MILAN — China on June 8 expressed the willingness to work with Italy to establish some model projects in innovation cooperation, as Vice-Premier Wang Yang was on a visit to the European country.

“China proposes to expand areas in innovation cooperation with Italy, continue to deepen cooperation in technology transfer, design innovation, aerospace industry, energy and environment,” said Wang when addressing a China-Italy innovation forum in the afternoon of June 8.

He proposed the two countries to enlarge new fields of cooperation in smart city, smart grids, high-end equipment manufacturing, nanoscience and bio-medicine, and work together to build up some model cooperative projects.

Moreover, he called for closer exchanges between small and medium-sized enterprises in the two countries, saying their role in innovation should be given to the full play. He also called on the two countries to improve financing mechanisms and intellectual property protection cooperation, so as to create sound atmosphere for their innovation cooperation.

The forum was held on the sidelines of the Milan Expo 2015, as June 8 marked the China National Day at the Expo.