Paris Agreement and the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

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European Commission
NDRC (CN)

EU-China Workshop on Sustainable Urbanization starts in Ningbo

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Exchanging best practice and innovative solutions

29 November 2016 – The “EU-China Experts Workshop on Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Urban Development” was launched in Ningbo today. Experts from policy, research and industry came together to identify future EU-China priorities and actions for cooperation in the field of sustainable and innovative urbanization. Prof. Manfred Horvat from the Vienna University of Technology and JPI Urban Europe (JPI UE) senior advisor for international STI cooperation, Dr. Margit Noll from FFG, chair of the JPI UE management board, and Hans-Guenther Schwarz from the BMVIT, policy coordinator of JPI UE, as well as Catrin Haider, Branislav Iglar and Hans-Martin Neumann (all three from AIT Austrian Institute of Technology) and Philipp Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary for Science and Technology and director of OSTA, also participated in the workshop.

The event was supported by JPI Urban Europe and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and organized by the University of Nottingham Ningbo China on behalf of the Horizon2020 DragonSTAR Plus project.

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Meetings with CCUD, NRA and MOT

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Deeping the future Cooperation

Photo: Max Pfeiler, Philipp Agathonos, Wang Jin, Qiu Aijun, Zhang Jinjing, Zhu Peiqi

24 November 2016 – Director of Austrian Embassy Science and Technology Section, Mr. Philipp Agathonos, visited the China Center for Urban Development (CCUD), National Railway Administration (NRA) and Ministry of Transport (MoT) to discuss future cooperation in Beijing.

On the meetings Mr. Agathonos gave an overview about his role as the director of the Science and Technology section and a brief introduction of his diplomatic career before taking over the administration of his current office. Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of a close relationship between the Chinese and Austrian authorities for successful cooperation. Due to the rapid development in China, more opportunities are given for all global players acting in China. Especially in S&T sector a high percentage of undiscovered potential could be explored in the next years. Mr. Agathonos made suggestions for further cooperation such as building up cooperation platforms, introducing strategic planning, taking part in Science and Technology activities from each other and promoting Science and Technology education by hosting seminars. All three visiting authorities welcomed the ideas of future plans and are open for further meetings.

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CCUD holds cities diagnosis seminar

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Taking the EU-China urbanisation demonstration zone in Foshan as an example

Photo: Peter Schintlmeister, Li Tie

16 July 2016 – During a half day seminar at the China Center for Urban Development (CCUD) in Beijing, academic and corporate experts on urban planning took a deep look into a special urbanisation project in South China: the “Foshan Demonstration Zone of EU-China Urbanisation Cooperation”, which was established in Foshan New City, Guangdong province, in 2014 with the support of CCUD and the management committee of the Sino-German Industrial Service Zone. The standards and principles applied by Foshan Demonstration Zone, drawing reference from Sino-European green cities, Industry 4.0 and Internet+, were thoroughly examined and discussed. The “Country Garden’s ECO-2 City” model, for example, is based on Southern China’s hot and rainy climate conditions and adopts solar panels, rainwater recycling and stack effect to reduce carbon emissions, building a low-carbon city with lush greeneries. Other concepts create public open spaces to meet the demands of an ever growing city population. All measures are developed as a cure for common urban diseases such as traffic jam and heavy pollution of air and water.

The experts were warmly welcomed by Li Tie, director general of CCUD and the fruitful workshop was moderated by Qiu Aijun, deputy director general of CCUD. Peter Schintlmeister, director of OSTA and Cecilia Rovelli, business manager at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, also joined the seminar and contributed their views from an Austrian and European perspective.

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JPI Urban Europe and CCUD signed an agreement in the presence of Li Keqiang and Jean-Claude Juncker

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The signing ceremony took place in the Great Hall of the People

Photo: Jean-Claude Juncker, Li Keqiang, Hans-Guenther Schwarz, Li Tie

13 July 2016 – JPI Urban Europe (JPI UE) and China Center for Urban Development (CCUD) signed a memorandum of understanding to intensify the partnership in the field of urbanisation. The formal ceremony took place during the 18th EU-China Summit in the presence of China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The agreement was signed by Mr. Li Tie, director general of CCUD and Mr. Hans-Guenther Schwarz, BMVIT, policy coordinator of JPI UE on behalf of Mr. Ingolf Schaedler, BMVIT, chair of the Governing Board of JPI UE.

The Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe was set up in 2010 to strengthen European research and innovation in the field of urban development.

Links

JPI Urban Europe
CCUD (press release in Chinese)
EU-China Summit 2016 in Beijing
EU-China Urbanisation Partnership
Final preparations for an agreement between JPI Urban Europe and CCUD (June 2016)

Final preparations for an agreement between JPI Urban Europe and CCUD

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Workshop on urban development in Beijing

From right to left: Berry Bonenkamp, Liu Yue, Margit Noll, Hans-Guenther Schwarz, Qiu Aijun, Tone Woie Alstadheim, Peter Schintlmeister

30 June 2016 – A delegation of the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe (JPI UE), led by senior advisor for international STI cooperation, Prof. Manfred Horvat from the Vienna University of Technology, came together with high-ranking officials from the China Center for Urban Development (CCUD) in Beijing for a joint workshop on urbanization. During fruitful talks, final strokes were made for a memorandum of understanding, which will be signed in the near future.

Austrian experts are strongly engaged in the work of JPI UE: Margit Noll from FFG, chair of the JPI UE management board, and Hans-Guenther Schwarz from the BMVIT, policy coordinator of JPI UE, were also part of the delegation.

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