Hebei promotes industry-university-research integration

Hebei has launched a campaign to encourage in-depth collaborations between the local manufacturing industry and top universities and research institutions both inside and outside the province, according to news released by the Industry and Information Technology Department of Hebei Province in northern China.

The move is aimed at boosting innovation in Hebei’s dominant industrial clusters, and to ensure the high-quality development of its manufacturing sector.

Based on the practical needs of the province's eight pillar manufacturing fields, the government plans to hold 10 match-up sessions for industry-university-research-application collaboration between enterprises and universities, and to form no fewer than 10 cooperative projects.

The government will select 20 well-established firms with stringent technology requirements and solid growth strategies to work with colleges from the eight dominant manufacturing fields, and will offer them one-on-one assistance in forming a batch of exemplary projects.

Experts from top universities in Beijing, Tianjin and Nanjing will be invited, online, to outline a series of technological achievements they made during previous projects, in order to attract enterprises interested in these technologies. No less than three cloud-based match-up meetings will be held in 2021, with more than 100 firms set to participate.

On-site promotional activities will also be organized. Under the guidance of local authorities, relevant companies will send delegations to reach universities and colleges in Shanghai, Tangshan and Handan. They will get acquainted with the cutting-edge technologies developed by these educational institutions, and conduct face-to-face discussions with specialists.

In addition, experts from universities willing to work with enterprises will be allowed to carry out field research at companies they are interested in. This will give them a better understanding of the real needs of these enterprises and the technological bottlenecks they are experiencing.