On March 27 2020, the signing ceremony of Zhejiang University-Alibaba Group Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement was held in the Xixi Park of Alibaba Group, marking the new chapter of collaborative development of the prestigious university and the renowned enterprise in the new era. Wu Zhaohui, President of Zhejiang University and the member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, Luo Weidong, Vice President of Zhejiang University, and Hua Xiansheng, the senior machine intelligence researcher of Alibaba DAMO Academy, attended the ceremony. Wang Lizhong, Vice President of Zhejiang University, and Zhang Jianfeng, President of Alibaba DAMO Academy and President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, signed the agreement on behalf of the parties. Liu Xiangwen, the general manager of Marketing and Public Affairs Department at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, hosted the ceremony.

The signing ceremony of Zhejiang University-Alibaba Group Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement (March 2020)

According to the agreement, the School of Software Technology of Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group should adhere to the principles of “cooperating in school running, talent training, entrepreneurship and development, offering mutual benefits, and drawing on each other’s strengths”. On the basis of previous cooperation, the two parties should promote the construction of Alibaba-Zhejiang University Joint Institute of Frontier Technologies, further the joint research on new-type infrastructure, smart ocean, microelectronics, public health and medical care, new economic models, the forefront of the basics and other fields, and carry out in-deep and innovative cooperation in talent training, digital campus construction and other fields.

The signing ceremony of Zhejiang University-Alibaba Group Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement (March 2020)

President Wu Zhaohui mentioned that Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group were good neighbours, good pals and good friends, and that the ecology-based, world-oriented crossover cooperation of the renowned university and the well-known enterprise not only reflected their internal demand to pursue excellence, but was also out of their inevitable choice to improve the quality of the famous city. In the face of the new round of cooperation, the two parties should consolidate and improve existing programs, and continuously increase and upgrade projects, developing their “golden name cards” into “diamond name cards”. The two parties should also explore domains for collaboration and create new highlights according to national strategies, remain open to the world, and contribute Chinese wisdom and strength to the community of shared future for mankind relying on their own advantages. Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group should join hands to create a better mode of cooperation and demonstrate their roles as a prestigious university and a well-known enterprise in making contributions to the development of the world and the rejuvenation of the country. 

Daniel Zhang said that Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group were both based in Zhejiang and participated in the construction of the world in their respective fields. In recent combat against COVID-19, Alibaba has shown the world China’s responsibility and concern through the power of technology. In previous cooperation, the both parties have had considerable achievements driven by their lofty ambitions, and have brought the integration of education, research and industry to new heights. Alibaba attaches great importance to its collaboration with Zhejiang University and will make every effort to achieve new breakthroughs with the university in the hope of making new contributions to the world.

The School of Software Technology of Zhejiang University has worked together with Alibaba Group over the years to promote school-enterprise cooperation. In April 2017, Alibaba-Zhejiang University Joint Institute of Frontier Technologies was founded, and Professor Bu Jiajun, Executive Vice-President of the School of Software Technology, took up the post of the deputy director of the institute. In May 2017, Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two parties have had remarkable achievements in cooperation, carried out all-round exchanges and cooperation in the domains like frontier technologies, health care, big data, humanities and social sciences, and promoted the training of innovative talents and the development of society. The second phase of strategic cooperation agreement signed on March 27 2020 includes, inter alia, the upgrade of Alibaba-Zhejiang University Joint Institute of Frontier Technologies, continued promotion of business ecosystem to help with the industrialization of research outcomes, the deployment of public health and big health, and the joint construction of digital talent training and certification system. Taking the opportunity of China’s promotion of new infrastructure construction, the two parties will also proactively carry out research cooperation in 5G-based Internet of things, industrial Internet, smart parks, the Internet of Vehicles, smart medicine, smart logistics, UHDV and other fields.

The signing ceremony of Zhejiang University-Alibaba Group Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement (May 2017)

The unveiling of Alibaba-Zhejiang University Joint Institute of Frontier Technologies (April 2017)

As part of the research cooperation between the two sides, 11 Alibaba’s senior technical experts became Zhejiang University’s part-time PhD supervisors in the past few years, who could recruit full-time PhD students. In November 2019, the School of Computer Science and the School of Software Technology of Zhejiang University, in collaboration with Alibaba, jointly published the enrollment brochure of Zhejiang University’s 2020 PhD program of Intelligent Internet Technology, which focuses on crucial original research and key technologies in the Internet industry and builds a platform for school-enterprise collaborative innovation and engineering talent training that enables resource sharing and win-win cooperation. 

Over the years, the School of Software Technology of Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group have worked together to set up a model for training outstanding graduates oriented to the integration of education and industry. In the past two years, the two parties jointly held International Graduate Summer School every summer, and held Zhejiang University International Software Engineering Education-Research-Industry Program (ZIERIP), in which the students from Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Cambridge, NUS and other world’s top universities studied at Zhejiang University for 2 weeks and did internships in partner companies like Alibaba for 11 weeks. In July 2019, the Summer Camp of the School of Software Technology opened at Alibaba. In October 2019, Alibaba Young Fellow Camp for Engineering Postgraduates of the School of Software Technology kicked off. Recently, some 50 current postgraduate students of the school did internships at Alibaba Group and more than 30 fresh graduates joined the group every year.

International students from world’s top universities visited Alibaba in International Graduate Summer School

Based on previous extensive cooperation, Zhejiang University-Alibaba Joint Training Base for Innovative Talents set up by the School of Software Technology of Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group was approved by the Ministry of Education of Zhejiang Province in December 2019, becoming a joint training base for postgraduate students in the province. In the future, the School of Software Technology will also apply for National Model Joint Training Base for Engineering Postgraduates together with Polytechnic Institute of Zhejiang University, creating a better postgraduate training model oriented to the integration of education and industry.