HNC³ - Hamburg Network on Compliance in Cooperation with China

Cooperation with Chinese partners is of great importance for Hamburg—with regard to research, the economy, and the city’s port. At the same time, cooperation with Chinese institutions proceeds in an increasingly complex environment characterized by long-term and mutually trusting collaboration, innovation ambitions and competition, mutual dependencies, increasing regulations, and finally, systemic rivalry.

The HNC³ partners all have long-standing, vital experience cooperating with Chinese partners and have already had experiences with regard to critical topics, such as limits to academic freedom, influence, information flow, and dealing with dual-use matters.

The main goal of the HNC³ is to consolidate and expand the skills and experiences of the participating institutions as they cooperate with China. Evidence-based and critical reflection on current opportunities and challenges in our cooperation should enable consortium partners to pursue promising and legally sound future cooperation with the Chinese.

One focus of the HNC³ is to sensitize and train doctoral and early career researchers as well as other actors in the participating institutions, e.g., in administration. This will involve a series of workshops and training opportunities as well as the development of training material. We aim to increase China-related skills among the target groups, efficiently and sustainably, and sensitize them to the opportunities and risks of cooperating with Chinese partners. Ultimately, the target groups should be in a position to better evaluate and implement cooperation from the outset.

Activities are grouped into key categories: dealing with limits to academic freedom; managing knowledge exchange; preventing unwanted flow of information; protecting copyrights and patents; problems in military use of research (data)—dual use; generally pursuing sound (legally and otherwise) cooperation; recognizing and preventing political influence.

Due to geopolitical and domestic developments in China, questions about cooperating with China now play an even more important role. Thus, the HNC³ Network is focusing more strongly on aspects of legal certainty (compliance) in cooperation with China and examining and building upon existing processes and review procedures. Moreover, we will look at legal developments in the People’s Republic of China, such as laws on protecting personal data and national security, and develop practical courses of action for the HNC³ Network target groups.

Due to Hamburg’s many higher education institutions with expertise on China, foremost efforts will involve links to Chinese-related issues and different profiles for dealing with Chinese cooperation partners. The HNC³ partners are working closely with one another and with regional stakeholders in the economic, political, and civic arenas to lay the groundwork for navigating German-Chinese relations in rough waters.

HNC³ is a joint project of 9 Hamburg institutions from science and research:

• Universität Hamburg (project coordination)
• Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
• German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
• Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg (HAW)
• Helmut Schmidt Universität
• Leibnitz Institute of Virology (LIV)
• Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology
• Max-Planck-Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter
• University of Technology (TUHH)

• 8 February 2024, online panel discussion, Hamburg Chamber of Commerce: “Sicherheit in der Forschung” (Research security), program (PDF)
• 16 May 2024, in-person panel discussion, HAW: “Internationale Wissenschaftskooperationen im Kontext geopolitischer Entwicklungen” (International research cooperation against the backdrop of geopolitical developments), see program at haw-hamburg.de
• 26 June 2024, online panel discussion, GIGA Forum: “Wissenschaftskooperation mit China und Indien: Chancen und Herausforderungen für deutsche Forschungsinstitutionen” (Research collaborations with China and India: chances and challenges for German research institutions), see program and video recording at giga-hamburg.de