About The Conference

The Fourth China-CEEC (17+1) Conference on Innovation Cooperation will be held on October 8th and 9th, 2019 in Belgrade (Serbia).

The China-CEEC format was established in 2012 under the "Belt and Road" initiative. Since then a series of gatherings of political and business leaders from PR China and 17 CEEC countries was held and resulted in enhanced cooperation between participating countries:

  • PR China's direct investment in the CEEC region increased 5 times
  • trade exchange increased by 50%.
  • China-CEEC trade saw a robust increase of 21 percent, reaching 82.2 billion U.S. dollars (China does not seek trade surpluses)
  • In 2018. China-CEEC agricultural trade exceeded 1.2 billion U.S. dollars

China’s “opening-up“ strategy motivates internationalization of business and investment activities of Chinese enterprises, which incentivizes European companies to ameliorate their cooperation on the Chinese market. While 17+1 helps building partnerships, it also helps development of region’s infrastructure and competitiveness. The CEEC regional plays a vital role in creating a transport network and logistics base for the export of Chinese goods to the European market. This region is significant not only because of its favorable geographical position, but also because of the high economic growth rates, accommodating regulations, low operating costs and close relations to China. The"17+1" conferences gather leaders from various fields enabling further partnerships.

The Fourth China-CEEC (17+1) Conference on Innovation Cooperation will bring together the most relevant representatives of all stakeholder groups in the innovation ecosystem: the ministers for innovation, economy, industry and trade, startup companies, business incubators, industrial and high tech parks, investment funds, universities, institutes and other interested partiesfrom PR China and 17 CEEC countries.

This is the first conference of this format that will be attended by the Minister of Science and Technology of the PR of China, Mr. Wang Zhigang. Ministers will discuss the ways to improve the business environment for cooperation in the field of innovation, technology and digitization. The conference will be an opportunity to adopt declarations and agreements, which will serve as a platform for future cooperation and joint projects: Belgrade Declaration on Cooperation in the field of Innovation (China-CEEC 17 + 1); China-CEEC business incubators declaration (17 + 1); etc.

Simultaneously with the ministerial conference, a business part of the meeting will be held in a form of a special edition of the biggest regional innovation event: Innovation Talk. The event consists of panels, round tables and pitching event.

Program

During the thematic panels, conference participants and representatives of governments, start-ups, business, educational and research ecosystems will talk about the most important trends in the field of innovation and their economic and social implementation, with special emphasis on their impact on sustainable growth and social well-being. Panels will cover the most important topics for innovation development and technological trends, such as: Innovation Infrastructure, Industrial Parks, Hi-Tech Parks and Universities, VC’s, Advanced Manufacturing, Big Data, AI, Robotics, Smart Cities and Urban Mobility, etc.

In addition to the panels, China and CEEC innovation champions will meet during the special session in the format of industry related roundtables, aimed to connect innovation leaders from different industries, both large corporates and technological start-ups. Participants will have an opportunity to present their companies, exchange their experience and opinions and discuss possibilities for cooperation directly.

During the conference, participants will have access to specially designed online networking platform in order to make appointments and schedule bilateral meeting venues between each other. The platform will be a useful tool for participants to get in touch and exchange ideas.