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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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.

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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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