Deputy Director Yuan Yiming and His Party Attends the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018 to Promote Results of CCSEZR

    On October 10, Prof. Yuan Yiming, deputy director of the China Center for Special Economic Zone Research (CCSEZR), and his party attended the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018 in Germany.      On the opening day of the book fair, Prof. Yuan Yiming and his party attended the "Chinese Dream and China's Development Path Series Book Launch" jointly organized by the Social Sciences Academic Press (China) and Springer Nature to promote the research results of CCSEZR scholars in China's path concerning special economic zones (SEZs), the Belt and Road Initiative and the development of world SEZs. Prof. Yuan and his party also visited the exhibition areas of Georgia - the Guest of Honor of this fair, Springer Nature, Brill and other well-known publishing and research institutions. They promoted the series results of the CCSEZR, discussed the possible cooperation methods and topics, agreed on the agenda of reciprocal visits and reached preliminary cooperation intentions. The international book fair enabled them to learn about the publishing process and methods of international renowned publishing houses as well as the latest development trends.
    It is reported that the Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest and most important trade fair for books. It's a big event of the world book industry, which has been held for 70 times to date, and it's also known as the "bellwether of world culture". More than 4,000 events have been held on the fair, not only creating a platform for copyright transactions, cultural communication and exchange of ideas, but also gathering information for industries such as online education, film and television and games through innovative activities. The book fair was also attended by politicians including German President Steinmeier and Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Prof. Yuan Yiming and his party and Georgianfilm President Khatuna Khundadze in the exhibition area of the Guest of Honor
 

    During his visit in Germany, Prof. Yuan and his party visited the headquarters of Springer Nature in Heidelberg, Germany and had an in-depth talk with their Group Marketing Manager Mr. Lothar Minicka. Mr. Minicka analyzed the dissemination of Chinese academic publications (e-books) with details on the downloads of e-books across regions in the first quarter of 2018, including Chinese academic publications, and evaluation for dissemination effects of Chinese academic publications (e-books) through SpringerLink. Both sides recognized the trend of China influencing the contemporary world, especially the fact that the experience of China's SEZs and the social science research of the Belt and Road Initiative may allow the world better understand this trend.
    Mr. Minicka also introduced the development modes of the publishing giants in Germany and Netherlands in the early days, which mainly include sales packaging of e-books and academic e-book series, open access and data sharing. He also had an open talk regarding hot topics, international topics interested by readers and projects supported by OA funds. Prof. Yuan Yiming introduced Shenzhen, Shenzhen University and the CCSEZR and proposed his thoughts for optimizing the existing cooperation projects: First, how to upgrade the English Journal Studies on China's Special Economic Zones (e-book) to an international journal (specific requirements for the editorial department, publisher and author). Second, how to improve efficiency and shorten the publishing cycle so that readers interested in SEZs, China's path and the Belt and Road can stay up to date with the latest research progress. Third, he hoped that the publishing house can provide the quantitative evaluation report on the dissemination effect of the Annual Report on the Development of China's Special Economic Zones, the journal as well as each paper so that the strategies of soliciting contributions, editing and publishing can be duly adjusted to improve the international dissemination effect of publications within a short period of time. Fourth, relevant issues regarding publishing of Journal of the Belt & Road Studies by Springer Nature recently prepared by the CCSEZR. Mr. Minicka responded to all issues in detail and said that the visit will greatly boost the cooperation between the two sides both in size and progress.
 

Prof. Yuan Yiming and Mr. Minicka exchange souvenirs  


Prof. Yuan Yiming and Mr. Minicka exchange souvenirs

Prof. Yuan Yiming and his party meet with Mr. Minicka at the Springer Nature headquarters    
 

    During his visit to the Netherlands, Prof. Yuan Yiming and his party visited Brill, a publisher in Leiden, Netherlands and met with Mr. Marti Hutink, director of Brill, and Mr. Xing Xiaochun, Marketing and Sales Manager of Brill. Mr. Marti Hutink gave a detailed introduction to Brill's publishing disciplines, major product categories and structural distribution (journal, books, thematic databases and microfiches) and the long development history of Brill in China. In particular, he pointed out that to date, they have co-published more than 80 books and over 10 journals in China and hope to expand cooperation and find outstanding authors and works in the form of joint workshops with more university research institutions. Prof. Yuan Yiming expressed his appreciation for Brill’s long development history in China and introduced Shenzhen, Shenzhen University and the CCSEZR to Mr. Marti Hutink. Prof. Yuan believed that Shenzhen SEZs and Shenzhen University, which are at the forefront of China’s reform and opening-up policy, can become Brill's new growth drivers in China. He expected to: 1) establish long-term and stable cooperation with Brill to integrate the academic resources of Shenzhen, Shenzhen University, especially the CCSEZR and make a contribution to the internationalization and going-global strategy of the Shenzhen School of Thought and SEZ research by jointly publishing journals, collected papers and series of research books on SEZs and China's path; 2) cooperate with Brill to drive the international publishing of the academic brand –Proceedings of World Special Economic Zone Development Forum authored by the CCSEZR to promote the development experience of the SEZs and China's path to the world, especially emerging economies; 3)  invite the top management of Brill to visit Shenzhen, Shenzhen University and the CCSEZR as soon as possible so as to implement the cooperation intentions of the two sides, sign a cooperation agreement and make the research on China's SEZs and the Belt and Road a core publishing area of Brill for China. Mr. Marti Hutink showed great interest in Prof. Yuan’s ideas and suggestions. He said that he will promote the cooperation with the CCSEZR on SEZ research at top management of Brill and will negotiate with Brill's China Office about the visit to Shenzhen as soon as possible to  nail down cooperation-related matters.

Prof. Yuan Yiming and Director Marti Hutink of Brill exchange souvenirs  
 

Prof. Yuan Yiming and his party meet with Director Marti Hutink and Manager Xing Xiaochun of Brill at Brill's Leiden Headquarters  
 

    The exchange visit is a practice of "Going Global" policy for Shenzhen academics, which is of great significance for promoting the experience and related theories of Shenzhen SEZ and Shenzhen development and enhancing its international clout. On the basis of existing cooperation, we can strengthen the international promotion, exchange and demonstration of Shenzhen University and Shenzhen School of Thought by taking advantage of the strong influence of Springer Nature and Brill in the international publishing industry.