Interview: Swissnex eyes cooperation with China through tech innovation
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E-mail Xinhua, October 9, 2021
by Martina Fuchs
GENEVA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland is setting its eyes on China's robust tech innovation to tap the potential for cooperation, a senior official of state-sponsored initiative Swissnex has said.
The future cooperation between Switzerland and the world's second-biggest economy would focus on "connecting tomorrow" and China's innovation ecosystem, Danli Zhou, CEO ad interim at Swissnex in China, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"China has established itself as a powerhouse in research and innovation. To Swiss academia and researchers, China is a key ecosystem to explore and connect with. For Swiss start-ups and entrepreneurs, it represents an ideal place to stress-test ground-breaking technologies while seeking international expansion," Zhou said.
"In 2021, our focus is to show Swiss trend-setting projects and highlights in three key areas with particular interest for future Sino-Swiss collaboration: sustainability, deep-tech and ageing," said Zhou.
"Swissnex will continue to strive to foster open dialogue and collaborations between Switzerland and China, advising potential partners while developing projects that add long-term, sustainable value for all our partners, and therefore contribute to the welfare of Switzerland and China overall," he noted.
Looking ahead, Zhou said that one focus will be Switzerland's participation in the 2022 WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai.
"Switzerland is world-renowned for its vocational education & training (VET) and the dual system, and this is reflected in Switzerland's consistent strong performance in the WorldSkills competitions," he added.
As an initiative of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation of Switzerland, and part of the official network abroad managed by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Swissnex aims to connect Switzerland and the world, including China, in science, research, education and innovation, according to its website.
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent suspension of international travel, receiving Swiss startups, researchers or delegations for a visit, research or roadshow had become difficult, Zhou said.
"Despite constraints of the COVID-19 situation, we have explored alternative virtual or hybrid ways to promote the visibility of Swiss higher education and research institutions, startups and other innovation-driven partner organizations and to connect them with local ecosystems," he said. Enditem
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