Two international conferences will be organised in China to showcase results, exchange knowledge and learn about developments from emerging economies. Site-visits may be organised around the events in China, to have a first hand experience of the local technologies and developments. Balanced representation of industry and academic participants will be ensured.

The 1ST Joint EchoGRID & EUChinaGRID International Conference was held on 24-27 April 2007 at the ICT, Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing, China,  co-organised with the LIAMA and the CNIC. This Conference presented complementarities between European and Chinese initiatives and disseminated the goals and foreseen activities of EchoGRID.

EchoGRID and EUChinaGRID organised this conference to promote cross-fertilisation between Grid-related projects and initiatives in Europe and China by interacting with top Grid research and industrial communities, exchange experiences and best practices for Grid middleware and applications interoperability.

Value Added:

• outstanding platform for European and Chinese state-of-the-art Grid technologies;
  
• opportunity for industry & research to showcase results;
  
• knowledge-exchange on new application areas, best practices & future advancements.

Applications for Live Demo & Poster Session

Programme highlights: 

Enterprise Challenges with Grids, Interoperability, New Programming Paradigms/SOA, New Priorities for Management in Grids, and Ongoing Research versus Enterprise Achievements. The programme also featured a Live Demo & Poster Session, as well as a roundtable on Future Collaborative Scenarios led by experts at the forefront of Grid technologies.

View programme [pdf ]

Conference Interface: 

• Giovanna Calabro : Speaker and Delegate Interface
• Stephanie Parker : Press & Media

Useful Information for your trip: [pdf] 

Venue
The joint ECHOGrid and EUChinaGrid conference took place at the Institute of Computing Technology , Chinese Academy of Sciences No. 6 South Kexueyuan RD. Haidian District, Beijing

Map - Airport to ICT

Map - Hotel to ICT Local 

Hotel: The Jadepalace hotel offered all participants special rates.

Information on the city
Beijing is the capital of the most populated country in the world, the People's Republic of China. It was also the seat of the Ming and Qing dynasty emperors until the republic was established in 1911. As such it is rich in historical sites and important government institutions. The city is well known for its flat and regular buildings. There is only one hill to be found within the city limits in Jingshan Park to the north of the famous Forbidden City. Like the configuration of the Forbidden City, Beijing has concentric "ring roads", which are actually rectangular, that wind around the metropolis.

Airport
Beijing Capital International Airport. Most of the International airlines flight directly from Europe to Beijing, including Air China, British Airways, Aeroflot, Lufthansa, KLM and Air France. The average cost is € 1.500,00 including taxes.

Passport and Visa
A valid passport is required to travel to China. Most travellers will need a visa. In most cases, this should be obtained from a Chinese embassy or consulate before departure, therefore please check with the Chinese Embassy in your own Country. Please note that travelling to Hong Kong and Macau have different visa requirements. See relevant guides for more information. As of 2005, nationals of Singapore, Brunei and Japan do not need a visa to visit China for a stay of up to 15 days, regardless of the reason for visiting. Travel Permit, a wallet sized ID card allowing multiple entries for 10 years. Getting a tourist visa is easy for most passports as you do not need an invitation, whereas this is a requirement for business or working visas. The usual tourist single-entry visa is valid for thirty days and must be used within three months after it has been issued.

Taxis
China enjoys adequate taxi service. In most cities, taxis tend to be a small local-made car painted in either red or yellow. In large cities, there are luxurious sedans at a higher rate. Taxi fares vary from city to city but they are always clearly marked on the taxi window. Please bear in mind that most taxi drivers do not understand English at all. Non-Chinese speaking visitors are advised to have their destinations written down in Chinese and show the address to the cab driver to avoid difficult situations. Please print and use the maps available:

• Airport to ICT
• ICT Local

Currency
The official currency of the People's Republic of China is the renminbi, often abbreviated RMB. The official base unit of this currency is the yuan, international currency code CNY. Please remember to keep all your exchange receipts as you will need them to exchange RMB back into the original currency.

Climate
China lies mainly in the temperate and subtropical zones. Generally, its southern part (East China, South China and Southwest china) is warm, humid, and rainy; its northern part (North China, Northeast China, and northwest China) is dry and windy. In spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) you will need a lined jacket or woollen sweater over light clothes. In summer (June to August) cool cotton garments are recommended. Late spring and late summer are often rainy especially in the southern part of China.

Electricity
Electricity is 220 volts/50 hz. Most buildings have universal outlets that can handle a wide variety of plug shapes.

Calling
Code + 86. Telephone service is more of a mixed bag. Calling outside the country is often difficult, and usually impossible without a calling card, which can often only be bought locally.

Time zone UTC +8 - CET +6