Annual Report 2001

5 External Linkages

5.1 Linkage with China

UNU/IIST has continued to develop good connections with China, in particular with Macau. As proposed by Chinese authority, UNU/IIST activities have included the western part of China.

1. In the period of 15 to 19 January 2001, the Macau SAR Office for the Development of Telecommunications and Information Technology (GDTTI) and UNU/IIST jointly organised a course on "Software Project Management" at the UNU/IIST premises. About 50 participants including current UNU/IIST fellows and software professionals from Macau, Zhuhai, Gansu, Guizhou and Beijing attended this course.

2. In February, the Macau Foundation and UNU/IIST agreed the continuation of the joint project INCoM (Information Network Center of Macau) in 2001. The main development of INCoM 2001 focused on the Macau Virtual Library and a financial system for Macau Foundation. 306 full-text books and magazines are so far available on the Internet.

3. Prof. He Jifeng and Mr. Chris George visited Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Shenzhen during 14-15 March 2001. A training programme for software professionals of the Plant is under consideration.

4. On 18 April, Prof. He Jifeng was granted the first prize of Shanghai Natural Science Award for his academic achievements on Design Methods for Safety Critical System.

5. On 19 April, Prof. Zhou Chaochen was appointed as the Honorary Dean of the IT School of the East China Normal University.

6. On 10 May, the President of Macau Polytechnic Institute invited Prof. Zhou Chaochen as an external examiner of the Institute.

7. On 29 May, as invited by the Zhuhai Municipal People's Government, the UNU/IIST Board members visited Zhuhai. Prof. Mathai Joseph gave a presentation, "Growing a Software Industry in a Developing Country", at the Zhuhai Southern Software Park. The Board members were warmly received by the Government.

8. The Rector of UNU, Prof. J. A. van Ginkel, made a courtesy call on the Chief Executive, Mr. Edmond Ho, on 28 May, and other calls on the Macau Foundation, Macau University and Macau University of Science and Technology in connection with his participation in the UNU/IIST Board meeting.

9. From 24 to 26 May, Prof. Zhou Chaochen and He Jifeng attended the Second High-Level Forum on City Informatization in the Asia-Pacific Region (CIAPR II). The forum was jointly organised by the Shanghai Municipality, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). There were about 800 participants from DESA, UNDP, UNIDO, and 58 countries and cities. Prof. Zhou gave a presentation at the Forum: "How UNU/IIST Serves Developing Countries". At the Forum Prof. Zhou and Prof. He were appointed as Chief Commissary and Commissary respectively of the IT Advisory Committee to the Shanghai Municipal Government. UNU/IIST also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation Office for City Informatization and the East China Normal University to jointly organise a training school on Software Development and Management in Shanghai during 19-30 November 2001.

10. On 12 June, the Macau Foundation for Cooperation and Development decided to continue the joint UNU/IIST fellowship programme. Under this programme in 2001 the Foundation would fund two UNU/IIST fellowships of 12 months from China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

11. Mr. Chris George gave a keynote speech at a workshop on Computer Science Education in the 21st Century in Shanghai during 16-18 July.

12. During 21-25 September 2001 Prof. Zhou Chaochen attended a Seminar on International Personnel Exchange and Technological Co-operation in the Wuhan Optics Valley of China. About 120 people from 15 countries outside China attended the seminar. Prof. Zhou gave a presentation about UNU/IIST at a plenary session of the seminar, and chaired a group session on Optical Communication and Networking. Prof. Zhou was appointed as a Consultant to the Valley and as an Adjunct Professor of Central China University of Science and Technology.

13. Prof. He Jifeng was invited to give a keynote talk in Summer School and Workshop on Basic Study in Computing Science held in Beijing during 13-19 October.

14. During 26-27 October, the UNU/IIST Board Chairperson, Prof. Armando Haeberer, visited Beijing as invited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Science and Technology to further promote UNU/IIST activities in China.

15. During 4-7 December UNU/IIST organized the Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference in Macau jointly with the University of Macau and the Macau SAR Office for the Development of Telecommunications and Information Technology.

16. In 2001, UNU/IIST has also given 5 courses and seminars in Guiyang, Chongqing, Zhengzhou and Lanzhou, and received many visitors from China.

5.2 Memoranda of Understanding

In 2001, UNU/IIST signed the following Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in order to further strengthen the collaboration with its partners worldwide.

1. On 27 February 2001, an MoU between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and UNU/IIST was signed. Through this MoU, joint research projects will be arranged and NUS will help UNU/IIST train its Fellows from developing countries. The first two fellows from Nepal and Vietnam will go there in early 2002.

2. In February, Institute for Applied Data Technology, Odense, Denmark (IFAD A/S) and UNU/IIST signed an MoU. Under this agreement, IFAD helped UNU/IIST deliver two training courses in Cameroon and Nigeria in 2001.

3. On 25 May, UNU/IIST signed in Shanghai a Memorandum of Understanding with the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation Office for City Informatization and the East China Normal University to jointly organise a training school in Shanghai in November 2001.

4. On 2 July, UNU/IIST signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Computer Science Department of Barhampur University of India. This agreement defines the activities of both parties on joint training courses for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and also on joint research.

5. On 4 July, UNU/IIST signed an MoU with the School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Through this MoU, the School will receive and train UNU/IIST Fellows.

6. On 9 July, UNU/IIST signed a protocol with the Institute of International Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Portugal (ICCTI), witnessed by the Portuguese Minister, Mr. Gago. Under this protocol, both parties will make a joint effort to further develop scientific and technological cooperation of Portugal with China, as well as with other developing countries, establish an ICCTI-UNU/IIST fellowship programme at UNU/IIST, and identify university partners and other institutions in Portugal that may be interested in developing joint PhD or Post Doctor programmes with UNU/IIST.

7. On 10 September, UNU/IIST signed an MoU with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the University of Calgary in Canada, which allows UNU/IIST to send its fellows to this university each year for training, and also to conduct joint research with this university. Following this agreement, three UNU/IIST fellows from Cameroon, China and Vietnam have spent a semester in Calgary.

8. On 18 September, UNU/IIST signed an MoU with the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Center (CPTTM), which records an agreement to establish an IT Support Forum on the Internet to support Macau people to learn software technology. This forum has operated since then.

Annual Report 2001