China, U.S. organizations, companies form innovation alliance

Organizations and companies from China and the United States have agreed to build a Sino-U.S. innovation park in Baishishan, one of China's innovation parks in the northern province of Hebei.

At the China-U.S. Innovation High-Level Forum held at the park on Wednesday and Thursday, Mitchell Stanley, chairman of the board of trustees of the National Center for Sustainable Development; Gongping Yeh, president of the Global Innovation Center; managers of Baishishan and five entrepreneurs from China and the U.S. signed the agreement.

ENFOS, a San Mateo-based company that collects environmental data, will have its first Chinese branch in the Baishishan park to help deal with local smog.

Around 300 people from the government, NGOs and companies attended the forum on cooperation in innovation and investment.

Jin Xiaoming, head of international cooperation department of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), said the U.S. and China face common challenges in climate change, environmental protection, energy safety, food security and major diseases, which should be dealt with together.

"History has proven that innovation promotes social progress, and we should tackle these challenges together," he said.

The MOST and Hebei provincial government are among the sponsors of the forum. Endit