As economic and trade cooperation reaches a new level, sci-tech innovation is increasingly emerging as a prominent focus and a new growth pole in the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC), said Zhang Guangjun, vice minister of science and technology, at the opening ceremony of the 2026 China-CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation.

Themed "A Decade of Innovation, Building the Future Together," the conference was held in Ningbo, Zhejiang province and Nanjing, Jiangsu province, from September 9 to September 11.

At the opening ceremony on September 9, eleven agreements on industry-university-research cooperation projects and platform development were signed, and the second China-CEEC Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was launched.

At a ministerial meeting, senior representatives discussed cooperation opportunities in key fields and proposed the China-CEEC innovation cooperation 2030 vision.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the conference. Over the past decade, the bilateral sci-tech cooperation has matured steadily, with growing internal drivers.

"This conference stands as a testament to a decade of cooperation between our regions and serves as a reminder that, with sufficient commitment and a shared vision, strong partnerships can be successfully developed across different parts of the world," said Vladimir Simonak, state secretary of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. "Our cooperation is built on a common aspiration to pursue shared goals, particularly by fostering a favorable environment for innovation, investment and collaboration among experts, government representatives, academia and the business community."

Under the framework of the China-CEEC innovation cooperation mechanism, policy dialogue, joint R&D, commercialization of outcomes and people-to-people exchanges have become deeply integrated.

"A changing global landscape, such as climate change, energy security and digital transformation, needs international scientific cooperation," said Nicolae-Victor Zamfir, vice president of the Romanian Academy. He told Science and Technology Daily that science can be a powerful instrument for peaceful cooperation and the dialogue in the conference is important for building trust and reaching agreement.

"Participating in the conference presents an exciting opportunity to foster significant convergence between research and industrial entities in Europe and China," said Mohamed Eldessouki, director of the Digital Innovation Center, an AI startup company in the Czech Republic. "Sustainable innovation flourishes when we establish robust, transparent connections among research ecosystems to address shared global challenges. This conference serves as a pivotal platform for creating such an ecosystem."

Around 450 government officials, diplomats, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and young science and technology professionals from China and CEEC attended the conference.

They called for stronger cooperation among industry, universities and institutes for collaborative innovation.

"Cooperation is based on trust, trust starts with meetings, particularly person-to-person meetings, and that's why such conference as this is important," said Jerzy Duszyński, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and foreign member of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Technology transfer plays a critical role in sci-tech collaboration, because the research today is very much internationalized," said Jacek Kasz, director of the Center for Technology Transfer at the Cracow University of Technology. "The CEEC and China need to work together in order to create agreeable practical solutions which would guarantee both sides an atmosphere of trusted collaboration while maintaining fair benefit sharing."

The networking area teemed with people and bustled with activity. Relevant parties from China and CEEC became acquainted with one another and explored potential areas for innovation cooperation.

"I established contacts with people from three companies," Angelos Moschopoulos, CEO of the Greek sportswear company Anthrax, told Science and Technology Daily. He said he would next hold talks with relevant Chinese companies on further cooperation.

The event was co-hosted by China's Ministry of Science and Technology and Slovakia's Ministry of Economy.