On the morning of December 16, Hefei Municipal Government holds a ceremony of the Third Hefei Friendship Award for foreign experts in Hefei. Yu Aihua, Secretary of Hefei Municipal Party Committee, and Ling Yun, Mayor of Hefei, award medals and honorary certificates to those experts.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Weise, a German professor of Hefei University, is awarded the Hefei Friendship Award, who also delivers a speech as a representative for the award-winning experts. He says that Hefei, innovative, open and advanced, has strong competitiveness in the scientific research, which is also one of the most attractive cities for foreign experts in China. “When I came here, I met some much more excellent researchers. I'm here to learn.” He says.

His winning of the Award encourages HFU to be more determined to develop Sino-Germany cooperation and adhere to its orientation of internationalization.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Weise is currently Chief of Institute of Applied Optimization in School of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data of HFU, who  has been devoted to the academic research as well as promoting Sino-Germany cooperation in recent years.