For the first time ever, Nanjing TechWeek dedicated a whole day promoting scientific and technological collaboration between China and Israel, through the CIIC (China-Israel Innovation and Culture) conference held last Thursday.

"Not to allow COVID-19 halt the development of mutual trade and business activity"

Due to the looming COVID-19 threat, the TechWeek, which is one of the country's largest technology events, almost never happened. However, it was a huge success that brought out some China's science and technology leaders to interact with Israeli speakers who were forced to conducting remote speeches due to air travel limitations.

Israel Economy Minister opened the "Israel Day" ceremony projected on to massive screens with a greeting and an important message "These days, we are working on a bilateral free trade agreement that is expected to further increase the trade between our countries. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous Chinese organizations mobilized their resources to help the Israeli government – an indication of the warm relations between the countries. I would like to call all Chinese companies, despite the current global crisis, to find creative ways to maintain the connection between China and Israel, and most importantly, not to allow COVID-19 halt the development of mutual trade and business activity. I invite you all to get to know Israeli technologies and use them."

Besides Peretz, other notable Israeli minds speaking at the event were: President of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Alon Chen; Nobel Prize laureates, Prof. Arieh Warshel and Prof. Dan Schechtman; Tel Aviv University President, Prof. Ariel Porat; Turing Award laureate, Prof. Adi Shamir; Strategic Advisor to the Israeli Consul General in Shanghai, Yossi Ben Shitrit; and others.

Apart from the clear COVID-19 solutions aimed conference, other collaboration agreements were struck that day between Chinese and Israeli organizations. Among them being, an agreement to cooperate on the promotion of technological development in AI between the Weizmann Institute and Technion Institute of Technology from Israel and Nanjing Tsingzhan Artificial Intelligence Institute and the Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Tsinghua University (THUAI).

Additionally, EcoMotion, which is an Israeli mobility community made up of over 600 Israeli startups, agreed to collaborate with the Jiangning Development Zone, and Shengjing Peakview Capital, a Chinese private equity investment company. Other than deals between organizations, Israeli startups will receive guidance in recruiting Chinese investors and penetrating the Chinese markets.

“Many of our member start-ups plan to enter the Chinese market and expand there in the coming years. This collaboration would enable us to overcome the associated challenges and difficulties and will provide the entrepreneurs an opportunity to collaborate with strategic partners in China,” said Orly Dahan, CEO of EcoMotion.

Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province and is considered one of the three most important cities in China's economy and a center of science and technological innovation. Nanjing Tech Week is an annual gathering attracting researchers, technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors from all around the world, aimed at promoting international collaboration with the city’s 66 universities and research institutes. The event’s organizers stress the importance of strengthening the ties with Israel, in light of the Israeli technological innovation and pronounced entrepreneurial spirit. Therefore, a dedicated conference was organized to promote Chinese-Israeli collaboration, further cementing the partnership between the countries with Israeli startups being showcased at the central exhibition spot at the Jiangning High-Tech Park, considered as one of the leading centers of innovation in China.