Vienna/Hangzhou, 6 March 2024 – Against the backdrop of China’s successful achievements in building a globally competitive National Innovation System since its reform and opening-up in 1978 CDA President Alexander G. Welzl and Professor Wu Xiaobo, Dean of Zhejiang University’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Director of National Institute for Innovation Management (NIIM) at Zhejiang University, signed a Memorandum of Understanding during a signature ceremony at the CDA headquarters office in Vienna. Part of C9 universities – the Ivy League of China’s university system – Zhejiang University is one of the three oldest Chinese universities and constantly ranks among the top three leading universities in China in global university rankings like the Shanghai Ranking (ARWU). Called ‘the Cambridge of the East’ by famous Western 20ies century Sinologist Joseph Needham, Zhejiang University’s todays weight within the Chinese higher education system is underlined by the fact that the computer scientist and then President of the University, Professor Wu Zhaohui, was inaugurated as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Peoples Republic of China in 2022. After the end of his service as Vice Minister of MOST in April 2024 China's State Council announced that Wu Zhaohui was named Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing. Also against this backdrop the cooperation agreement between CDA and NIIM/Zhejiang University is the starting point for a long-term bilateral and high-level collaboration between the two academic institutions in Europe and China.

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