Final Report Summary - DRAGON-STAR (Dragon - Sustaining Technology And Research (EU-China Collaboration))
Executive Summary:
Dragon-STAR was built upon the work performed by two previous FP7 INCO projects (BILAT-SILK and ACCESSChina4EU), aiming to support the Sino-European collaboration in four levels, namely:
• Enhancing the quality of the Chinese participation in the European Framework Programs.
• Supporting the reciprocity originating from the signed EU-China Scientific Cooperation Agreement and the other bilateral initiatives.
• Supporting the bilateral cooperation in the broader field of innovation and especially technological cooperation between industrial players.
• Supporting the ongoing bilateral Scientific Cooperation dialogue and the other related initiatives.
The planned work was focused on addressing the four main project objectives and several positive outputs produced within the project’s lifetime. However, more important is the fact that DRAGON-STAR managed to establish stable collaborations with all the major stakeholders in Europe and China. There is an established collaboration with other EU funded projects, while joint events have been organized with the EU Delegation in China, DG Research, DG Agriculture, and EURAXESS Links China.
During the 36 months of the Dragon-Star life, the project team worked and succeeded for establishing a cooperation platform between European and Chinese stakeholders towards enhancing the bilateral cooperation in research and innovation.
The project has established a sound cooperation with the permanent EU representation in Beijing and worked together for implementing various activities. Similar cooperation has been established with the EC, Member States, Chinese Organizations and Innovation Agencies.
A flagship activity was the organization of a considerable number of promotional activities for H2020, and the establishment of a help-desk (CECO) and the implementation of a national network of Regional Contact Points in China, for promoting the program. At the same time, a database with funding opportunities for European researchers is constantly updated providing support to the Europeans interest in China.
Moreover, addressing the need to understand the rapid changes in the Chinese research and innovation landscape and draft a suitable cooperation strategy, DRAGON-STAR performed a foresight scenario study, revealing, four plausible scenarios for the future of the Chinese research & innovation landscape.
Find all the performed work, videos, photos, and collaboration opportuntiies in the Dragon-Star website and social media.
CONTACT US
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Epaminondas@help-forward.gr
web: www.dragon-star.eu
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
Project Context and Objectives:
Dragon-STAR was built upon the work performed by two previous FP7 INCO projects (BILAT-SILK and ACCESSChina4EU), aiming to support the Sino-European collaboration in four levels, namely:
• Enhancing the quality of the Chinese participation in the European Framework Programs.
• Supporting the reciprocity originating from the signed EU-China Scientific Cooperation Agreement and the other bilateral initiatives.
• Supporting the bilateral cooperation in the broader field of innovation and especially technological cooperation between industrial players.
• Supporting the ongoing bilateral Scientific Cooperation dialogue and the other related initiatives.
The strategy of the workplan was to address all requirements of the call and rationalise the work by grouping it into four distinct layers (check the following graph).
Work Package Overview
WP2 integrates all the work related to the basic objective of improving the quality of the Chinese participation in the framework programs, building upon the work already performed in the previous funded bilateral activity (BILAT-SILK). WP2 includes: the provision of quality NCP support services, the expansion of the existing network of the Regional Contact Points all over China as well as the monitoring of the Chinese participation in FP programs.
WP3 builds upon the work done for ACCESSCHINA4EU including several new activities for reinforcing the direct European cooperation with Chinese institutions. WP3 highlights the opportunities for participation in the national Chinese research programs and will support the twinning of labs, the creation of joint liaison offices (with specific pilot activities), and identifies opportunities to use Horizon 2020 as a tool for addressing specific societal challenges.
WP4 focuses on addressing innovation related activities. The Enterprise Europe Network is employed to bridge and address specific technological collaboration opportunities between SMEs and research actors, while a Grant Scheme of 100,000€ facilitates the direct bilateral research and technological collaboration.
WP5 groups all the work aiming to support the scientific policy dialogue between EU and China. The WP includes several activities to produce useful reports (China 2025, Chinese Research Competitiveness, Quality of the Chinese FP7 participation, etc) that can practically support and contribute to the bilateral dialogue in different levels: SFIC, EU-China Summit, Joint Declaration on the EU-China Partnership for Urbanisation, EU-China SME dialogue, EU-China Industrial Policy Dialogue, member states bilateral dialogues, etc.
Dissemination activities are provisioned under specific tasks of all WPs, in order to facilitate the focused diffusion of the project results and deliverables to the relevant stakeholders (researchers, policy makers, SMEs, etc). In addition, task 1.3 under the management WP aimes to provide central dissemination tools for the project results (webpage, leaflets, newsletters, etc). Bringing dissemination activities close to the coordination activities is expected to contribute to the effective communication of all project results and will contribute to the cost-effectiveness of the project’s activitities.
Work summary (main achievements)
The planned work was focused on addressing the four main project objectives and several positive outputs produced within the project’s lifetime. However, more important is the fact that DRAGON-STAR managed to establish stable collaborations with all the major stakeholders in Europe and China. There is an established collaboration with other EU funded projects, while joint events have been organized with the EU Delegation in China, DG Research, DG Agriculture, and EURAXESS Links China.
Below follows a brief description of main achievements of the DRAGON-STAR project:
1. DRAGON-STAR Collaboration culture: Strong collaboration links with Chinese institutions throughout China (e.g. Peking University, EU-PIC, Beijing Municipality, BTEPC, CAAS) have been established. In addition, the project is recognized as an important stakeholder supporting bilateral cooperation and there is a regular communication with the EU Delegation in China and with scientific advisors based in China. The project team regularly cooperates with the EU Delegation in China in supporting the implementation of the annual “Tour of China” flagship event, as well as in the implementation of specific joint activities.
