WAITRO Summit 2024 won endorsement from prestigious international speakers and guests

November 13-15, 2024, Nanjing, P.R. China – The 2024 WAITRO Summit was jointly hosted by the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO), Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI), and the National Innovation Center par Excellence (NICE), in partnership with Headway Idea Labs (U.S.), Seneca Impact Advisors (Hong Kong), International Technology Transfer Network (ITTN, China), and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK). Over 200 representatives from 40 countries and regions gathered at the event, including over 100 overseas guests representing science and research institutions, universities, and commercial companies. This grand gathering shows their endorsement of the Global Innovation Family of WAITRO. The 27th General Assembly of WAITRO was held on November 15.

WAITRO, established in 1970 as an independent, non-profit association initiated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has been dedicated to promoting cooperation among global industrial and technology research organizations, enhancing the research capabilities of developing countries, and contributing to the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Currently, WAITRO has more than 180 member organizations from over 70 countries. The summit co-host, JITRI, became a member of WAITRO in 2017, co-hosted the WAITRO Secretariat with Fraunhofer Gesellschaft from 2019, and was elected as the sole host of the Secretariat for the 2023-2026 term.

The summit is THE flagship event of WAITRO. First launched in 1972, it was hosted in China for the first time this year. China, as the largest developing country, exemplifies this year’s theme, “From Innovation to Impact.” The summit featured three plenary sessions, seven breakout sessions, and several networking arrangements, including the exhibition and pitching of the audience-selected winners of the SDG Impact and Entrepreneurship Poster Competition.

The opening ceremony of the conference was moderated by Dr. Paul E. Burrows, Secretary General of WAITRO and Vice President of JITRI, who began with a welcome address. He underscored that achieving SDGs requires transforming innovation into concrete actions and amplifying its influence, a vision that resonates deeply with the conference’s central themes and aligns with WAITRO’s mission as a global innovation community. “Innovation is being seeded and fertilized through WAITRO’s innovation network. However, the impact may be limited without a connection to a market. At this WAITRO Summit, we explore various strategies for increasing impact. From protecting indigenous technologies and connecting them to global markets to exploiting the digital revolution to enable green transformation, the WAITRO Summit format provides ample time for networking with like-minded researchers and managers”, said Dr. Burrows.

JITRI, the host of the Summit, shared its vision for promoting global partnerships through international networks like WAITRO. Prof. LIU Qing, President of JITRI and NICE, elaborated on how the WAITRO platform is vital for linking global innovation actors. Prof. Liu underscored that open, collaborative innovation and education represent the most viable pathway to fostering global progress. He emphasized that JITRI/NICE is positioned to take on an increasingly proactive and influential role within the WAITRO network. He shared the attitude of “cooperate rather than compete” that won the opportunity to co-host the WAITRO Secretariat with Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. “Open and collaborative innovation is the only pathway to create a better future for our world,” concluded Prof. Liu. The successful innovation-supportive model developed and implemented by JITRI and NICE will serve as not only a pilot in China but will also expand its impact globally by helping developing countries to achieve the best outcomes in dialogue and partnership between research and industry needs.

With WAITRO’s 50+ years of commitment to capacity building of its member organizations, WAITRO President Prof. Hasan Mandal reaffirmed WAITRO’s continued contributions to cultivating a new generation of youth in STEM education and research, particularly in response to global challenges. He emphasized that integrating research into social values and needs is as vital as answering the scientific question itself. “That is a big change and the big move. Not only to think about society as a kind of stakeholder meets the solution, but society should be a part of the (solution) system to solve the systematic challenges…to drive innovation, collaboration is not enough but co-creation is the value (we need).” said Prof. Mandal during the plenary lecture.

A highlight of the Summit was the announcement of the SDG Impact Award. Seven teams selected from 44 projects were chosen after an audience vote to take part in a final pitching plenary session, and the three winning teams were from Jordan, Malaysia, and Uganda. This year, a travel grant was provided to Belt and Road Initiative presenters to support up to 20 teams from Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean.

The summit concluded with the 27th WAITRO General Assembly, where the Executive Board and Regional Representatives for the next two years were elected. The next WAITRO Summit will be in late 2026, with the exact date and host to be announced early in 2025.