CityU and the Changsha Municipal People’s Government sign an MoU to jointly establish the Innovation Research Institute
Professor Freddy Boey Yin Chiang, President of City University of Hong Kong (CityU), led a delegation from CityU to visit Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, from 31 August to 2 September. During the visit, CityU and the Changsha Municipal People’s Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and CityU and Hunan University discussed jointly establishing the CityU Innovation Research Institute to strengthen cooperation in life sciences, new materials and computer science.
The MoU was signed by Professor Chen Fu-rong, Associate Vice-President (Mainland Collaboration) at CityU, and Mr Peng Tao, Deputy Mayor of the Changsha Municipal People’s Government, at the Changsha Global Research and Development Centre.
According to the MoU, CityU and the Changsha Municipal People’s Government will establish the CityU Innovation Research Institute, offer “3+1+1” degree programmes, jointly build a platform to nurture postgraduates, build major scientific and technological infrastructure, promote the application of scientific research results by setting up joint laboratories and university-enterprise cooperation, and so forth, and explore establishing a dedicated support fund to enhance industrial development.
President Boey said he believed universities have two critical assets: intellectual property and talent. He expressed his hope that CityU and Changsha will walk hand-in-hand to create a chain consisting of talent, technology, capital and markets for entrepreneurs, which will facilitate the incubation of start-ups.
“Changsha is striving to enhance the living environment and infrastructure to build a global research and development centre. I’m very excited about this opportunity for CityU to set up an innovation research institute here,” he said. “I hope that the Centre will strengthen cooperation in various areas and nurture talent in light of the development needs of Changsha, and facilitate the city’s development into a key science and technology base for Greater Bay Area start-ups.”
President Boey was the only higher-education institution representative from outside mainland China invited to deliver a keynote speech and share his insights on innovation and technology at an event held at the Changsha Global Research and Development Centre. President Boey and the CityU delegation also visited Hunan University, and attended a conference in Yuelu Mountain University Science and Technology Town to discuss the development of innovation and technology.