On June 19, during its visit to Serbia, the NCUT delegation signed a strategic university-enterprise cooperation agreement with HBIS GROUP Serbia Iron & Steel in Smederevo. Chang Jinbao, legal representative of HBIS Serbia, General Manager Wang Lianxi, and nearly 50 Serbian employee representatives attended the signing ceremony.
Based on the principles of complementary strengths, mutual benefit, equality, voluntary cooperation, and shared development, the two sides will carry out comprehensive cooperation in areas including collaborative innovation in green and low-carbon technologies, joint cultivation of talent for green steel manufacturing, and the establishment of platforms integrating industry, academia, research, and application for Belt and Road partner countries. The agreement specifies that the two sides will establish a long-term and stable cooperation mechanism. First, relying on NCUT’s laboratory for high-quality steel materials for advanced manufacturing and its high-level analysis and testing center, and in response to HBIS Serbia’s practical needs in green and low-carbon metallurgical technologies, advanced steel material development, intelligent manufacturing, key equipment, and process upgrading, both sides will carry out joint research and collaborative innovation in key technology development, product development, project applications, and academic exchange. Second, the two sides will jointly cultivate talent for the green steel manufacturing industry through industry-education collaboration, build a joint training base, and train professional technical and localized talent through joint education, internships, and practical training. Third, in industrial application, the two sides will accelerate the transformation of research outcomes and promote the implementation of green and intelligent steel projects in Serbia, supporting local green and low-carbon industrial development and sustainable growth.
The two sides then jointly unveiled the NCUT-HBIS Serbia Student Internship and Employment Base. As NCUT’s first integrated overseas internship and employment platform in Serbia, the base will provide students with international practical training positions, guidance from frontline engineers, and channels for overseas employment, helping them gain cross-border industrial experience and broaden their international career pathways.
During technical exchanges with CEO Vladan Mihailović and other Serbian representatives, President Zhang Lifeng proposed a systematic solution to a long-standing core technical challenge raised by Vladan Mihailović. Serbian technical staff responded with great enthusiasm, which deeply moved the Chinese delegation. Zhang Lifeng presented his academic works to Serbian employees and invited frontline technical staff from HBIS Serbia to visit NCUT each year for academic training with practical production challenges, so that the University’s research platforms and teams can continue to help address real industrial problems.
Accompanied by Chinese and Serbian management representatives of HBIS Serbia, the NCUT delegation visited the full-process steel production line and the company exhibition hall. At the exhibition hall, staff introduced the development of HBIS Serbia since its restructuring and operation, its achievements in green smelting technology upgrading, its export layout for advanced steel products, and its industrial contributions as a flagship Belt and Road project between China and Serbia and a leading exporter in Serbia.
HBIS GROUP Serbia Iron & Steel is located in Smederevo, about 60 kilometers southeast of Belgrade. In April 2016, under the Belt and Road Initiative, HBIS Group acquired the Smederevo steel plant and established HBIS Serbia. Since then, HBIS Group has introduced advanced management experience and technological innovation from China’s steel industry and HBIS Group, helping the company achieve full profitability by the end of 2016 within six months. Since 2017, the company has maintained stable and high-level production and operations, ranking as Serbia’s largest exporter for four consecutive years. The sound development of the plant is a vivid example of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia and a successful model of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
