Chiangmai-Chengdu Sister Cities Research Center
International College of Digital Innovation
Chiang Mai University
In Global Network Civilization, Chiangmai has 5 sister cities in China. These cities include Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and Tsingtao. In the west of China, Chengdu, Chongqing and Kunming are located on the Belt and Road Initiative which focuses on connecting the cities on the Belt and Road with neighboring countries particularly ASEAN by all land, sea and aviation modes. The infrastructure including high speed train, airport, seaport, logistic systems and cross border e-commerce are economically and socially developing for promoting international trade and investment between Asia and Europe.
In western China development, the high-speed train from Xian, Chongqing, Chengdu and Kunming will reach Morhan-Borten, China-ASEAN border in 2020 and then Vientiane, Thai-Laos border in 2022. This high-speed train will link western China to Thailand Eastern Economic Corridor and become the main infrastructure for North-South Economic Corridor between West China and ASEAN.
Chiang Mai University by the International College of Digital Innovation (ICDI) has initiated the Chiangmai-Chengdu Sister Cities Research Center for supporting the international development between Chiangmai-Chengdu, Lachang-MeKong Collaboration and Belt and Road Initiative extensively. Policy research is conducted by ICDI and the College of Overseas Education, Chengdu University based on joint doctoral and master degrees in Digital Innovation and Financial Technology. The collaborative research theme ranges from Belt and Road Initiative, Infrastructure, Supply Side Structural Reform, Trade and Investment, Intellectual Property, Digital Laws, Cultural Diplomacy, Cross border e-Commerce, Supply Chain and Logistics, Financial Technology, Smart City, Industry 4.0, Smart Farmer, Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, etc. The research center aims at the research and human resource capacity building between the sister cities. The Sister Cities Research Center in ICDI comprises of 3 major research laboratories including Cross border e-commerce, Big Data and Financial Technology.
