Dr. Manfred KIRCHER, Chairman of the Advisory Board of CLIB²⁰²¹ (Cluster for Industrial Biotechnology), was invited to visit Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences on October 15. 

Dr. KIRCHER presented a lecture titled “Partnering in Technology Development & Transfer - How to Work with CLIB²⁰²¹”. In his lecture, Dr. KIRCHER emphasized that CLIB connects partners along value chains. He introduced the four CLIB building blocks, that is, networking, technology transfer, education, and value chain screening. The lecture was hosted by Prof. LU Xuefeng, Deputy Director General of QIBEBT. Then Prof. LU exchanged in-depth views with Dr. KIRCHER on how QIBEBT can be more efficiently involved in CLIB, since QIBEBT joined CLIB as a member in November of 2014. 

Both sides finally reached a consensus to establish a local office of CLIB based at QIBEBT. The office is supposed to be a meaningful connection between CLIB and the biotechnology-related organizations in China.