Enchanting music filled the baroque-style Beijing Lafayette Castle, an upscale hotel in the Chinese capital, as the visiting Graz University Orchestra from Austria played the classic Chinese song Celebrating the Harvest. It was especially apt, given the full September harvest. The guests included Lei Fengyun, former science and technology counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Austria, who looked delighted to reunite with an old friend, Peter Riedler, president of Graz University. The two held hands tightly as they exchanged notes.
Lei had joined the Chinese embassy in Austria five years ago, where his work was facilitating cooperation on science and technology innovation and promoting talent exchange within the framework of the Sino-Austrian friendly strategic partnership. Since then, he has befriended many Austrian experts who are eager to have cooperation with the Chinese. Together with Chinese experts, they have promoted pragmatic collaboration in science, education, and talent exchange between the two countries. “People-to-people friendship is key to the relationship between countries,” Lei told China Today in an exclusive interview.
The Graz University Orchestra from Austria plays the classic Chinese song Celebrating the Harvest at the Beijing Lafayette Castle on September 4, 2024.
A Healthier World with TCM
Graz University, with its history of over 400 years, is well-known in Europe. Lei has another old friend there – Rudolf Bauer, director of the Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Research and also director of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Bauer is a recipient of the Chinese Government Friendship Award.
Bauer, who has a Chinese name meaning one who is moral and elegant, has a deep affection for China and its culture. He loves TCM and believes it can make greater contribution to building a healthier world. It is his aspiration to explain the effectiveness of TCM from the perspective of a Western scientist and tell the story of TCM to the world.
“The TCM exchange between China and Austria has a long history. It can be regarded as one of the most successful and exemplary areas of cooperation between them,” Lei said. Standardized clinical research and recognized product standards are the foundation for global acceptance of TCM, and as chairman of the European Pharmacopoeia Committee’s working group on TCM, Bauer is involved in quality evaluation of TCM. So far, he has helped include more than 80 single-substance Chinese medicines in the European Pharmacopoeia, the official compendium of pharmaceutical standards in Europe.
Bauer travels back and forth between China and Austria all year round, promoting exchanges between young researchers from both countries. He has sent over 240 Austrian students majoring in pharmacy to China to learn about TCM and Chinese culture. His laboratory in Austria has also received hundreds of Chinese researchers and students, cultivating a group of international talents who are promoting TCM worldwide.
Along with experts and scholars from more than 10 Austrian universities in the field of pharmacy and acupuncture-moxibustion, Bauer has established long-term and stable cooperation with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS) and has organized several Sino-Austrian TCM seminars.
Shortly after Lei assumed office in Vienna, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out globally. He recalled that in May 2020, the CACMS and Graz University, supported by the Chinese embassy in Austria, jointly held a video seminar on the role of TCM in fighting COVID-19. “TCM has played a major role in responding to sudden major infectious diseases in human history,” Bauer said at the seminar. “Given the continuous spread of COVID-19, it is necessary to establish a mechanism for cooperation on Sino-Austrian anti-pandemic research in TCM.”
In September 2020, the Belt and Road Joint Laboratory of Sino-Austrian TCM Cooperation for the Prevention and Treatment of Major Infectious Diseases was approved by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology. It is a cooperative project between the CACMS and Graz University, the first national-level Belt and Road joint laboratory of TCM. Bauer, who is the chief expert of the laboratory, said he hoped it would facilitate bilateral cooperation for the discovery of new effective substances for epidemic treatment, and innovation on the key common technologies in basic research, so that TCM is used more extensively to treat sudden major infectious diseases.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has had many talks with the foreign experts in China, asking about their work and life and encouraging them to participate in China’s development and promote international collaboration on science and technology. Lei said the president’s thinking that “talent should be pooled for good use” helped to win the battle against COVID-19. It will also play a vital role in building a global community of health for all.
Lei Fengyun (left), former science and technology counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Austria, congratulates his old friend Rudolf Bauer for winning the 2020 Chinese Government Friendship Award during Lei’s visit to the University of Graz, on September 2022.
A Long Connection
During his work in Austria, Lei met Herbert Mang, who is a distinguished professor at Tongji University in Shanghai and a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. An internationally renowned expert in structural engineering and computational mechanics, Mang served as vice president of the Vienna University of Technology and dean of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Last year, he received the Chinese Government Friendship Award.
Mang’s connection with China goes back to 1981, when he came to China as an expert with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. At the Zhengzhou Machinery Research Institute in Zhengzhou in central China, he saw the arduous work conditions of local scientists and technicians and was moved by their dedication. It made him decide to establish a long-term cooperation.
