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Representatives from Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering, including Dean James H. Garrett Jr., traveled to the City of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on behalf of Carnegie Mellon for the establishment of a smart cities research partnership with the Chengdu High-Tech Development Zone (CDHT), and The Lab Ventures, LLC, of San Francisco, California.

To date, no specific agreements have been made between Carnegie Mellon, the DCHT, and The Lab Ventures, LLC. The next step is to develop a formal, five-year agreement, focused on applied research and validation of existing Smart Infrastructure Institute of Carnegie Mellon (SII) research, in close collaboration with CDHT and The Lab Ventures.

The MOU documents the intent to develop research and educational cooperation between the CDHT, The Lab Ventures, and the SII. The document is a preliminary step in this effort, with all parties agreeing to begin discussions of potential future collaborations on: research in smart infrastructure technology and systems; engagement with universities for technology programs, short-term executive programs, seminars, and symposia; research facilities in Chengdu and/or Pittsburgh; commercialization of research findings and technologies in Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park (SSCIP); and Management of intellectual property rights and publications resulting from joint research activities.

The signing ceremony was conducted in Chengdu on September 4, and was preceded by speeches and presentations from various CDHT officials, Chengdu government representatives, Dean Garrett, SII Co-director Mario Berges, and CMU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Head David Dzombak. SII researcher Xuesong (Pine) Liu was also in attendance.

SII works to bring together companies, universities, and institutions to pioneer the next-generation infrastructure technologies that will build the transportation, civil, and manufacturing infrastructure of tomorrow.