Young Chinese Economists Visit ZEW

Following this year’s “6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences”, a 15-member delegation of Chinese doctoral and postdoctoral students visited the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. ZEW was the first stop of a one-week trip across Germany organised by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for excellent young Chinese economists who had previously attended the “Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences”. Three young ZEW researchers were able to secure the much-coveted tickets for the Meeting at Lake Constance: Dr. Nicolas Fugger, Sebastian Blesse and Maximilian Todtenhaupt.

Every three years, Nobel Laureates in the economic sciences gather at Lake Constance for the “Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences” to meet the next generation of leading economists from all over the world. The event aims to encourage the exchange of thoughts and ideas among scientists of different nationalities at different stages in their careers. In order to participate in the meeting, young researchers have to pass a multi-step application and selection process. The fruitful scientific exchange which had begun at Lake Constance later continued in Mannheim. At ZEW, the Chinese delegation was keen to find out more about Germany as a research location as well as the research conducted at the Mannheim-based institute.

ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach welcomed the visitors to ZEW and provided an overview of the institute’s research areas. He laid a particular focus on the great number of cooperation projects between ZEW and its Chinese partners, which include the Fudan University in Shanghai. Since 2013, ZEW and Fudan University have been jointly publishing the China Economic Panel, a regular survey which provides an outlook of China’s economic development in a global economic context.

Afterwards, ZEW employees held short presentations on the opportunities for cooperation offered by the institute, such as completing a research stay at ZEW within the framework of the ZEW Visiting Researchers Programme, or participating in the “Strengthening Efficiency and Competitiveness in the European Knowledge Economies” (SEEK) research programme. The Chinese delegation also gained insights into ZEW researchers’ daily work at the institute, the fields of research they are working on, as well as the international dimension of their work.

For further information please contact

Gunter Grittmann, Phone: +49 (0)621 1235-132, E-mail: gunter.grittmann@zew.de