Mayors’ Roundtable of the Optics Valley and Silicon Valley of the 14th Conference on Overseas Chinese Pioneering and Developing in China kicked off in Wuhan on June 23, 2014. Chinese Optics Valley representatives and 11 mayors from American Silicon Valley cities gathered together to discuss matters of vital importance and the Optics Valley and Silicon Valley Declaration was announced during this conference.

　　The Mayors’ Roundtable Conference of Optics Valley and Silicon Valley was organized by Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Hubei Provincial Government and Wuhan Municipal Government. Zhuang Rongwen (Deputy Director of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council) and Xu Kezhen (Deputy provincial governor of Hubei Province) has attended this conference. Tang Zhiliang, the Mayor of Wuhan City, have made keynote speeches.

　　The Optics Valley and Silicon Valley Declaration has specified five cooperation fields as follows: Firstly, the personnel exchange and cooperation will be enhanced, and the bidirectional talent flow mechanism will be established for scientific and technological talents to make good use of talents in Optics Valley and Silicon Valley to the largest extent. Secondly, the information sharing system and platform will be established to normalize the sharing of consulting information and to make the relationship between Optics Valley and Silicon Valley closer. Thirdly, the international cooperation environment will be created energetically, and all-around supports and services such as policies and regulations beneficial to the implementation of projects of enterprises from Optics Valley and Silicon Valley will be provided to build a more permissive cooperation environment. Fourthly, the intellectual property protection will be promoted and more efforts will be made to protect the intellectual property of enterprises from Optics Valley and Silicon Valley in order to protect their enthusiasm in making innovations. Fifthly, joint research programs will be promoted. To be more specific, suitable joint researches among colleges and universities, research institutions and enterprises will be encouraged actively, and supports in terms of the transformation of intellectual property and the marketization of scientific and technological achievements will be provided.

　　11 mayors of Silicon Valley cities, including Michael Brownrigg, the Mayor of Burlingame, have made speeches and represented that cooperation with Wuhan will be strengthened comprehensively. The Cooperation and Exchange Agreement has been signed by representatives from the Overseas Affairs Office of Wuhan Municipal Government, East Lake High-Tech Development Zone and China Silicon Valley. In addition, main officials from Wuhan’s 11 district governments also signed a Memorandum of Friendly Exchange with 11 Silicon Valley mayors.
 
 
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