At noon on September 17, 2015, Peter Sany, President and CEO of Telecom Management Forum (TMF), led a delegation to visit Shanghai Academy where they were hosted by academy Executive Vice President, Wen Xueguo. Both parties held a meeting to discuss cooperation matters.

Wen Xueguo said that Shanghai Academy took the building of a high-level exchange and cooperation platform as one of its most important goals, and Shanghai Academy will host the annual Global City Forum next year. With the development of super-large cities formed under China’s rapid growth, problems such as urban dysfunction are a major concern, the forum needs to take for reference the mature experience of the West and employ modern information technologies and other cutting edge concepts to realize effective management. Wen Xueguo also noted that the “Smart City” is currently one of the key subjects of the academy research team and hoped that both parties would carry out collaborative research. TMF CEO Peter Sany was very interested in the academy’s projects and expressed willingness to collaborate in the “Smart City” project. He said that TMF would provide Shanghai Academy with TMF membership free of charge, which enables both parties to enjoy mutual membership benefits, and also provides the mechanism framework design of Shanghai Academy with the technical support it needed; and he himself would accept the invitation to serve as the academy’s strategic research consultant. Finally, the two parties reached a series of consensus on jointly publishing a Blue Book on the Smart City, and in participating in international meetings under mutual support.

Established in 1988, TMF is a global non-profit organization providing telecom operation and management with strategic suggestions and implementation schemes. TMF has more than 900 member units, covering governments, enterprises and research institutes, and advocates mutual reference and mutual development among members to unite technologies, business and policies together. Currently, TMF is mainly devoted to building the entire digital ecosystems including smart cities, finance and automotive. TMF attaches great importance to the development of China and India.

The meeting was also attended by Nik Willetts, Vice President of TMF, Xu Junjie, Technical Cooperation Coordinator of TMF Group China, Ji Weimin, Director of Secretariat, Shanghai Academy, Yang Huijun, Director of Research Division, Shanghai Academy, and Chen Yao, Director of Administration Division, Shanghai Academy.