Nordic Centre, Fudan University

27/07/2026

The Nordic Centre summer course Business and Innovation in China (BIiC) concluded on Friday.

BIiC is a long-running flagship course in the Nordic Centre’s education portfolio, and has again proven to be as popular as ever. This year, the course brought 38 students from 17 different universities to Shanghai for an intensive and immersive two-week summer programme. The demand was higher than ever, with member universities receiving more than 100 applications from students eager to take part.

Designed to provide Nordic students with insights into China’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the course combined academic lectures, guest talks, company visits, and teamwork exercises. Through these activities, students embarked on a journey to explore what doing business and fostering innovation in China truly entails.

This year’s programme included visits to companies and organisations such as Volvo Cars, EY, National Innovation Center par Excellence, and Studio 9 (Nine United China Ltd). The students also travelled to the city of Ningbo, where they visited the Nordic Industrial Park and Ningbo University, one of the Nordic Centre’s affiliated members.

The Gala Pitching event, where one student team was recognised for delivering the most innovative business pitch, was again organised in collaboration with Venture Cup China. The course concluded with a networking reception at the Consulate General of Finland, providing the students with an opportunity to meet representatives from all four Nordic consulates, as well as connect with the companies and guest speakers who had contributed to the course.

On the cultural side, students had a chance to learn basic Mandarin Chinese, try out traditional dragon and lion dance, and enjoy musical performances by our student assistants featuring traditional Chinese folk instruments.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to making BIiC 2026 a success, all company representatives and guest speakers who shared their knowledge and experiences with the students, and most importantly, we would like to thank all participating students for joining us on this journey.

This year's course was attended by students from:

Aalborg University
Aarhus University
University of Bergen
BI Norwegian Business School
University of Copenhagen
University of Gothenburg
University of Helsinki
University of Iceland
Lund University
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
University of Oslo
University of Southern Denmark
Stockholm University
OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University
University of Turku
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

08/07/2026

The third edition of Sino-Nordic Talks: Lecture and Social Series was held on June 24, co-organized by the Nordic Centre and the Sino-Finnish Centre at Tongji University. The topic of the lecture was “From Participant to Changemaker: How to Shape Systems, Relationships, and Ideas through Co-creation,” which attracted students from Tongji University, Fudan University, and other institutions.

Our main speaker, Dr. Qingfan An, introduced the origins and development of co-creation, as well as the factors that influence its effectiveness. Dr. An also shared a case where she applied co-creation theory in the healthcare sector. Through this practical example, she showed how in-depth communication and collaboration generated positive outcomes when patients, medical staff, designers, managers, and other stakeholders engage as “co-creators” rather than “passive participants.”

After the lecture, there was an interactive role-play workshop. Participants were divided into two groups, each acting out a different scenario to reflect the complex interests and diverse demands in the real world. Participants immersed themselves in their roles, communicating, negotiating, and debating within the scenarios to find solutions together.

The Sino-Nordic Talks series for this semester has now come to a close. Thank you to everyone who attended. We look forward to seeing you again next semester!

23/06/2026

The Nordic Centre newsletter June 2026 is out!

Catch up on the latest from the Centre – recent events, funding opportunities, interviews and more.

Read it here:

Newsletter published on June 3, 2026.

08/06/2026

On June 5, the Nordic Centre and Sino-Finnish Centre at Tongji University organized jointly a 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 event!

The event brought together students from Fudan University and Tongji University to experience a variety of traditional Nordic outdoor games and activities, including:
𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 – a very popular sport in Finland where one, as the name suggests, throws a boot as far as one can (there is even an official world championship every year in Finland since 1992!)
𝐏𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐡𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐩 relay (sack racing) – an energetic relay race originating from Iceland
𝐌ö𝐥𝐤𝐤𝐲 – a Finnish throwing game invented in 1996, similar to the Norwegian and Swedish game kubb

Thank you to all the participants and congratulations to the winning team! A fantastic afternoon of games, laughs, and sharing cultures—already looking forward to the next one!

Special thank you to Oatly for sponsoring the prizes and snacks.

04/06/2026

On May 31, Her Excellency Ms. Lubna Jaffery, Minister of Culture and Equality of Norway, visited the School of Management at Fudan University and delivered a keynote speech titled "Participation, Power, and Prosperity: The Norwegian Approach to a People-Centered Economic Policy."

The visit was connected to the 30th Annivesary of the BI-Fudan MBA Program, a joint program between Fudan University and BI Norwegian Business School. The Nordic Centre played a crucial role in the establishment of the program. Over the years, the program has continued to thrive, and in 2025 it achieved the 2nd place globally for salary increase (123% ROI), and among Executive MBA programs globally, the 1st for international faculty, alumni network, and overall satisfaction.