Moreover, DRAGON-STAR has established a collaboration with the Enterprise Europe Network , while three organisations in China have become associated partners of the project. The project also regularly cooperates with other EU project and initiatives
2. H2020 promotion & NCP operation in China: A network of Regional Contact Points spread around China, has been coordinated by CECO/CSTEC, are providing information on H2020 to interested parties. Moreover, CECO, as the official Chinese NCP, runs a help-desk service and a special website offering updated tailor-made information.
The operation of the NCPs in China is reviewed by a self-evaluation benchmarking tool, initially developed by INCONTACT. The promotion of H2020 in China, is complemented with a Chinese NCP website, dissemination in Chinese Social Media as well as numerous amount of infodays and workshops organized around China (often in cooperation with the EU Delegation in China).Finally, the DRAGON-STAR has organized and participated in several policy development meetings with EU Scientific counselors and Chinese policy makers.
3. Joint-Labs mapping – China: A mapping work of the main joint labs in China was performed in cooperation with the EU Delegation in China and EURAXESS. At the same area, DRAGON-STAR has produced a feasibility study regarding the creation of Joint Research Structures in China.
Assessment of University performed Research in China. A set of bibliometric studies has been carried out for the Horizon 2020 thematic areas and for the horizontal cross-cutting area of Urbanization.
The report helps to fill this gap in knowledge by assessing the research strengths, relative standing, and internal research landscape of the People’s Republic of China.
The analysis of the performance of Chinese institutions in all the thematic areas of H2020 is published at www.dragon-star.eu/assessing-chinas-research
4. Innovation Ecosystem in China: An analysis of the Innovation Ecosystem in China has been produced. The report analyses the innovation measures and system in China and especially the incentives and obstacles towards the exploitation of research results.
The report aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of China’s Innovative Ecosystem and specifically, to identify innovation support mechanisms. http://www.dragon-star.eu/innovation-activities
5. Project Dissemination and Branding:. A strong “Dragon-Star” identity has been established in China, with the DRAGON-STAR name and Logo receiving broad recognition within the research community. Another innovation of the project was the production and dissemination of several interactive infographics, for several of the project activities.
6. Programs Database: An on-line searchable database of funding opportunities in China was produced which is constantly updated. The database includes programs on research and innovation from China (including Hong-Kong and Macau), the Member & Associated States, and International Organisations or Charities: www.dragon-star.eu/research-funding
7. China 2025: Research and Innovation landscape. Addressing the need to understand the rapid changes in the Chinese research and innovation landscape and draft a suitable cooperation strategy, DRAGON-STAR performed a foresight scenario study. A combination of a desk-study analysis, media scanning, a Delphi study, as well as a crowd-sourcing tool, were utilized to define and analyse 16 critical drivers that play a substantial role in transforming the R&I landscape in China.
Furthermore, a cross impact analysis revealed the interrelations between the different drivers and highlighted the strong impact of both the Government and of the National Economy, on positive or negative future developments. Taking into account the main identified drivers, as well as some critical uncertainties, four plausible scenarios for the future of the Chinese research & innovation landscape, have been finally composed. www.dragon-star.eu/china-research-2025
9. Innovation Travel Grant Scheme: Within the context of the Dragon-STAR project a Travel Grant Scheme was implemented, providing the opportunity to European organizations to investigate the Chinese market and identify suitable partners to conclude technological and/or research collaboration. Overall, DRAGON-STAR published 3 Calls for applicants and supported the participation of 36 companies and research institutions from 11 EU countries. The output was 402 performed meetings, 33 concluded cooperation agreements, and 98 potential future cooperation opportunities.
10. Innovation Award: The Dragon-STAR Innovation Award aimed at showcasing shining examples of Chinese-European cooperation in research and innovation. The three winning teams received the awards during the China-EU S&T Cooperation Forum in Brussels in 2015. http://www.dragon-star.eu/eu-china-research-and-innovation-forum-28-april-2015-brussels
11. Tackling Societal Challenges: The scientific state of the art in China and European in two specific topics of societal importance and potential synergies were studied. The first approach focused on water security and urban agriculture, due to the high-level interest in further collaboration. http://www.dragon-star.eu/tackling-societal-challenges-water-security-and-urban-agriculture-a-dragon-star-study
12. China in the Framework Programs: According to the workplan, a qualitative analysis was performed in order to study the role and importance of the Chinese partners in the shortlisted FP7 projects. The completed report was disseminated to stakeholders but also internally to provide strategic guidance to other project activities, e.g. trainings. Interesting aspects of the study would be the benefits of participating, perceived barriers, cultural aspects, IPRs, etc.
13. Handbook for industrial support services: A Handbook for industrial support services in China available for the EU SMEs and labs was produced. The publication includes general info on relevant framework conditions, a presentation of the European support instruments and initiatives, Chinese support instruments and initiatives, and selected case studies.
CONTACT US
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Epaminondas@help-forward.gr
web: www.dragon-star.eu
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
Project Results:
Not applicable
Potential Impact:
IMPACT
Dragon-STAR supported the policy dialogue and contributed in various cases to the definition and implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation.
In addition, an increased level of cooperation through the whole research to innovation chain was achieved via the development of new partnerships with Innovation Agencies or Governmental bodies in Europe and China.