In 2007, promoted by Mang, the Austria-China Research Center on Tunnel and Underground Engineering was established at Tongji University. It is the child of Tongji University and the Eurasian-Pacific Uninet, the largest independent university network of its kind in Europe working to support interdisciplinary scientific exchange. Via this platform, scientists from diverse countries have frequent academic exchanges and cooperation, including scientists from Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Switzerland.
Mang has signed several scientific cooperation memorandums with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on behalf of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, promoting the establishment of joint research centers on tunnel and underground engineering and joint laboratories for international cooperation on earthquake engineering. He has also participated in some major infrastructure projects in China such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world, resolving technical issues in the seismic resistance of its undersea tunnel.
Since 2004, Tongji University and the Vienna University of Technology have jointly trained graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and young teachers in the field of civil engineering, published high-level papers, and undertaken three major projects. Their research, mainly focusing on tunnels and underground engineering, has provided support for major engineering projects such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Yangtze River tunnel-bridge complex in Shanghai. In 2021, both universities received support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China as an “International cooperation in science and technology innovation between governments” project.
In 2019, Mang was chosen for the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award and went to China next year to receive it at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In 2021, the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Austria, Tongji University and Vienna University of Technology jointly held an international symposium on interdisciplinary research in civil engineering science, which reviewed the history of cooperation between the two universities since 2004, as well as the cooperation and exchanges between China and Austria.
“Over the past 40 years, the most important achievement I have made in the collaboration with China in the field of civil engineering has been the joint training of a group of promising young talents for the academic and industrial communities of both countries,” Mang said. Along with projects such as the Qinghai-Xizang Railway, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, China has begun to lead the world in the field of engineering technology. The future of the world engineering technology is in China, and the hope lies in the young Chinese, he added.
Lei Fengyun (first row, third left), former science and technology counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Austria, attends a China-Austria Science and Technology Exchange event at the University of Bodenkultur Wien on October 13, 2022.
Hidden Champions and Little Giants
Regarding the economic and trade cooperation driven by technological exchanges between China and Austria, Lei said new opportunities started coming in 2018, when the two countries established a friendly strategic partnership. That year, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz visited China, accompanied by several ministers, the chair of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, and heads of some renowned enterprises and “hidden champions.”
AST Refrigeration and Solar Technology and Doppelmayr Cable Car were among them. Both had already entered the Chinese market. At that time, buoyed by China’s successful bid for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and President Xi’s pledge to have 300 million people in China take up ice and snow sports, China’s ice and snow industry had entered a period of rapid development. As a powerhouse in the industry, Austria seized the huge China market opportunity.
Doppelmayr, founded in 1893, is a global leader in the cableway market, with over 15,000 cableways in 96 countries and regions worldwide under its belt. The company also supplied cableway equipment for the Beijing Winter Olympics. As of now, it has built or is building 140-plus cable cars for Chinese scenic spots and ski resorts, with a market share of over 60 percent in China.
“Hidden champion” is a term coined by famous German management expert Hermann Simon in 1990, referring to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are unknown to the public. These “hidden champions” usually have a large number of well-trained experts, fast execution skills, and continuous innovation ability. They dig deep into their niche markets, achieving success through globalization, and becoming leaders with huge influence in their industries.
With China’s ties with Austria expanding, some Austrian “hidden champions” have entered the Chinese market. “China is known for its fast speed of innovation. More and more technology-based companies are willing to develop in China,” Lei said.
China too has its own version of the “hidden champions.” Its specialized SMEs with new, and unique products are competitive in their niche markets, and have strong innovation capabilities, a large market share, and strength in core technologies. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has certified 12,000 such SMEs as “little giants.”
In November 2022, the China-EU International Forum on Sustainable Development of SMEs was held in Beijing, sponsored by the China International Cooperation Association of SMEs, the German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, and the Austrian International Association for the Promotion of Vocational Education. At the forum, experts, scholars, and SME representatives from nine countries discussed digitalization and explored international cooperation, mutual benefit, and sustainable development.
Austria’s “hidden champions” and China’s “specialized enterprises with new, unique and competitive products” should learn from each other, Lei said at the forum. The result will be win-win, as it will advance the transformation and upgrading of SMEs, and also provide support for the development of the manufacturing sector and the real economy. At the same time, it will help to connect key nodes in the industrial and supply chains, giving a strong impetus to high-quality economic growth.
Austrian Ambassador to China Andreas Riecken tries his hand at curling at the Ice Training Center in Heilong-jiang Province, on January 26, 2024.
