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Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration in China 

Over the years, IKED engaged in knowledge engage and joint learning with leading Chinese think-tanks, research institutes, and also regional actors engaged in innovation and the promotion of smart city solutions and urban development more broadly.
An important connection was established from early on was with China’s Academy of Sciences, another with the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council. 
In October 2018, IKED hosted a visit to Stockholm that DRC undertook as part of a mission to examine and learn from urban development models and housing policy in Sweden and other European countries, and specifically to draw lessons from best practices how to frame a better functioning housing market back in China.
During DRC’s visit to Stockholm, IKED arranged with visits to local neighborhoods, including meetings and discussions with a range of stakeholders of importance to the Swedish housing market. Among other things, Stockholm municipality elaborated on their interest in leveraging the role of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) in urban development. IKED further briefed DRC on the EU-funded URBiNAT project, including the way that it has set out to structure the implementation of NBS applying novel ways of engaging citizens in co-creation and innovation to leverage relevance and value-creation. .
The meetings in Stockholm stimulated further exchanges and modes of productive collaboration with China. These discussions complement IKED’s strong ongoing collaboration with the National Smart City Joint Lab (NSCJL), founded by the Chinese Society for Urban Studies (CSUS). NSCIL serves as an important creative hub and source of inspiration for Chinese cities to draw on the evolving opportunities of digital technologies to enrich the urban development and the lives of ordinary citizens across China. 

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Map: The Chinese national network of smart cities

Since 2012, more than 300 cities or towns have been connected to the NSCJL network, spanning more than 30 provinces around China. This extraordinary network includes mega-cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Nanjing, but also less sizeable cities, often with a unique historical and cultural heritage, such as Hefei, Guiling, Hangzhou, Jinan, and Chengdu. 

In principle, the 300-strong Chinese smart-city network coordinated by the NSCJL, illustrated in the map just below, has enabled IKED to extend and link up with the Community of Practice (CoP) established with the URBiNAT project. On this basis, IKED is in the position to promote increased focus on nature and nature restoration as a source of well-being and inclusive public space and citizen engagement, in parallel with China’s rapid development of smart technological applications. 
Of high importance in the agenda of NSCJL’s is the promotion of innovation to engineer solutions tailored to local needs. When acquainted with a particular new set of instruments, the NSCJL consults with its network and then selects those cities that demonstrate the highest motivation and relevance for experimenting with and examining the solution at hand. In this, NSCJL may team up with city authorities, enterprises, universities, academic research centres, NGOs and other correlative organisations to establish collaboration mechanisms that are sustainable for the long term.