Malu town, Jiading district of Shanghai, signed a cooperation deal with North American member institutions of International Universities Innovation Alliance (IUIA) at a meeting on Sept 18.

According to the deal, the two sides will join hands in promoting industrial transformation, talent attraction and investment attraction.

The meeting was attended by eight representatives from IUIA North American member institutions, including Xiao Shuigen, vice president assistant of Georgetown University, and Jessica Sebeok, vice president of Association of American Universities.

A promotion film was shown to the attendees, helping them gain a better understanding of Malu's overall planning, medical, education, culture and commerce resources, industrial development, as well as talent and startup services.

Sebeok gave a speech about American universities and regional economic development. Other attendees also briefly introduced their universities or associations and exchanged ideas with Malu officials about industry-university-research cooperation, technological transfer, and innovation and entrepreneurship services.

Additionally, the attendees visited a local planning hall, Jiayuanhai Art Center, and venues of the town's key industries.

The International Universities Innovation Alliance was founded by companies such as Shenzhen-based BGI along with top-rated European and American universities in 2014.

The alliance, in cooperation with top universities, incubators and national high-tech parks, is dedicated to promoting investment and cooperation using the model of "Online to Offline" (O2O), overseas incubators and domestic accelerators to accelerate the commercialization of research and innovative technologies through entrepreneurship.

Representatives of Malu town, Jiading district of Shanghai, and North American member institutions of International Universities Innovation Alliance sign a cooperation deal on Sept 18. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]