Tekes and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai renew their cooperation agreement
Tekes Director General Veli-Pekka Saarnivaara and the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Shen Xiaoming, agreed on continued cooperation in Helsinki on May 14, 2010.Tekes and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai renewed the cooperation agreement for an additional five years. The Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai (STCSM) is in charge of the city's scientific and technological administration and also handles funding for research and development.
"In terms of the number of the R&D projects funded by Tekes, China has rapidly emerged as our most important partner in Asia. The cooperation with the city of Shanghai began in 2005 and it has brought significant progress; last year, Finland was the largest foreign cooperation partner of the STCSM," says Jaani Heinonen, the director of Tekes' Shanghai unit.
The key areas of scientific and technological cooperation between Tekes and the Shanghai area are ICT, materials technology - especially nanotechnology -, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical and environmental technologies. Tekes programmes have played a major role in the cooperation from the start.
Examples of cooperation within Tekes programmes in China
The FinNano and Functional Materials programmes have actively promoted research collaboration in the field of nanotechnology in China. Tekes and China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) have reached an agreement on the China - Finland Nanotechnology Strategic Mutual Collaboration Initiative (NAMI) which provides a basis for collaboration between Chinese and Finnish research teams and companies. Several joint projects have already been successfully started.
Tekes has been actively building networks for its ICT programmes since 2002. This work has lead to the ICT Alliance strategic collaboration effort which provides a planning and project framework for the Tivit Oy strategic centre for science, technology and innovation, Tekes and China's Ministry of Science and technology.
The Pharma programme funds joint Chinese-Finnish projects. The aim is to start systematic collaboration with China and to promote high-quality international biopharmaceutical cooperation between Chinese and Finnish research organisations and businesses.
The Sustainable Community programme promotes collaboration aimed at finding energy-efficient and sustainable solutions for land use planning and construction. There is already active cooperation in China with key universities and flagship projects such as the digiecocity concept.
Eeva Landowski 09.06.2010