SAN FRANCISCO, May 30 (Xinhua) -- A visiting delegation from the Chinese city of Xuzhou met with local entrepreneurs and innovators on Thursday in Silicon Valley to explore opportunities for more exchanges and collaboration.
The delegation, headed by Xuzhou Mayor Zhuang Zhaolin, is composed of more than 10 officials in charge of the city's economic development, health and technology.
Xuzhou, a major city in east China's Jiangsu Province, enjoys distinctive advantages in developing technology projects and it welcomes overseas startups that are interested in launching their projects in China, said Zhuang at a meeting hosted by the Silicon Valley Innovation Center of Zhongguancun Development Group in Santa Clara, California.
"It is an important comprehensive transportation hub in China, known as a 'thoroughfare to five provinces'. It takes only three hours to go to Beijing and Shanghai, and 1.5 hours to Nanjing, Zhengzhou and Hefei by railway," said Zhuang.
The city is also connected with international cities on more than 30 air routes, he added.
Xuzhou is an emerging industrial and commercial city, known as "capital of China's construction machinery," said Zhuang. The city holds a key role in China for its construction machinery-denominated equipment manufacturing industry and photon-dominated new energy industry, he said.
Xuzhou also boasts great scientific and educational resources with 14 universities, more than 30 vocational schools and over 200,000 college students.
Last year, the city won the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) Scroll of Honor for promoting ecological restoration through intelligent solid-waste management.
In 2017, the city set up the Xuzhou Silicon Valley Science and Technology Exchange Center at the Zhongguancun Silicon Valley innovation center to bridge innovation between China and the United States. It also serves as a "green corridor" for exchanges and cooperation between Xuzhou and Silicon Valley, said Zhuang.
"For the next step, we will focus on strengthening collaboration on innovative projects, promoting the commercialization of research results, and enhancing ties between universities and institutes in Xuzhou and innovation centers and companies in Silicon Valley," he said.
During the meeting, the Xuzhou Silicon Valley Science and Technology Exchange Center signed an agreement with Bontera, a U.S. company providing agricultural solutions, for market development in China.
The meeting also attracted dozens of members from local political, business and technology circles in Silicon Valley.
Nicholas Kaspar, president and CEO of Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, applauded Xuzhou's urban renewal model that integrates improved city planning with infrastructure upgrade and combat against pollution.
"Xuzhou uses innovation to address environmental and transportation issues, which is something that both cities, and even both countries, can take an example of to achieve sustainable growth," he said.
Santa Clara, as a city of innovation and home to the headquarters of many technology companies, shares the same goal as Xuzhou, and both cities have a great potential to collaborate with each other, he said.
