On July 1, Wenzhou University, Politecnico di Torino, Italy-China Architectural Forum, and Wenzhou Design Group held an online signing ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding.

The ceremony set up two venues in Italy and China, respectively. Representatives of Wenzhou University and Wenzhou Design Group attended the Chinese venue, and representatives of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy-China Architectural Forum, and the China-Italy Youth Association attended the Italian venue.

Through the video link, Chen Ming, chairman of the China-Italy Youth Association, introduced the participants. Dr. Michele Bonio, Rector’s Delegate for Relations with China, Politecnico di Torino, extended a warm welcome and sincere greetings to the participants. He said that this meeting marked two "firsts". This is the first time that Politecnico di Torino has signed an MOU with a foreign university through video link under the impact of COVID-19; it is also the first time that a four-party cooperation agreement has been signed, including universities and industry associations.

Xue Wei, the vice president of Wenzhou University pointed out that Wenzhou and Italy have deep ties, and Sino-Italian exchanges are playing an increasingly important role under the Belt and Road Initiative. The cooperation between universities and industry associations will further enhance Wenzhou University’s ability to serve local areas in innovative fields such as architectural design and smart cities. In the past two years, the Wenzhou Design Group, the Italy-China Architectural Forum, the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Wenzhou University and School of Architecture and Design of the Politecnico di Torino have deepened the collaboration through practical projects and yielded fruitful results, thus contributing valuable experience to the long-term cooperation and in-depth exchanges between China and Italy, as well as the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Jin Guoping, chairman of Wenzhou Design Group, reviewed the history of cooperation between the two parties and introduced the social responsibilities of Wenzhou Design Group. He also expressed the expectation of cooperating with the excellent Italian construction team. He hoped that they could altogether strive to break through the limitations of thinking and come up with creative inspirations, add international wisdom and multiculturalism into the development of Wenzhou city, and improve the overall quality of the urban living environment.

Pier Giorgio Turi, chairman of the Italy-China Architectural Forum reviewed the experience and achievements of Wenzhou in the fields of green innovation, old city reconstruction, smart communities, and sustainable urban development, and expressed his hope for a visit by a group of Chinese designers to Turin and potential technological breakthroughs for both sides to stimulate vitality for China-Italy construction cooperation.

Members of the International Relations Office, and Liu Qingsong, party secretary of College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Chi Congwen, Director of the Department of Architecture, and Shao Qijun, and academic staff also attended the signing ceremony.

Politecnico di Torino is one of the oldest polytechnic university in Italy. It enjoys a high reputation in the fields of architecture, industrial design and engineering, and has a very important influence in Italy. It has been the active promoter in the industry, technology and social development in Italy the past 150 years. In the 2020 QS World University Rankings of Engineering Institutes, Politecnico di Torino is ranked 47th (13th in Europe).