In addition, the Dragon-STAR team has worked towards supporting the participation of Chinese organizations, besides the negative climate (because of the change of funding status of China in Horizon 2020).That was achieved through the improvement of information and assistance of Chinese researchers on the possibilities of EU-China S&T cooperation, and at the same time on the European side by improving the information and assistance on the opportunities for S&T cooperation with China.
Reciprocity
According to the EU-China S&T Agreement, Chinese national basic and high-tech research programs—the 973 National Basic Research Program and the 863 National High-Tech Research Program—are open to EU partners. However, this aspect of the agreement is not fully materialized. Dragon-STAR supported reciprocity by specifically collecting and disseminating relevant information and opportunities to the European researchers, creating a handbook, and setting up a help-desk.
Addressing Societal Challenges
A key issue of the ERA objectives is the mobilization of research to address major societal challenges and contribute to sustainable development. The Chinese “11th Five-Year Plan on Western Region Development” and China’s highly centralised research system is indeed effective in mobilizing research to examine the challenges and define development strategies which are critical to China’s sustainable development.
Dragon-STAR specifically focused on AgroFood (Urban Agriculture) and Climate Change (Sustainable Water Resources) and provided a roadmap for utilizing the available tools to address these challenges of bilateral interest.
Supporting Policy Dialogue
Dragon-STAR primarily focused on supporting the European Commission’s “Strategic European Framework for International Science and Technology Cooperation”, SFIC. However, during the project lifetime, the project team closely worked with different stakeholders EC directorates (DG AGRI, DG RTD, etc), EU initiatives (e.g. JPI Urban Europe), and Member states for specific activities.
In addition, specific material was produced about Chinese scientific competences, the future trends in technology, the aspect of reciprocity, the participation in framework programs, the opening of research infrastructures, the opportunities for joint research establishments.
Innovation
The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), created by DG Enterpise has supported the creation of EEN offices in China to support technological, research, and business collaboration, especially between SMEs. Dragon-STAR directly collaborated with the EEN offices in China organizing or participating in brokerage events in various places around China. In the context of the, brokerage events organized in China 33 technological cooperation agreements have been concluded, while 98 more have the potential to be materialized.
Total number of grantees
36
Total meetings
402
AGREEMENTS CONCLUDED
33
POTENTIAL FUTURE AGREEMENTS
98
Socio-Economic Impact
The potential socio-economic impact of Dragon-STAR is significant in the long term. The performed activities helped the project team to identify the research and innovation actors in China that possess specific S&T potential and worked to enhance their possibilities for collaboration with relevant European organizations. In addition, the cooperation agreements implemented with the support of Dragon-STAR) (see above) will generate employment opportunities, including among young scientists, and help counter forces pushing for scientific brain-drain to foreign universities, institutes and companies.
In addition, wider positive economic effect will follow in Europe and China from a range of enhanced knowledge exchanges, and as various processes in innovation and entrepreneurship are put in motion.
DISSEMINATION
The DRAGON-STAR dissemination activities target an international audience having a two-fold objective:
• Build a strong brand name in Europe and China, as regards the research collaboration;
• Utilize modern and diverse communication tools.
Specific strategies have been developed to address these activities in the dedicated Task 1.3 but also a number of focused dissemination activities have been foreseen in several tasks (briefly presented in the following picture).
The dissemination activities performed are presented below:
Website
The website (www.dragon-star.eu )is the main dissemination tool of the project. It was designed to store all the project-related information (activities, events, programs and technologies databases, etc), but also presents selected relevant information and news related to China.
In General from 1/2/2013 until 31/11/2015 almost 28.995 users visited the Dragonstar website 40.480 times and visited 101.040 pages.
Most of the visitors were from China whereas from the European side most visitors were from Germany. It is impressive that there were several visitors from USA as well.
Most of the visitors entering the website were interested in finding about funding opportunities especially in China. Thus it is very important to have this kind of information in visible position to the webpage. Also many of the visitors just entered the website in order to find out about what is Dragon-Star project.
Most of the visitors who repeteadly visited the webpage from external sources including newsletters, other websites, social media e.a were very interested in funding opportunities.
The majority of the visitors came directly or from search engines. Moreover, the websites of Access4.eu European Commission and BILAT.eu provided many leads. Finally linkedIn provided some visibility to the website.
In the duration of Dragon-Star Plus project almost 20 000 persons visited the webpage 26969 times and view 65.890 pages which is a dramatic increase in comparison with the statistics which regard Dragon-Star project.
Branding and Logo
Special focus was put on the design of visually appealing material: an emphatic eye-catching logo and document templates have been produced to emphasize the project’s identity, to diversify from competition and to increase recognition.
• The objective is to use the created brand for other activities by the project partners beyond the project’s lifetime.
• The main press materials are available for download http://www.dragon-star.eu/about/press/
Social Media
The Social media are modern tools for interactive communication with a broad range of interested parties. So far we have selected to have a strong presence in Twitter and Linkedin, as more professionally oriented platforms.
Twitter
In total twitter account is followed by 130 users, while the number of followers is steadily increasing (73 followers attracted during the first project period).
Generally, Dragon-star Team is trying to engage more and more users but uploading posts, following other users or reposting interesting information form other sources. Finally there seems that many users refer Dragon-Star project on the posts that they upload.
Linkedin. The LinkedIn DRAGON-STAR group has 285 members (169 during the first project period).
