(Yicai Global) July 5 -- The Chinese University of Hong Kong signed an agreement with a local government in Shanghai to jointly build the CUHK’s Shanghai Center at a launch ceremony yesterday.

When ready, the center, located in a university hub in Shanghai’s Yangpu district, will regularly hold various academic conferences and forums. It is expected to serve as an important bridge promoting the integration and development of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the university said.

Chen Qun, vice mayor of Shanghai, said at the signing ceremony that Hong Kong and Shanghai are the most open hubs and platforms in China. Looking ahead to the future, Shanghai and Hong Kong will work together on a larger scale and at a higher and deeper level.

Duan Chongzhi, CUHK president, noted that the establishment of the Shanghai Center is important to the development of the university on the mainland. The center will actively give full play to the advantages of the two cities’ resources and build a platform for exchanges between entrepreneurs, scholars and students from Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Center of The Chinese University of Hong Kong will be situated at the Shanghai Penta Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute in Wujiaochang, central Shanghai, which boasts a number of first-class universities, including Fudan University, Tongji University, and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

The Shanghai Penta Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute is a non-profit education and service organization jointly founded by Fudan University, other universities, leading enterprises, innovation service institutions and the Yangpu district government, which pointed out that the Shanghai Center will also cooperate with more universities.

Editor: Peter Thomas