On August 23, a forum involving Kaifeng City and Tianjin University (TJU) was held. During the meeting, the two sides conducted in-depth exchange on further strengthening cooperation and joint development and reached broad consensus on cooperation. Li Jiajun, Party Secretary of TJU, Yuan Yingjin, Vice President of TJU, Hou Hong, Secretary of the CPC Kaifeng Municipal Committee, Qin Baoqiang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Kaifeng Municipal Committee and other representatives attended the forum. 

On behalf of Kaifeng Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government, Hou Hong expressed his gratitude to Tianjin University for the support in promoting economic development and technological innovation in Kaifeng. Hou Hong said that since the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between Kaifeng and TJU in February 2016, the various schools of TJU and the relevant departments of Kaifeng city have conducted many exchanges and achieved fruitful results. In October 2016, a joint R&D center between Tianjin University and Kaifeng Anlida Metal Engineering Co., Ltd. was unveiled. In April 2017, at the Zheng-Luo-Xin National Innovation Demonstration Area Promotion Conference held in Beijing, the Kaifeng Municipal Government and Tianjin University signed an agreement to jointly build the Tianjin University Central Plain Research Institute of Advanced Technology, which will deepen the cooperation between the two sides, achieve mutual benefit as well as provide a platform for deep integration of industry-college-institute cooperation and commercialization.  

Hou Hong indicated that in recent years, Kaifeng has vigorously implemented the strategy of boosting the development of the city through talent cultivation and innovation. The city has attracted talent and established cooperation with 15 nationally renowned universities including TJU and high-end talent teams, forming a comprehensive city-school cooperation network that effectively supports industrial development. At the same time, openness and innovation is vigorously promoted, the construction of modern science and technology innovation system is rapidly being built and investment in science and technology is growing steadily. In the future, Kaifeng City and TJU will continue to cooperate in protection planning of cultural relics, cultural relics investigation and smart security. Kaifeng will continue to support the work of TJU, providing services and guarantees for cooperation and promoting win-win development between the two sides. 

Li Jiajun believed that Kaifeng has undergone significant changes in recent years. The two sides have continued to deepen and promote cooperation. In the future work, he hoped that the two sides would work together to build the platform and carrier of the Central Plain Research Institute of Advanced Technology, providing a steady stream of talent and development momentum for Kaifeng, so that the cooperation projects of both sides can play a demonstration role. In this way, industrial transformation and upgrading are driven and win-win cooperation will be achieved. 

Subsequently, the two sides also exchanged views on the cooperation in the construction of the Central Plain Research Institute of Advanced Technology, the establishment of protection projects of cultural relics, cultural relics investigation and smart security. 

On the same day, the School of Architecture of TJU and the Kaifeng Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics signed an Agreement on Cooperation and Protection of Cultural Relics in Kaifeng City. The two sides will deepen cooperation for the formulation of a protection and maintenance plan for “national level” and “provincial level” cultural relics, training of scientific and technological personnel for cultural relic protection, the construction of scientific research bases and consultation on cultural relics and restoration technologies, further enhancing the level of cultural relic protection in Kaifeng City.