Dr. Dietrich Van der Weken, General Manager of the Global Sustainable Technology & Innovation Community (G-STIC) from Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) visited CAS on 14th Jan. 2020. A meeting was held among Dr. Weken, Prof. Jinghua Cao, Executive Director of the ANSO Secretariat, Mr. Yan Zhuang, Bureau of International Cooperation/CAS, as well as other representatives from the ANSO Secretariat, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion/CAS, and Guangdong Province. Dr. Weken and Prof. Cao gave brief introductions on VITO, G-STIC, and ANSO. Both parties shared similar interest in technology transfer for sustainable development of the world. Participants discussed potential collaborating fields and decided to meet again during the Twenty-third Session of the UNCSTD (UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development) in March 23-27, 2020 in Geneva to further discuss the joint activity.

VITO is an independent Flemish research organization in the area of clean tech and sustainable development. The goal of VITO is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. G-STIC (Global Sustainable Innovation Community) is an initiative established by VITO in 2017 that aims at building the bridge between market-ready, innovative technological solutions and the international policy community. G-STIC holds yearly conference to promote its mission.