On the November 2 and 3, WUNN Ideas and Universities Conference 2012 was grandly held in Xi Xi Hotel in Hangzhou. The conference was host by World University Networking and Zhejiang University, and jointly undertaken by the School of Education of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University place cooperation place, Zhejiang University entrepreneurship education teaching seat in UNESCO and Study promotion council of Hangzhou. The theme of the conference was “the New Role of the University in the Economic and Social Development”. More than 150 representatives from the UK, the US, France, Canada, Korea, Israel, South Africa and other countries, and Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan attended this conference.
The opening ceremony was host by Xu Xiaozhou, the host of Zhejiang University entrepreneurship education teaching seat in UNESCO and the dean of the School of Education of Zhejiang University, in which Professor Ian Wei of University of BRISTOL and Academician Yang Wei, the principal of Zhejiang University, on behalf of each sponsor, extended warm welcome to all the representatives.
Focusing on the thesis of “Collaborative Innovation: Idea, Practice and Creation” , Academician Yang Wei discussed how the universities promote scientific research, social service and students training through collaborative innovation. Principal Yang Wei elaborated the current main mode of collaborative innovation among universities, the construction of Zhejiang University 5+5 Platform, and introduced the innovative practice and abundant accomplishments Zhejiang University has obtained when launching collaborative innovation and the strategy of serving the country, and social development of regional economy, by the examples of the construction of marine technology island, the utilization of coal resource, digital art and archaeological museum.
On the closing ceremony, Professor Adam R. Nelson of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on behalf of WUN, made summary. He appreciated the effort Zhejiang University has made for preparing the conference, and spoke highly of the innovative action that Zhejiang University has taken in collaborative innovation and social service, especially got impressed by the successful practice in the cooperation of Hangzhou, Huzhou and Yuhang. Professor Li Ming of Zhejiang University pointed out more cooperation in the future.