The most popular posts uploaded receive on average 2-4 likes and one comment. A recent popular post has title “China’s Scientific Research at ‘Turning Point,’ Study Says”
Youtubeos YouTube Channel
YouTube channel has been created and the first video for the training of the Chinese Regional Contact Points (RCPs) in Europe.
Presentation in Events
Dragon-Star has been presented in various occasions to different stakeholders in Europe and China. An indicative list of the main activities follows:
Europe
• Presentation in the OpenChina final conference: Vilnius (Lithuania), 5 November 2013. http://www.dragon-star.eu/openchina-final-conference-in-vilnius-5-november-2013/
• Presentation to the SFIC task force: Brussels, 31 January 2013.
• Presentation at SEZ premises to a delegation of 20 Chinese high-level representatives of technology transfer institutions and universities: Stuttgart (Germany) December 2013.
• China Portugal Clusters (CPC) Alliance Project Seminar: Torres Novas (Portugal), 5 June 2014, Portugal.
• Presentation in the IWA Conference: Porto, (Portugal), 23 September 2014.
• Presentation of the project in the University of Zurich “Asia Days”: Zurich (Switzerland), 21 October 2014: http://www.dragon-star.eu/asia-science-day-tuesday-21-october-2014-university-of-zurich/
• Presentation of the project to a delegation of 26 Chinese high-level representatives of technology transfer offices of universities of the Jiangsu region: Stuttgart (Germany), 7 November 2014.
• Presentation of the project to a delegation of 7 Chinese technology transfer representatives and CEO’s of innovative companies: Stuttgart (Germany), 24 November 2014.
• China Portugal Clusters (CPC) Alliance Project Seminar: Lisbon (Portugal), 19 December 2014.
• Presentation in PACE-NET Plus: Brussels, 23-24 June 2015.
• Presentation of the project and of opportunities in China in the annual EARMA conference: Leiden (The Netherlands), 3 July 2015: http://www.dragon-star.eu/dragon-star-in-the-21st-annual-conference-of-earma/
• Presentation of Dragon-Star to the S&T Commission of the Beijing Municipality and to the Chinese Embassy in Greece: Athens, 11 September 2015.
• Seminar titled “Asia: Markets and Opportunities”: Porto (Portugal), 17 September 2015.
China
• 12 November 2012, Beijing: Presentation to European and Chinese Stakeholders during the project’s Presentation to European and Chinese Stakeholders during the project’s kick off meeting: Beijing, 12 November 2012: http://www.dragon-star.eu/the-dragon-star-kick-off-meeting-12-13-nov-2012-beijing/
• DRAGON-STAR visit to the International Technology Transfer Office (ITTN): Beijing, 26 February 2013: http://www.dragon-star.eu/dragon-star-visits-ittn-beijing-26-feb-2013/
• Presentation of the project’s activities to the Chief Division for Overseas Projects, Peking University: Beijing, 28 February 2013: http://www.dragon-star.eu/dragon-star-visits-peking-univeristy-28-february-2013/
• Presentation in the training session for H2020, Ningbo University of Nottingham: Ningbo, 8 May 2013: http://www.dragon-star.eu/training-session-8th-may-2013-ningbo-university-of-nottingham/
• Presentation in the EU-China Innovation & Cooperation Conference: Chengdu, October 2013.
• Presentation during the Official H2020 launch event: Beijing, 22 November 2013. http://www.dragon-star.eu/official-launch-of-horizon-2020-in-china-and-training/
• Presentation in the ITTN 2015 Annual Meeting during China International Technology Transfer Convention 2015: Beijing, April 21-23, 2015.
• Presentation in the EU-China Business & Technology Cooperation Fair IX: Chengdu, 21-23 October 2014.
• Project presentation in the CHOICE project event: Chengdu, 22 October 2014: http://euchina-ict.eu/1st-choice-event-chengdu/
• Project presentation in the H2020 Stakeholders Workshop organized with the EU delegation: Hong-Kong, 4 February 2015: http://www.dragon-star.eu/h2020-stakeholders-workshop-hong-kong-4-february-2015/
• Presentation in the 32nd IASP World Conference on Science Parks and Areas of Innovation: Beijing, 24 September 2015.
Infographics – viral marketing
The new concept of viral marketing was also utilized to increase the visibility of the Dragon-Star project. For this concept we have decided to produce an infographic about the Urbanization process in China (creating at the same time a small area about Urbanization in the project’s website: http://www.dragon-star.eu/urbanization/ )
After an extensive desk study on urbanization in China, the following infographic was produced in electronic and print versions.
In addition, two more infographics have been produced and disseminated during the second period, in relation with the Scenario Work in Task 5.4.
Finally, an interactive Infographic was produced to explain H2020 and the opportunities for China. The infographic was produced in English and Mandarin.
Dissemination Products
The following dissemination materials were created, to be used in the various events:
1) 100 Pens including an integrated USB-Stick with Dragon-STAR logo. Before disseminating the pens, several public documents and information material of Dragon-STAR were copied into the USB-Stick.
2) 500 Sticky notes with Dragon-STAR logo
All Dragon-STAR dissemination materials have been provided to all project partners.
EXPLOITATION
The main exploitable output of the project is the foresight study “China 2025: Research & Innovation Landscape”. The study became the basis of a book (under the same title) available at purchase, while Phemonoe Lab utilizes the knowledge produced on other studies and private service provision.
CONTACT US
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Epaminondas@help-forward.gr
web: www.dragon-star.eu
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
List of Websites:
www.dragon-star.eu
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Coordinator
epaminondas@help-forward.gr
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
Dragon-STAR was built upon the work performed by two previous FP7 INCO projects (BILAT-SILK and ACCESSChina4EU), aiming to support the Sino-European collaboration in four levels, namely:
• Enhancing the quality of the Chinese participation in the European Framework Programs.
• Supporting the reciprocity originating from the signed EU-China Scientific Cooperation Agreement and the other bilateral initiatives.
• Supporting the bilateral cooperation in the broader field of innovation and especially technological cooperation between industrial players.
• Supporting the ongoing bilateral Scientific Cooperation dialogue and the other related initiatives.
The planned work was focused on addressing the four main project objectives and several positive outputs produced within the project’s lifetime. However, more important is the fact that DRAGON-STAR managed to establish stable collaborations with all the major stakeholders in Europe and China. There is an established collaboration with other EU funded projects, while joint events have been organized with the EU Delegation in China, DG Research, DG Agriculture, and EURAXESS Links China.
During the 36 months of the Dragon-Star life, the project team worked and succeeded for establishing a cooperation platform between European and Chinese stakeholders towards enhancing the bilateral cooperation in research and innovation.
The project has established a sound cooperation with the permanent EU representation in Beijing and worked together for implementing various activities. Similar cooperation has been established with the EC, Member States, Chinese Organizations and Innovation Agencies.
A flagship activity was the organization of a considerable number of promotional activities for H2020, and the establishment of a help-desk (CECO) and the implementation of a national network of Regional Contact Points in China, for promoting the program. At the same time, a database with funding opportunities for European researchers is constantly updated providing support to the Europeans interest in China.
Moreover, addressing the need to understand the rapid changes in the Chinese research and innovation landscape and draft a suitable cooperation strategy, DRAGON-STAR performed a foresight scenario study, revealing, four plausible scenarios for the future of the Chinese research & innovation landscape.
Find all the performed work, videos, photos, and collaboration opportuntiies in the Dragon-Star website and social media.
CONTACT US
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Epaminondas@help-forward.gr
web: www.dragon-star.eu
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
Project Context and Objectives:
Dragon-STAR was built upon the work performed by two previous FP7 INCO projects (BILAT-SILK and ACCESSChina4EU), aiming to support the Sino-European collaboration in four levels, namely:
• Enhancing the quality of the Chinese participation in the European Framework Programs.
• Supporting the reciprocity originating from the signed EU-China Scientific Cooperation Agreement and the other bilateral initiatives.
• Supporting the bilateral cooperation in the broader field of innovation and especially technological cooperation between industrial players.
• Supporting the ongoing bilateral Scientific Cooperation dialogue and the other related initiatives.
The strategy of the workplan was to address all requirements of the call and rationalise the work by grouping it into four distinct layers (check the following graph).
Work Package Overview
WP2 integrates all the work related to the basic objective of improving the quality of the Chinese participation in the framework programs, building upon the work already performed in the previous funded bilateral activity (BILAT-SILK). WP2 includes: the provision of quality NCP support services, the expansion of the existing network of the Regional Contact Points all over China as well as the monitoring of the Chinese participation in FP programs.
WP3 builds upon the work done for ACCESSCHINA4EU including several new activities for reinforcing the direct European cooperation with Chinese institutions. WP3 highlights the opportunities for participation in the national Chinese research programs and will support the twinning of labs, the creation of joint liaison offices (with specific pilot activities), and identifies opportunities to use Horizon 2020 as a tool for addressing specific societal challenges.
WP4 focuses on addressing innovation related activities. The Enterprise Europe Network is employed to bridge and address specific technological collaboration opportunities between SMEs and research actors, while a Grant Scheme of 100,000€ facilitates the direct bilateral research and technological collaboration.
WP5 groups all the work aiming to support the scientific policy dialogue between EU and China. The WP includes several activities to produce useful reports (China 2025, Chinese Research Competitiveness, Quality of the Chinese FP7 participation, etc) that can practically support and contribute to the bilateral dialogue in different levels: SFIC, EU-China Summit, Joint Declaration on the EU-China Partnership for Urbanisation, EU-China SME dialogue, EU-China Industrial Policy Dialogue, member states bilateral dialogues, etc.
Dissemination activities are provisioned under specific tasks of all WPs, in order to facilitate the focused diffusion of the project results and deliverables to the relevant stakeholders (researchers, policy makers, SMEs, etc). In addition, task 1.3 under the management WP aimes to provide central dissemination tools for the project results (webpage, leaflets, newsletters, etc). Bringing dissemination activities close to the coordination activities is expected to contribute to the effective communication of all project results and will contribute to the cost-effectiveness of the project’s activitities.
Work summary (main achievements)
The planned work was focused on addressing the four main project objectives and several positive outputs produced within the project’s lifetime. However, more important is the fact that DRAGON-STAR managed to establish stable collaborations with all the major stakeholders in Europe and China. There is an established collaboration with other EU funded projects, while joint events have been organized with the EU Delegation in China, DG Research, DG Agriculture, and EURAXESS Links China.
Below follows a brief description of main achievements of the DRAGON-STAR project:
1. DRAGON-STAR Collaboration culture: Strong collaboration links with Chinese institutions throughout China (e.g. Peking University, EU-PIC, Beijing Municipality, BTEPC, CAAS) have been established. In addition, the project is recognized as an important stakeholder supporting bilateral cooperation and there is a regular communication with the EU Delegation in China and with scientific advisors based in China. The project team regularly cooperates with the EU Delegation in China in supporting the implementation of the annual “Tour of China” flagship event, as well as in the implementation of specific joint activities.
Moreover, DRAGON-STAR has established a collaboration with the Enterprise Europe Network , while three organisations in China have become associated partners of the project. The project also regularly cooperates with other EU project and initiatives
2. H2020 promotion & NCP operation in China: A network of Regional Contact Points spread around China, has been coordinated by CECO/CSTEC, are providing information on H2020 to interested parties. Moreover, CECO, as the official Chinese NCP, runs a help-desk service and a special website offering updated tailor-made information.
The operation of the NCPs in China is reviewed by a self-evaluation benchmarking tool, initially developed by INCONTACT. The promotion of H2020 in China, is complemented with a Chinese NCP website, dissemination in Chinese Social Media as well as numerous amount of infodays and workshops organized around China (often in cooperation with the EU Delegation in China).Finally, the DRAGON-STAR has organized and participated in several policy development meetings with EU Scientific counselors and Chinese policy makers.
3. Joint-Labs mapping – China: A mapping work of the main joint labs in China was performed in cooperation with the EU Delegation in China and EURAXESS. At the same area, DRAGON-STAR has produced a feasibility study regarding the creation of Joint Research Structures in China.
Assessment of University performed Research in China. A set of bibliometric studies has been carried out for the Horizon 2020 thematic areas and for the horizontal cross-cutting area of Urbanization.
The report helps to fill this gap in knowledge by assessing the research strengths, relative standing, and internal research landscape of the People’s Republic of China.
The analysis of the performance of Chinese institutions in all the thematic areas of H2020 is published at www.dragon-star.eu/assessing-chinas-research
4. Innovation Ecosystem in China: An analysis of the Innovation Ecosystem in China has been produced. The report analyses the innovation measures and system in China and especially the incentives and obstacles towards the exploitation of research results.
The report aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of China’s Innovative Ecosystem and specifically, to identify innovation support mechanisms. http://www.dragon-star.eu/innovation-activities
5. Project Dissemination and Branding:. A strong “Dragon-Star” identity has been established in China, with the DRAGON-STAR name and Logo receiving broad recognition within the research community. Another innovation of the project was the production and dissemination of several interactive infographics, for several of the project activities.
6. Programs Database: An on-line searchable database of funding opportunities in China was produced which is constantly updated. The database includes programs on research and innovation from China (including Hong-Kong and Macau), the Member & Associated States, and International Organisations or Charities: www.dragon-star.eu/research-funding
7. China 2025: Research and Innovation landscape. Addressing the need to understand the rapid changes in the Chinese research and innovation landscape and draft a suitable cooperation strategy, DRAGON-STAR performed a foresight scenario study. A combination of a desk-study analysis, media scanning, a Delphi study, as well as a crowd-sourcing tool, were utilized to define and analyse 16 critical drivers that play a substantial role in transforming the R&I landscape in China.
Furthermore, a cross impact analysis revealed the interrelations between the different drivers and highlighted the strong impact of both the Government and of the National Economy, on positive or negative future developments. Taking into account the main identified drivers, as well as some critical uncertainties, four plausible scenarios for the future of the Chinese research & innovation landscape, have been finally composed. www.dragon-star.eu/china-research-2025
9. Innovation Travel Grant Scheme: Within the context of the Dragon-STAR project a Travel Grant Scheme was implemented, providing the opportunity to European organizations to investigate the Chinese market and identify suitable partners to conclude technological and/or research collaboration. Overall, DRAGON-STAR published 3 Calls for applicants and supported the participation of 36 companies and research institutions from 11 EU countries. The output was 402 performed meetings, 33 concluded cooperation agreements, and 98 potential future cooperation opportunities.
10. Innovation Award: The Dragon-STAR Innovation Award aimed at showcasing shining examples of Chinese-European cooperation in research and innovation. The three winning teams received the awards during the China-EU S&T Cooperation Forum in Brussels in 2015. http://www.dragon-star.eu/eu-china-research-and-innovation-forum-28-april-2015-brussels
11. Tackling Societal Challenges: The scientific state of the art in China and European in two specific topics of societal importance and potential synergies were studied. The first approach focused on water security and urban agriculture, due to the high-level interest in further collaboration. http://www.dragon-star.eu/tackling-societal-challenges-water-security-and-urban-agriculture-a-dragon-star-study
12. China in the Framework Programs: According to the workplan, a qualitative analysis was performed in order to study the role and importance of the Chinese partners in the shortlisted FP7 projects. The completed report was disseminated to stakeholders but also internally to provide strategic guidance to other project activities, e.g. trainings. Interesting aspects of the study would be the benefits of participating, perceived barriers, cultural aspects, IPRs, etc.
13. Handbook for industrial support services: A Handbook for industrial support services in China available for the EU SMEs and labs was produced. The publication includes general info on relevant framework conditions, a presentation of the European support instruments and initiatives, Chinese support instruments and initiatives, and selected case studies.
CONTACT US
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Epaminondas@help-forward.gr
web: www.dragon-star.eu
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
Project Results:
Not applicable
Potential Impact:
IMPACT
Dragon-STAR supported the policy dialogue and contributed in various cases to the definition and implementation of joint strategic agendas for research, development and innovation.
In addition, an increased level of cooperation through the whole research to innovation chain was achieved via the development of new partnerships with Innovation Agencies or Governmental bodies in Europe and China.
In addition, the Dragon-STAR team has worked towards supporting the participation of Chinese organizations, besides the negative climate (because of the change of funding status of China in Horizon 2020).That was achieved through the improvement of information and assistance of Chinese researchers on the possibilities of EU-China S&T cooperation, and at the same time on the European side by improving the information and assistance on the opportunities for S&T cooperation with China.
Reciprocity
According to the EU-China S&T Agreement, Chinese national basic and high-tech research programs—the 973 National Basic Research Program and the 863 National High-Tech Research Program—are open to EU partners. However, this aspect of the agreement is not fully materialized. Dragon-STAR supported reciprocity by specifically collecting and disseminating relevant information and opportunities to the European researchers, creating a handbook, and setting up a help-desk.
Addressing Societal Challenges
A key issue of the ERA objectives is the mobilization of research to address major societal challenges and contribute to sustainable development. The Chinese “11th Five-Year Plan on Western Region Development” and China’s highly centralised research system is indeed effective in mobilizing research to examine the challenges and define development strategies which are critical to China’s sustainable development.
Dragon-STAR specifically focused on AgroFood (Urban Agriculture) and Climate Change (Sustainable Water Resources) and provided a roadmap for utilizing the available tools to address these challenges of bilateral interest.
Supporting Policy Dialogue
Dragon-STAR primarily focused on supporting the European Commission’s “Strategic European Framework for International Science and Technology Cooperation”, SFIC. However, during the project lifetime, the project team closely worked with different stakeholders EC directorates (DG AGRI, DG RTD, etc), EU initiatives (e.g. JPI Urban Europe), and Member states for specific activities.
In addition, specific material was produced about Chinese scientific competences, the future trends in technology, the aspect of reciprocity, the participation in framework programs, the opening of research infrastructures, the opportunities for joint research establishments.
Innovation
The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), created by DG Enterpise has supported the creation of EEN offices in China to support technological, research, and business collaboration, especially between SMEs. Dragon-STAR directly collaborated with the EEN offices in China organizing or participating in brokerage events in various places around China. In the context of the, brokerage events organized in China 33 technological cooperation agreements have been concluded, while 98 more have the potential to be materialized.
Total number of grantees
36
Total meetings
402
AGREEMENTS CONCLUDED
33
POTENTIAL FUTURE AGREEMENTS
98
Socio-Economic Impact
The potential socio-economic impact of Dragon-STAR is significant in the long term. The performed activities helped the project team to identify the research and innovation actors in China that possess specific S&T potential and worked to enhance their possibilities for collaboration with relevant European organizations. In addition, the cooperation agreements implemented with the support of Dragon-STAR) (see above) will generate employment opportunities, including among young scientists, and help counter forces pushing for scientific brain-drain to foreign universities, institutes and companies.
In addition, wider positive economic effect will follow in Europe and China from a range of enhanced knowledge exchanges, and as various processes in innovation and entrepreneurship are put in motion.
DISSEMINATION
The DRAGON-STAR dissemination activities target an international audience having a two-fold objective:
• Build a strong brand name in Europe and China, as regards the research collaboration;
• Utilize modern and diverse communication tools.
Specific strategies have been developed to address these activities in the dedicated Task 1.3 but also a number of focused dissemination activities have been foreseen in several tasks (briefly presented in the following picture).
The dissemination activities performed are presented below:
Website
The website (www.dragon-star.eu )is the main dissemination tool of the project. It was designed to store all the project-related information (activities, events, programs and technologies databases, etc), but also presents selected relevant information and news related to China.
In General from 1/2/2013 until 31/11/2015 almost 28.995 users visited the Dragonstar website 40.480 times and visited 101.040 pages.
Most of the visitors were from China whereas from the European side most visitors were from Germany. It is impressive that there were several visitors from USA as well.
Most of the visitors entering the website were interested in finding about funding opportunities especially in China. Thus it is very important to have this kind of information in visible position to the webpage. Also many of the visitors just entered the website in order to find out about what is Dragon-Star project.
Most of the visitors who repeteadly visited the webpage from external sources including newsletters, other websites, social media e.a were very interested in funding opportunities.
The majority of the visitors came directly or from search engines. Moreover, the websites of Access4.eu European Commission and BILAT.eu provided many leads. Finally linkedIn provided some visibility to the website.
In the duration of Dragon-Star Plus project almost 20 000 persons visited the webpage 26969 times and view 65.890 pages which is a dramatic increase in comparison with the statistics which regard Dragon-Star project.
Branding and Logo
Special focus was put on the design of visually appealing material: an emphatic eye-catching logo and document templates have been produced to emphasize the project’s identity, to diversify from competition and to increase recognition.
• The objective is to use the created brand for other activities by the project partners beyond the project’s lifetime.
• The main press materials are available for download http://www.dragon-star.eu/about/press/
Social Media
The Social media are modern tools for interactive communication with a broad range of interested parties. So far we have selected to have a strong presence in Twitter and Linkedin, as more professionally oriented platforms.
In total twitter account is followed by 130 users, while the number of followers is steadily increasing (73 followers attracted during the first project period).
Generally, Dragon-star Team is trying to engage more and more users but uploading posts, following other users or reposting interesting information form other sources. Finally there seems that many users refer Dragon-Star project on the posts that they upload.
Linkedin. The LinkedIn DRAGON-STAR group has 285 members (169 during the first project period).
The most popular posts uploaded receive on average 2-4 likes and one comment. A recent popular post has title “China’s Scientific Research at ‘Turning Point,’ Study Says”
Youtubeos YouTube Channel
YouTube channel has been created and the first video for the training of the Chinese Regional Contact Points (RCPs) in Europe.
Presentation in Events
Dragon-Star has been presented in various occasions to different stakeholders in Europe and China. An indicative list of the main activities follows:
Europe
• Presentation in the OpenChina final conference: Vilnius (Lithuania), 5 November 2013. http://www.dragon-star.eu/openchina-final-conference-in-vilnius-5-november-2013/
• Presentation to the SFIC task force: Brussels, 31 January 2013.
• Presentation at SEZ premises to a delegation of 20 Chinese high-level representatives of technology transfer institutions and universities: Stuttgart (Germany) December 2013.
• China Portugal Clusters (CPC) Alliance Project Seminar: Torres Novas (Portugal), 5 June 2014, Portugal.
• Presentation in the IWA Conference: Porto, (Portugal), 23 September 2014.
• Presentation of the project in the University of Zurich “Asia Days”: Zurich (Switzerland), 21 October 2014: http://www.dragon-star.eu/asia-science-day-tuesday-21-october-2014-university-of-zurich/
• Presentation of the project to a delegation of 26 Chinese high-level representatives of technology transfer offices of universities of the Jiangsu region: Stuttgart (Germany), 7 November 2014.
• Presentation of the project to a delegation of 7 Chinese technology transfer representatives and CEO’s of innovative companies: Stuttgart (Germany), 24 November 2014.
• China Portugal Clusters (CPC) Alliance Project Seminar: Lisbon (Portugal), 19 December 2014.
• Presentation in PACE-NET Plus: Brussels, 23-24 June 2015.
• Presentation of the project and of opportunities in China in the annual EARMA conference: Leiden (The Netherlands), 3 July 2015: http://www.dragon-star.eu/dragon-star-in-the-21st-annual-conference-of-earma/
• Presentation of Dragon-Star to the S&T Commission of the Beijing Municipality and to the Chinese Embassy in Greece: Athens, 11 September 2015.
• Seminar titled “Asia: Markets and Opportunities”: Porto (Portugal), 17 September 2015.
China
• 12 November 2012, Beijing: Presentation to European and Chinese Stakeholders during the project’s Presentation to European and Chinese Stakeholders during the project’s kick off meeting: Beijing, 12 November 2012: http://www.dragon-star.eu/the-dragon-star-kick-off-meeting-12-13-nov-2012-beijing/
• DRAGON-STAR visit to the International Technology Transfer Office (ITTN): Beijing, 26 February 2013: http://www.dragon-star.eu/dragon-star-visits-ittn-beijing-26-feb-2013/
• Presentation of the project’s activities to the Chief Division for Overseas Projects, Peking University: Beijing, 28 February 2013: http://www.dragon-star.eu/dragon-star-visits-peking-univeristy-28-february-2013/
• Presentation in the training session for H2020, Ningbo University of Nottingham: Ningbo, 8 May 2013: http://www.dragon-star.eu/training-session-8th-may-2013-ningbo-university-of-nottingham/
• Presentation in the EU-China Innovation & Cooperation Conference: Chengdu, October 2013.
• Presentation during the Official H2020 launch event: Beijing, 22 November 2013. http://www.dragon-star.eu/official-launch-of-horizon-2020-in-china-and-training/
• Presentation in the ITTN 2015 Annual Meeting during China International Technology Transfer Convention 2015: Beijing, April 21-23, 2015.
• Presentation in the EU-China Business & Technology Cooperation Fair IX: Chengdu, 21-23 October 2014.
• Project presentation in the CHOICE project event: Chengdu, 22 October 2014: http://euchina-ict.eu/1st-choice-event-chengdu/
• Project presentation in the H2020 Stakeholders Workshop organized with the EU delegation: Hong-Kong, 4 February 2015: http://www.dragon-star.eu/h2020-stakeholders-workshop-hong-kong-4-february-2015/
• Presentation in the 32nd IASP World Conference on Science Parks and Areas of Innovation: Beijing, 24 September 2015.
Infographics – viral marketing
The new concept of viral marketing was also utilized to increase the visibility of the Dragon-Star project. For this concept we have decided to produce an infographic about the Urbanization process in China (creating at the same time a small area about Urbanization in the project’s website: http://www.dragon-star.eu/urbanization/ )
After an extensive desk study on urbanization in China, the following infographic was produced in electronic and print versions.
In addition, two more infographics have been produced and disseminated during the second period, in relation with the Scenario Work in Task 5.4.
Finally, an interactive Infographic was produced to explain H2020 and the opportunities for China. The infographic was produced in English and Mandarin.
Dissemination Products
The following dissemination materials were created, to be used in the various events:
1) 100 Pens including an integrated USB-Stick with Dragon-STAR logo. Before disseminating the pens, several public documents and information material of Dragon-STAR were copied into the USB-Stick.
2) 500 Sticky notes with Dragon-STAR logo
All Dragon-STAR dissemination materials have been provided to all project partners.
EXPLOITATION
The main exploitable output of the project is the foresight study “China 2025: Research & Innovation Landscape”. The study became the basis of a book (under the same title) available at purchase, while Phemonoe Lab utilizes the knowledge produced on other studies and private service provision.
CONTACT US
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Epaminondas@help-forward.gr
web: www.dragon-star.eu
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
List of Websites:
www.dragon-star.eu
Epaminondas Christofilopoulos, Coordinator
epaminondas@help-forward.gr
twitter: @DragonStarEU
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/DRAGONSTAR-Plus-4724980/about
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6sEDqDkqfpMMKhi3VZMGQ
