A Powerful Collaboration! LOUD Joins Hands with Lingang Group and Hengdian Group to Establish a New Industry-University-Research Cooperation Platform

On October 14th, the NYU Shanghai - Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urban Design and Urban Science (LOUD) held a signing ceremony for a strategic cooperation agreement with Lingang Group and Hengdian Group Holding Co., Ltd. ("Hengdian Group") at Lingang Bund Center.Kaining Weng, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Lingang Group, Ying Li , Founding Co-Director of LOUD, and Tianfu Xu, Vice President of Hengdian Group, attended the ceremony and witnessed the signing.

Through this strategic cooperation agreement, the three parties have reached a consensus on jointly establishing a new industry-university-research cooperation platform. They will leverage Lingang's business environment advantages, integrated innovation ecosystem services and operational strengths, LOUD's international resource connections and research expertise, as well as Hengdian Group's entrepreneurial spirit and innovation advantages, to achieve functional superposition and complementary advantages. By creating a base for the integrated development of production, education, research, and application in the fields of digital economy and urban science, they will embark on a new journey of cooperative development together. The parties will work together to build this platform into a new type of research and development institution with significant influence that serves the Lingang New Area and radiates nationwide.

Looking to the future, the new industry-university-research cooperation platform will continuously promote research and application in urban design and urban technology, strive to introduce urban economic and industrial resources, and promote comprehensive, multi-layered, and broad-ranging strategic cooperation among the three parties. Representatives from relevant functional departments and platform companies of LOUD, Hengdian Group, and Lingang Group headquarters also attended the ceremony.

Extended Reading:
The Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urban Design and Urban Science was approved for establishment by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission in 2022 and is NYU Shanghai's first provincial and ministerial key laboratory. The two co-founders of the laboratory graduated from Harvard University and Columbia University, respectively, and the laboratory's academic committee is composed of Academician Bojie Fu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Michael Keith of Oxford University, and Paul M. Romer of New York University (2018 Nobel Laureate in Economics).

Hengdian Group Holding Co., Ltd. is a diversified, extra-large private enterprise in China that has cultivated six major industrial and financial platforms, including Hengdian East Magnet, Pule Pharmaceutical, Innuovo Magnetics, Debon Lighting, Hengdian Cinema, and Nanhua Futures. It has built a complete industry chain from film bases, film services, and film entertainment to theater chains, film production, and film education, earning it the reputation of "China's Film Dream Factory." At the same time, it has developed modern service platforms such as financial derivatives, international trade, and aviation industries.

Source: Lingang Group