On February 22, under the witness of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the President of Tsinghua University Qiu Yong and the President of the Politecnico di Milano Ferruccio Resta signed the agreement, in the Great Hall of the People, for collaboration to establish the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub in Milan. It will be the first education and research base set up by Tsinghua University in Europe, indicating the comprehensive implementation of Tsinghua University’s global strategy.

According to the agreement currently signed by and between Tsinghua University and the Politecnico di Milano, the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub will be located in the famous Bovisa Campus of the Politecnico di Milano. Italy is a country full of art and design innovation and Milan is honored as the design capital of the world, with its rich design atmosphere and sophisticated design ecology. The Politecnico di Milano was founded in 1863 and currently ranks 1st in Italy in engineering, and 10th in the world in art and design. Nearly half the design graduates are from the Politecnico di Milano.

As important partners of each other, Tsinghua University and the Politecnico di Milano have, in recent years, undertaken a series of continuous and comprehensive exchanges and cooperation. By making use of their common advantages in design, the two universities have strengthened their cooperation in such fields as talent training, faculty exchange and co-research which have led to fruitful achievements. For Expo 2015, the faculties from the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, undertook the heavy tasks for architectural, landscape, interior, exhibit and visual guide design of the China Pavilion and helped the Chinese culture to really “go global” alongside the Chinese design.

By relying on the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University and the Department of Design of the Politecnico di Milano, the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub will be devoted to building a comprehensive platform for China and Italy to undertake cooperation in design innovation and make contributions to exchanges of education, research and culture between the two countries. By making use of this platform, Tsinghua University will undertake in-depth cooperation with the Politecnico di Milano and the Italian design industry for innovative talents training, research into design innovation and exhibiting original design driven by artistic design.

In terms of international high-end talent training, the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub will have its faculty from Tsinghua University and the Politecnico di Milano as well as recruit excellent faculty from all over the world. In addition to the present double Master Degree program, the Hub will also start an international postgraduate program for the joint cultivation of innovative talents in design, undertake high-end international research and training programs and collaboration in course design, as well as become the base for practice by the students of Tsinghua University.

In terms of research into innovation of art and design, through the cooperation between the governments of China and Italy, the two universities, and other well-known enterprises, the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub will undertake high-level co-research, serve the transformation of science and technology with design, provide powerful support for Chinese manufacturing industry to transform itself, and promote and “go global”, advance the transformation of the Chinese design industry to high-end comprehensive design service and build a headquarters base for China design in Europe. Additionally, the Hub will also become the workshop and creation base for the faculty of Tsinghua University in Europe.

In terms of exhibiting and publishing the achievements of original art and design, by holding different high-level exhibitions, publications and large academic programs, the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub will build an exhibition center for the Chinese design industry in Milan and the exchange center of Chinese and Italian cultures so that more Chinese culture, art and original designs can “go global”.

The President of the Politecnico di Milano Ferruccio Resta described it as a major event in the operation and management of the Politecnico di Milano to collaborate with Tsinghua University in establishing the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub and they will support, with full effort, the common development of the two universities.

"The establishment of the Sino-Italian Design Innovation Hub is an extension of Tsinghua University’s global strategy in Europe, indicating that Tsinghua University is gradually and comprehensively implementing its global strategy and that it has made a solid step towards the goal of ‘more innovative, more internationalized and more humanity-oriented,’ concluded Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University.

Source: news.tsinghua.edu.cn