During an Institutional visit of a delegation of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers (IVF) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in order to promote joint research activities in the area of plant genomics and plant genetic resources, with CBGP.

On 22^nd of April 2025 Representatives of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers (IVF-CAAS) officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the frame for joint research activities between the Plant Biotechnology and Genomics Centre (CBGP, UPM-INIA/CSIC) and IVF-CAAS. This agreement opens new possibilities for joint research in the area of plant genomics and genetic resources.

The three signatories of the MOU from left to right: Prof. Javier Moreno, Vice president for International Affairs of CSIC, Prof. Luis Salgado, UPM Vicerector for International Affairs, Prof. Youjun Zhang, Director of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers (IVF).

Prof. Luis Salgado, UPM Vicerector for International Affairs, emphasized that “this agreement is creating a unique framework for joining two centres of excellence and is reinforcing the international strategy of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Technical University of Madrid, UPM) and promoting the cooperation between Spain and China, to jointly address global challenges”.

Prof. Javier Moreno, Vicepresident for International Affairs of CSIC, highlighted the agreement’s potential to accelerate innovation: “The agreement opens a new door for addressing joint research and innovation challenges between Chinese and Spanish researchers”. He added that “we are convinced that this new synergistic environment will not only favor the development of outstanding scientific research to tackle global needs in agriculture in view of climate change, but will also enable unparalleled international training for the next generation of scientists”.

Prof. Youjun Zhang, Director of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers (IVF) from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) noted the global relevance of the collaboration: "The signature of this agreement is creating new research opportunities by combining high level expertise in the field of plant biology, helping to address new challenges towards more sustainable vegetable food systems." He added, "We hope this will become an excellent Sino-Spain model for academic cooperation".

Prof. Isabel Allona, Director of CBGP (UPM-INIA/CSIC), expressed that “this initiative is an example of the firm commitment of CBGP for enhancing the international collaboration and science of excellence, and the innovation and translational biology, which are the key axes of our program of excellence CBGP-Severo Ochoa”. Dr. Allona acknowledges the support of the UPM Asia Delegation in Shanghai (China), in setting up this collaboration.

The three signatories of the MOU are accompanied by the director of the CBGP (UPM-INIA/CSIC), Isabel Allona (left) and the director of the National Centre INIA-CSIC, Cristina Óvilo (right).