NINGBO, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The 2026 China-CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation was held on Wednesday in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. The conference announced that China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) have established a multi-tiered innovation cooperation system, covering 13 countries that have intergovernmental science and technology cooperation agreements with China, 13 countries with joint committee mechanisms, and 12 countries with joint research funding mechanisms.

In addition, China-CEEC science, technology and innovation cooperation has continued to yield fruitful results. Eleven "Belt and Road" joint laboratories, as well as multiple specialized platforms and industrial parks, have been established, with the number of co-authored papers and cross-border patent applications continuing to rise, and multi-level people-to-people exchanges expanding

The 2026 China-CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation was co-hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, under the theme “A Decade of Innovation: Building the Future Together.” As the highest-level and largest-scale flagship event in the science and technology field under the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism, the conference has been successfully held five times in China, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and other locations, and has vigorously promoted policy dialogue, joint research, personnel exchanges, technological cooperation, and industry-university-research matchmaking.

Vice Minister of Science and Technology Zhang Guangjun stated that ten years ago, we established the China-CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation, a cooperation mechanism featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. Over the past decade, China-CEEC science, technology and innovation cooperation has grown increasingly mature, with growing endogenous momentum. Standing at a new starting point, China is willing to work with CEEC countries to uphold openness, inclusiveness, and mutual benefit, and advance China-CEEC science, technology and innovation cooperation to a higher level.

The conference also released the 2026 China-CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation also released the “2026 China (Cities)-CEEC Open Innovation Cooperation Index” and the “10-Year Report on China-CEEC Innovation Cooperation,” launched the Second China-CEEC Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and held a signing ceremony for 11 agreements on industry-university-research cooperation and joint platform development

Source: Xinhua