Chinese Delegation from International Urban Cooperation Visits ZEW

On 13. November 2017, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) received a visit from a Chinese delegation of high-ranking representatives from academia, politics and business. The group, made up of representatives from a number of different Chinese regions, visited Mannheim as part of the city-to-city cooperation set up by the EU Commission under the „International Urban Cooperation“ (IUC) programme. Mannheim is currently the only German city participating in the International Urban Cooperation and has been paired with the Chinese city of Chongqing. During their visit at ZEW, the group gained insights into, among other things, innovative research in small and medium-sized enterprises and research funding.

The visitors were greeted by Dr. Fabienne Rasel, executive assistant to the president, who gave them an overview of the institute and its research activities. This was followed by a presentation from Dr. Georg Licht, head of the ZEW Research Department “Economics of Innovation and Industrial Dynamics”, on the “Eurostars” funding programme. Set up jointly by the European research initiative EUREKA and the European Commission, the programme supports international research and development projects within the EU led by research-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).