The President of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), Professor Freddy Boey, led a delegation to Qingdao and met with officials from the Huangdao District on August 2.

The two parties signed an agreement to establish the CityUHK Innovation Centre in Qingdao’s West Coast New Area, aiming to promote and implement collaboration between higher-education institutions in Hong Kong and Qingdao. Leveraging CityUHK's world-renowned academic research achievements and international reputation, the collaboration seeks to complement each other's strengths and cultivate innovation and technology talent in both regions to create synergy.

The agreement was signed by Professor Lu Chun, Vice-President at CityUHK, and Mr Zhou Cheng, Deputy District Mayor of Huangdao District, i.e., the Qingdao West Coast New Area. The signing was witnessed by President Boey and Mr Sun Yonghong, Member of the Qingdao Municipal Party Standing Committee and Party Secretary of the Huangdao District Committee.

The two parties had in-depth exchanges on various topics. In addition to introducing CityUHK’s research and academic achievements, the University presented its mainland projects and development plans for the CityUHK Qingdao Innovation Centre. The Qingdao municipal leadership briefly introduced the Qingdao West Coast New Area and the overall planning of the Qingdao Innovation Centre.

Both parties expressed excitement about the collaboration, whose aim is to gather talent and innovative resources and deepen cooperation in areas such as talent training and the integration of industry, academia and research through the establishment of the Innovation Centre.

Mr Sun said that as a world-renowned international university, CityUHK has outstanding advantages in professional education and research globally. Through this collaboration, we will join forces to create another excellent platform for talent gathering in Qingdao.

President Boey said that the Qingdao West Coast New Area has comprehensive strengths and a strong innovation atmosphere. CityUHK will invest more innovation resources in Qingdao through this collaboration and strengthen talent training and exchange, benefiting both parties.

The CityUHK delegation also visited Qingdao Science Education Park to learn more about Qingdao’s technology development and innovation ecosystem.