ICT research collaboration between China and Europe

The CHOICE project will provide continuity and progress in supporting and strengthening China Collaboration on ICT research with Europe, offering timely input and follow-up on common ICT R&D priorities and future cooperation opportunities between the EC and China, and assisting in focusing dialogue meetings and increasing their visibility. The CHOICE consortium is a balance of Chinese and European partners, including OpenChina-ICT project partners (SIGMA and CATR), as well as ChinaACCESS4EU (SPI, TORCH, EUPIC) and DRAGON-STAR (SPI) partners. In the CHOICE project emphasis will be put on:

1. Identifying obstacles to reciprocity and encouraging a more balanced relationship with China based on reciprocity, especially supporting European nationals, companies and organisations willing to access Chinese research programmes;
2. Highlighting and showcasing both EU and Chinese excellence in ICT R&D;
3. Strengthening EU-China industrial ICT R&D cooperation, also with the view of preparing the ground for new upcoming rules governing EU-China ICT R&D cooperation under Horizon 2020 (H2020).

The key distinguishing features of the CHOICE project are that it will:

• Position itself as a strategic forum on EU China science and technology cooperation in ICT.
• Engage with the Chinese within the framework they have adopted for managing their technological development. This framework pays careful attention to regulatory issues and ensures subsequent developments are policies driven.
• Focus on cooperation in the context of policies driven research.
• Focus dialogues towards standardization and regulatory initiatives that have the potential for initiating economic sustainable cooperation with China outside of European funded research programmes.
• Bridge towards H2020 emphasizing opportunities in China for the exploitation of H2020 and in particular its’ potential for contributing to increasing Chinese domestic demand.
• Deliver a roadmap that will provide a sustainability strategy for EU-China research cooperation beyond FP7.
• Deliver an action plan, which will provide a sustainability strategy for EU-China research cooperation outside of European funded research programmes.

Thanks to this approach, the CHOICE project will create a bridge towards H2020 and capitalize on the timely conjunction of H2020 shift away from technology-driven towards innovation-driven ICT R&D based on societal needs and consumer aspirations, with the Chinese Government’s firm commitment to growing domestic demand, thus emphasizing opportunities in China for the exploitation of H2020 and in particular its potential for contributing to increasing Chinese domestic demand.