The Italian Innovation Agency (IIA) and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (BMSTC) have founded the first Sino-foreign technology transfer center in the capital city.
Part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed last October by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Premier Wen Jiabao, the center was formally established on April 16.
It will promote closer links between science parks in the two countries, according to David Giacalone, IIA chairman, and especially encourage advances among small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Beijing Vice-Mayor Gou Zhongwen noted "the center will serve as an information platform integrating scientific resources of both sides".
"It includes a research center and a laboratory to facilitate commercialization of innovation," he said.
The center will also provide consulting services to companies on financing, investment and intellectual property rights protection.
"A number of innovative Italian SMEs show keen interest in the initiative," Gou said.
"We will provide office space, market research, human resources and consultancy on policies and laws for those that want to tap the Chinese market."
The formal agreement on the new center was signed during a three-day international technology transfer conference jointly sponsored by the BMSTC, the IIA, Peking University, the Association of University Technology Managers and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Some 300 senior managers from 80 technology transfer agencies, research institutes and large multinational companies in more than 20 countries and regions attended the event.
With the rights to more than 400 proprietary technologies, participants arrived looking for Chinese partners, showing that Beijing is home to increasingly important buyers of international technology, said Wang Binying, assistant director general of the World Intellectual Property Office.
Seventeen other deals - in biomedicine, modern agriculture, new energy and environmental protection - were also signed during the conference.
"A new wave of transnational technology patent transfers started after the global financial crisis broke out," Wang said. "Many foreign patents owners are eyeing China for its remarkable economic growth."
Nearly 160 billion yuan ($24.5 billion) in technology transfer contracts were signed in Beijing last year, accounting for 40 percent of the nation's total. Partners came from 41 countries and regions, according to statistics from the BMSTC.
(Source:China Daily)
