The China-EU Science and Technology year, launched on 11 October 2006, aims to demonstrate the importance of China-Europe science and technology co-operation and to raise Chinese and European scientific profiles on both sides. Within this context, China and the EU also aim to open their research programmes for greater collaboration.
"Both the EU and China know that innovation starts with knowledge. China's strong emphasis on education will see it produce more graduates than the EU or the US, especially in exact sciences, such as science and engineering, areas in which the EU needs more graduates," said Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik, launching the year. He said his team was looking at how participation of more European researchers in Chinese research programmes could be made easier.
Commissioner Potočnik also said that he was looking forward to working with China to improve knowledge protection as "lack of protection for ideas and products is a big disincentive to innovate". However, in just the first half of 2006 EU companies have already invested around 3 billion euro in China - an increase of 20% compared with the 2005 figures.
EU-China co-operation on science and technology began in the late 1980s. Joint initiatives, such as ITER, the Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor and the Galileo satellite project are the most visible aspect of this relationship. An official science and technology co-operation agreement was signed in 1998 and renewed in 2004. Currently, more than 130 joint research projects, worth around 900 million euro, are ongoing or under preparation with Chinese and European teams.
