{"id":2713,"date":"2016-07-07T09:40:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T07:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investincotedazur.com\/?p=2713"},"modified":"2023-02-10T15:24:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:24:40","slug":"sophia-antipolis-and-chengdu-hi-tech-industrial-development-zone-become-sister-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investincotedazur.com\/en\/sophia-antipolis-and-chengdu-hi-tech-industrial-development-zone-become-sister-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophia Antipolis and Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone become Sister Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday July 2, during the\u00a0\u201cForum Franco-chinois des futurs dirigeants d\u2019entreprises scientifiques et technologiques\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0(the Franco-Chinese Forum for Future Leaders in Science and Technology), the Business and Science Parks Sophia Antipolis and\u00a0Chengdu<\/strong>\u00a0(Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone) signed several agreements in the presence of\u00a0Madam Yadong Liu, Vice Prime Minister and representative for the Ministry of Innovation of\u00a0the People\u2019s Republic of China<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Yadong Liu\u2019s visit to France proved to be the perfect occasion to sign two agreements while on the Skema campus. The first agreement designates the Business and Science Parks of Sophia Antipolis and Chengdu as\u00a0Sister Parks<\/strong>. The second agreement deals with the development of the\u00a0\u201cSophia Antipolis-China Innovation Center\u201d<\/strong>, a center that aims\u00a0at supporting young innovators and Chinese-French technological projects. These agreements pave the way for a systematic and \u201cpragmatic cooperating\u201d (Yadong Liu) between Sophia Antipolis and Chengdu in the fields of innovation, commerce and investment.<\/p>\n

Sophia Antipolis and the Chengdu Technology Park will function as a national base for their foreign counterparts. Both parks plan on increasing the number of seminars, conferences, matchmaking sessions, and entrepreneurial forums between their two ecosystems with the aim of increasing Chinese-French collaboration in the fields of\u00a0Information Technology<\/strong>, cleantech<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Biomedicine<\/strong>. There will also be training sessions and researchers and entrepreneurs will be able to visit their counterparts in\u00a0their local park.<\/p>\n

The signing of the agreements took place in the presence of\u00a0Adolphe Colrat<\/strong>, Prefect of the Alpes Maritimes, and\u00a0Pierre Laffitte<\/strong>\u00a0the founding father of Sophia Antipolis. Laffitte was very excited by the prospect of a blossoming collaboration with Chengdu and affirmed the wish of Sophia Antipolis to contribute to the \u201cnew silk road\u201d between China and the western world.<\/p>\n

In addition to the signing of the two agreements, the \u201cForum Franco-chinois des futurs dirigeants d\u2019entreprises scientifiques et technologiques,\u201d organised by\u00a0the Sophia Antipolis Foundation<\/strong>, the technology park of\u00a0Chengdu<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Chengdu EU Project Innovation Center<\/strong>\u00a0(EPIC), gave young Chinese and C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur\u00a0entrepreneurs to meet and exchange. French companies\u00a0ASK<\/strong>,\u00a0SolarCloth<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Cynsis<\/strong>\u00a0were present to talk about the dynamic and innovative ecosystem of the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur, and identify future partners with Chinese companies that were present:\u00a0Business Big Data<\/strong>\u00a0(Big Data, Fintech),\u00a0Chengdu Everimaging Science and Technology<\/strong>\u00a0(digital imaging) and\u00a0Sichuan AOS Science and Technology<\/strong>\u00a0(drones).<\/p>\n

Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone is one of the largest Technology Parks in China. The park is in the Sichuan District, which attracts more foreign investment than any other Chinese district and counts more than\u00a02000 labs<\/strong>,\u00a0168 incubators<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a02.8 million professionals<\/strong>\u00a0working in high technology fields. Chengdu and Sichuan also receive support from the Chinese government in developing\u00a07 High-Tech Zones<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a09 Agricultural Innovation Zones<\/strong>\u00a0(looking at energy transition) in the district. The cooperation between Sophia Antipolis and Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone will give opportunities to C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur\u00a0researchers and entrepreneurs to position themselves in the middle of a dynamic economy strategically located on the new silk road.<\/p>\n

Two other events happened at Sophia Antipolis during Yadong Liu\u2019s visit that are proof of an increasing collaboration between China and the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur:<\/p>\n