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Research and innovation
News article9 April 2019Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

EU and China met for 4th innovation cooperation dialogue in Brussels

The European Union and China will develop a joint roadmap in order to enrich and balance their cooperation in research and innovation. The roadmap will cover both rules and mechanisms as well as specific science and technology fields for this collaboration.

This is one of the main outcomes of the fourth Innovation Cooperation Dialogue, held today in Brussels in the margins of the EU-China Summit. The high-level meeting was co-chaired by Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, and Wang Zhigang, Chinese Minister of Science and Technology. Apart from the decision  to develop a joint the roadmap, the Dialogue also focussed on framework conditions for cooperation, including mutual openness of the respective research and innovation programmes.

Commissioner Moedas said:

The EU and China both recognise that research and innovation are vital to ensure our future prosperity and to tackle global challenges. Together, we can do this better. That is why we want to step up our cooperation in research and innovation in areas of mutual interest, based on fair framework conditions in the spirit of reciprocity.

Following up on the third Innovation Cooperation Dialogue held in 2017 in Brussels, the meeting successfully addressed other strategic topics: open access to scientific publications and research data, standardisation, research ethics and integrity, policies to support SME innovation, and intellectual property protection in stimulating innovation.

EU’s research and innovation partnership with China has a long tradition: an Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation has been in place since 1998 and will be tacitly renewed by the end of 2019 for another 5-year period. China is an important partner in Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme. In 2017, EU and China launched a robust package of joint flagship initiatives. Working with over €100 million in funding from each side, the initiatives cover areas such as food, agriculture and biotechnologies, environment and sustainable urbanisation, transport and health.

More information

International cooperation with China

Joint Communique

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Publication date
9 April 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation