MILAN — Nineteen cooperation agreements in research and economy were signed on Dec 5 between Italy and China during the opening day of the 9th China-Italy Science, Technology, and Innovation Week.

Running until Dec 6, the event kicked off in the presence of Italy’s Education and Research Minister Marco Bussetti and China’s Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang.

The event attracted some 1,470 delegates from about 755 universities, research institutions, and productive entities of the two countries.

The cooperation deals cover various economic sectors, research activities and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence applied to robotics to promote collaborative robots, and cooperation to build the Chinese next-generation synchrotron radiation facility.

The agreements would also allow the creation of summer schools for Italian and Chinese students in mechatronics, advanced robotics and digital systems.

During the first day at Milan’s Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo Da Vinci”, the two ministers also signed a joint declaration stressing satisfaction with “the excellent level” of bilateral cooperation in scientific and technological innovation.

“In contemporary globalization, innovation is the key factor for the dynamism of economic and social systems that are connected worldwide,” Bussetti said.

“The knowledge economy goes beyond national borders ... and it is therefore only by enhancing research that we can plan a future of individual and collective prosperity,” said the Italian minister.

For such reasons, Bussetti said he saw the Sino-Italian relationship as “fundamental for the cultural, economic and political future of Italy.”

The cooperation deals endorsed in Milan also included new aeronautical collaboration between Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute and the Italian Aerospace Research Center, according to the organizers.

“We have ongoing collaborations with 158 countries, among which Italy is a strategic partner,” Wang said.

“Italian research is internationally renowned, and we will keep working together on pilot projects in many sectors, from aerospace to intelligent manufacturing. Particular attention will be paid to sustainable energies,” he said.

At the event, researchers, business people, and delegates will address a vast range of issues “in line with the respective research strategies of the two countries,” according to the organizers.

These would include life sciences, advanced manufacturing, green growth, sustainable urbanization, food security, culture heritage in smart cities, and smart grids.

During the event, there will be about 200 business-to-business meetings, plus 19 thematic seminars on emerging technologies, and the presentation of 224 cooperation projects.