The Nordic Centre was honored to join the event. We hope to continue serving as a bridge for the collaboration between Norway and China, and look forward to many more years of fruitful partnership, mutual learning, and shared success between Fudan University and BI.

30/05/2026

On 28 May, the Nordic Centre, on behalf of the five Nordic countries, hosted the “Nordic Culture Booth” at Fudan University’s “Journey to the World” exhibition event. We prepared authentic Nordic snacks, fun quizzes, and special gifts, attracting many students and staff from Fudan to join the fun.

“Journey to the World” is one of the biggest annual international outdoor events at Fudan, bringing together dozens of exhibitors - mostly Fudan students - from different countries showcasing their authentic cultural products and experiences, attracting large audiences througout the day. The event also featured a variety of cultural performances, with people from different countries presenting their own traditional songs or dances, and our Programme Manager Veli-Matti also performed an original song in Finnish on stage.

The event not only offered a unique glimpse into different traditions and lifestyles and helped promote meaningful cross-cultural exchanges and friendship among people from different backgrounds.

22/05/2026

This Wednesday, the second edition of Sino-Nordic Talks: Lecture and Social Series took place at the Nordic Centre. The series is co-organized by the Nordic Centre and Sino-Finnish Centre at Tongji University.

As graduation season draws near, we focused on a particularly timely topic: Understanding the Job-Seeking Challenges of Recent Grads – A Sino-Nordic Sociological Perspective. We were delighted to invite Professor Tian Feng, Associate Dean and Professor of Sociology at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, as our keynote speaker. She used historical perspectives and data analysis to help us understand the struggles of school-to-work transition from a sociological angle.

Marina Svensson, Professor of Modern China at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, then built on Professor Tian's presentation to offer a comparative perspective on youth employment in China and Sweden. Following this, Dr. Annina Lattu, currently a visiting scholar at the Nordic Centre and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tampere and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, shared insights on the employment situation of Finnish young adults.

The lecture attracted students from various disciplines, who shared their own experiences and feelings across different fields. The discussion that followed was lively and thoughtful.

A big thank you to our speakers and attendees for a meaningful exchange. We hope our participants found the lecture informative and inspiring, and that it sparked new ways of thinking about career paths.

21/05/2026

Last week, the Nordic Centre held a workshop on “Chinese-European Science & Technology Collaboration in Dynamic Times”, bringing together scholars from Tampere University, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Fudan University, Tongji University, the University of Oslo, and Humboldt University among others.

Coordinated by Dr. Annina Lattu, Visiting Scholar at the Nordic Centre and Postdoctoral Researcher at Tampere University and the MPIWG, the event opened with remarks from Prof. Anna L. Ahlers, Research Group Leader at the MPIWG and Professor at the University of Oslo. Programme Manager Veli-Matti Palomäki then gave an overview of the Nordic Centre activities.

Keynotes were delivered by Prof. Liu Meijun from Institute for Global Public Policy, Fudan University, and Andrea Braun Střelcová, Pre-doctoral Fellow at MPIWG and PhD Candidate at Tampere University, followed by eight short talks from Max Planck researchers and Prof. Zheng Gaoming from Higher Education Research Institute, Tongji University.

The seminar concluded with an open discussion on geopolitical and institutional shifts shaping EU-China research collaboration.

Thank you to all participants for your valuable insights and contributions to the workshop, with hopes for deeper EU-China collaboration in the future.

21/05/2026

The Nordic Centre joined the 5th annual Nordic Marketing Day, organized by FinnCham China (Finnish Chamber of Commerce), SwedCham China (Swedish Chamber of Commerce) and the Norwegian Business Association China in collaboration with the BI-Fudan MBA Program and communications & branding agency Nordic Friend.

The event, held on Fudan University’s School of Management campus, featured keynote speeches and panel discussions on issues such as Business Growth under Macro Transition and AI-Native Marketing, bringing together marketing professionals from several Nordic companies as well NYU Shanghai and PwC China, among others.

Nordic Marketing Day is one of the largest marketing, sales and growth-focused events for Nordic businesses in China, and has in the past five years attracted more than 500 participants and more than 100 speakers, representing a wide range of Nordic business communities and companies in China.

The Nordic Centre was happy to join the event and continue strengthening links with the Nordic business community in Shanghai.

22/04/2026

Anne L'Huillier, 2023 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physics and a professor of atomic physics at Lund University, visited Fudan University over the weekend.

Prof. L'Huillier held a lecture on Attosecond and Atomic Physics as part of the Youth Science Salon of the Shanghai Master Forum on Science, followed by a networking lunch, where she was surrounded by students eager to learn more. Our Programme Manager Veli-Matti Palomäki joined the networking session and had a chance to briefly introduce the Nordic Centre to Prof. L'Huillier and her husband Claes-Göran Wahlström, himself also a physicist and professor at Lund University.

Prof. L'Huillier is Lund University's first Nobel laureate.