The "2019 Tianjin University Workshop of University-Enterprise Cooperation and Joint Innovation" was successfully held in C202, 25^th building in Tianjin University on March 11, 2019. The seminar was hosted by the Tianjin University of OIPEC (Open Innovation Platform for University) and aims to promote the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Many foreign experts and professors from Politecnico di MILANO, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Grenoble INP, and Vladimir State University, and also many domestic research scholars, entrepreneurs, relevant personnel attended the meeting.

COILab Workshop overview

The OIPEC project is presided over by Professor Gaetano Cascini from Politecnico di MILANO and there are six universities participate, which are Grenoble INP, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Moscow State University, Vladimir State University, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin University. The main goal of the project is to create a new school-enterprise cooperation platform for partners/participating universities. The platform serves as an added value for sustainable development and serves collaborative activities between companies in product/service innovation and improvement. It is easy for SMEs to access the expertise of universities and their alumni, including design research, prototypes, engineering, materials, technology and product service development technologies. And it involves the industrial design practices around the establishment of product/service prototypes, integration of university and alumni expertise, and commercial validation.

The opening of workshop was hosted by Lin Zhao, a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tianjin University, and Liangxing Shi, dean of the Xuanhuai College of Tianjin University. As the head of OIPEC project at TJU, Professor Lin Zhao expressed his warm welcome heartfelt gratitude to the experts from the European Union and the participating companies. Liangxing Shi presided over the meeting and introduced the experts and business representatives.

Subsequently, Professor Gaetano Cascini proposed that this activity should provide some new ideas for the enterprise team in the process of solving the existing problems, and he also emphasizes that the promotion of innovation education is based on the joint efforts of universities and enterprises. The further development should be achieved by leading the school-enterprise cooperation under the open platform.

The workshop begins with case study demonstrations of enterprises. Then EU experts commented on the cases of each team and brainstormed the existing plans and achievements in the afternoon. Through brainstorming to improve existing programs and achievements, actively promote school-enterprise cooperation and help enterprises develop. There are a total of seven corporate teams conducted case studies.

The case study session was hosted by Dean Liangxing Shi. Wang Peng, Manager of Tianjin 712 Design Center, Zhu Mingwei, Chairman of National Optoelectronics, Fu Zhufu, Deputy General Manager of Yineng Technology, Du Kang, General Manager of Boshuo Technology, Deng Yue, Deputy General Manager of Boer Technology, Hebei Branch Hao Xiaoli, manager of Ruida, and Zhang Yuan, chief operating officer of Huaqing Huanyu, gave keynote speeches on issues and countermeasures of enterprise development and the future direction of innovation and entrepreneurship education. In the afternoon, the brainstorms were organized in groups on the theme of China's school-enterprise cooperation development road and enterprise development direction. Experts from the European Union gave opinions on issues of science and technology, energy, finance, culture, education, and conducted in-depth exchanges with the representatives of participating enterprises. After the end of the brainstorming, the teams made a brief report on the content of the brainstorms to share the results.

In the discussion session after the report ended, all the participants discussed the theme of “School-enterprise cooperation of the open innovation platform”. Participants shared their insights and experiences on how to transform innovation into competitiveness and avoid their limitations. They also discussed entrepreneurial innovation as China's national strategy and an economic driving model for the future.

So far, the workshop of University-Enterprise Cooperation and Joint Innovation came to a successful conclusion. This workshop not only provided participants with discussion opportunities for project operation in the fields of innovation theory research and applied research, but also let many guests have more understanding of Tianjin University. At the same time, it also strengthened the relationship between Tianjin University and various enterprises, schools and institutions. Besides, it promoted deeper exchanges between EU countries and Chinese universities and excellent enterprises.