On the afternoon of May 22, Wang Xiao, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Fang Xin, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nie Biao, Director of the National Center for Science and Technology Evaluation, and Lou Xuejun, Deputy Director General of Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province,  visited the China-CEEC Innovation Cooperation Research Center (hereinafter referred to as the “Research Center”) for investigation and guidance. Xu Yan, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Ningbo, Zhang Ruili, Deputy Director of the Organization Department of Ningbo Municipal Party Committee, Chen Shanfu, Deputy Director of Ningbo Science & Technology Bureau, and others participated in the investigation. Shao Qianjun, President of Ningbo University of Technology, and Zhang Shuichao, Vice President of the university, accompanied the delegation.

During the symposium, Wang Bo, Executive Director of the Research Center, reported on its establishment background, development progress, current challenges, as well as ongoing explorations and practices. 

Shao Qianjun stated that the university has always attached great importance to and strongly supported the construction of the Research Center. He emphasized that the university relies on the Research Center to deepen regional cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), particularly under the strategic framework of integrating education, science and technology, and talent development. By signing innovation cooperation projects, the university systematically promotes academic resource sharing and joint research initiatives with CEECs, facilitating the two-way flow of innovation elements. 

Deputy Director-General Wang Xiao fully affirmed the progress made in the Research Center’s development. She noted that the CPC Central Committee places high importance on scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation with CEECs under bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to promote socio-economic development and enhance bilateral and China-Europe relations. Deputy Director-General Wang Xiao urged the Research Center to focus on key tasks, strengthen think tank development, continuously improve the quality and level of its think tank functions, deepen high-quality cooperation networks, and enhance institutional development and team support to contribute to the high-quality open innovation ecosystem between China and CEECs.

Fang Xin, Nie Biao, and Lou Xuejun actively offered suggestions on deepening scientific and technological innovation cooperation between China and CEECs, promoting intellectual integration and innovative breakthroughs in the field of science and technology.

Xu Yan expressed that the CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee and Municipal Government firmly support the high-quality development of the Research Center. In recent years, Ningbo has actively built a science and technology innovation system and modern industrial system with local characteristics, continuously advancing the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent to drive high-quality economic growth through innovation. He emphasized that Ningbo will further strengthen the Research Center’s think tank capabilities, leveraging its intellectual strengths to highlight distinctive features and foster development within the broader national and provincial opening-up strategy. Additionally, Ningbo will explore new models and pathways for innovation cooperation with CEECs, serving both national objectives for innovation collaboration with CEECs and the practical integration of local industries with CEEC industrial and innovation chains, establishing a long-term mechanism to “connect points into lines and weave lines into networks.”

Before the symposium, Deputy Director-General Wang Xiao and her delegation toured the Research Center, where Professor Wang Bo presented an overview of its development journey.