Certificate presentation ceremony for foreign sci-tech commissioners. (PHOTO: Xiamen Bureau of Science and Technology)

By FU Xiaobo & CHEN Chunyou

On March 15, four foreign sci-tech commissioners from the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, were awarded sci-tech commissioners' certificates by the Xiamen Bureau of Science and Technology, making them official members of the city's commissioner team.

Since the introduction of foreign sci-tech commissioners to Xiamen in September 2019, about 15 foreign experts have been selected for this role, bringing international innovative ideas to local sci-tech innovation and promoting high-quality industrial development.

In recent years, Xiamen's sci-tech commissioners' range of services has expanded from agriculture to engineering, science and technology and ecology.

Xiamen plans to take advantage of the opportunity of establishing itself as a BRICS innovation base, carry out more international sci-tech exchanges and cooperation and create platforms for foreign experts to make their contributions to local enterprises' development, said Cao Weimin, vice director of the Xiamen Bureau of Science and Technology.

Franz Gatzweiler, a German researcher at the Institute of Urban Environment, is one of the four foreign sci-tech commissioners. He has been the executive director of the urban health and well-being program at the International Council of Scientific Unions, and has in-depth research in the areas of social ecosystems and institutional economics.

Gatzweiler hoped to introduce international advanced environmental technologies via an urban health and well-being program, to provide broader cooperation opportunities for enterprises in Xiamen.

Dr. Ricardo Llaguno is an Ecuadorian research assistant at the Institute of Urban Environment, and specializes in the research of the colloidal behaviour of nanoparticles. Before he was chosen as the sci-tech commissioner, he offered technical support in the area of extracellular vesicle for Xiamen's Lifeint Company.

According to Zhu Yongguan, director of the Institute of Urban Environment, foreign sci-tech commissioners are welcomed by local enterprises and research institutes. Xiamen has always attached great importance to high-end international experts and the industrialization of environmental technology.

Zhu said that the working mechanism of sci-tech commissioners provides sci-tech support for the innovation and development of enterprises, and he hopes to use this mechanism to introduce advanced ecological and environmental management technologies in the future.