Funded by the Sino-German Science Center, the Sino-German Workshop on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was held in School of Management, Zhejiang University on November 18-19, 2015. More than 30 scholars from both Germany and China participated in the workshop. They exchanged ideas on several topics such as high technology and entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, technology improvement, innovation policy, etc.

At the beginning of the workshop, Professor Xiaobo Wu (Dean of School of Management, Zhejiang University) and Professor Georg Licht (Director of Industrial Economy and International Management, Center for European Economic Research) each made a welcome speech. Professor Wu described Hangzhou as an innovative city with extremely active entrepreneurs. About 6 million Zhejiang companies started business in other provinces successfully, including 1.5 million who started business in other countries. Thus, Professor Wu considered it very meaningful to host the seminar in Hangzhou. Professor Georg Licht said that as 2015 would be the cooperation year of China and Germany, the workshop could serve as a good starting point for bilateral cooperation.

The workshop consisted of eight sessions. The first session was ‘innovation in China and Germany’ chaired by Professor Can Huang, School of Management. Firstly, Professor Xiaobo Wu gave a presentation on the topic ‘improvement in Chinese companies: from 0 to 1’ and explained the improving paradigm of changes in technology of a Chinese company (Hikvision). He pointed out that if Chinese companies are always following others’ way of development, they are likely to fall into a vicious circle. On the one hand, companies should focus on changes in new technology paradigms; on the other hand, however, they should also go beyond the model they are following. He suggests that Chinese companies should make use of the second-mover advantage and achieve a nonlinear upgrade. Later, Professor Georg Licht introduced evaluation on international cooperative research projects in Europe and elaborated on the development of EUROSTARS Project.

The second part of the meeting was ‘cooperation and economic development’ chaired by Professor Georg Licht. Professor Shulin Gu from Chinese Academy of Sciences gave some advice to the Sino-German cooperation from the angle of innovation system. In addition, Professor Rongping Mu from Chinese Academy of Sciences introduced innovation in inclusive development and analyzed current policy and activities in China. At last, Professor Yuezhou Cai introduced the impact that information technology had on the development of the Chinese economy.

The third part of the meeting was ‘high technology and innovation’ chaired by Professor Xielin Liu. Professor Jin Chen from Tsinghua University introduced the impact of different partnership on the efficiency of company’s development and innovation. Professor Michael Woywode used organic electronics as an example to introduce entrepreneurship and innovation in different groups. Moreover, Professor Jizhen Li from Tsinghua University and Professor Werner Boente from University of Wuppertal, Germany, talked about startup companies of oversea returnees and survival and current situation of startup companies.

The other five parts of the meeting focused respectively on: exports and investment of research and development, firm innovation, corporate governance and startup, intellectual property, and technology catching-up and innovation policy. This seminar showcased latest research of the leading scholars in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship from China, Germany and other countries. It serve as the basis of long-term cooperation between China and Germany in the area of innovation.