The 93rd IKCEST Training Programme for Silk Road Engineering Science and Technology Development & University Alliance of the Silk Road (UASR) Virtual Summer Courses 2021 was held from July 19th to August 8th, 2021. It was co-hosted by the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (IKCEST) under the Auspices of UNESCO, and Xi’an Jiaotong University, and was organized by the IKCEST Silk Road Training Base. A total of 308 trainees signed up for the training, and 107 graduated successfully. They came from 15 countries such as China, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and etc. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this training programme is held online.

  Themed on Innovation and Technology Management in Tourism and Hospitality, the following lectures are included: An Introduction to IT in Hospitality & Tourism Industry, Information Technology Adoption and Dynamic Impact on Hospitality & Tourism Organizations, Value Creation Through IT and Innovation, Innovation Strategy Through Mobile Technology and Social Media in Hospitality & Tourism Industry, Digital Marketing in Tourism & Hospitality, Business Analytics for Data-based Decision Making in Hospitality and Tourism Organizations, Designing Storytelling Online Campaigns for Brand Co-Creation and Co-Promotion, Digital Transformation in Tourism & Hospitality Organizations and etc.

  The training offers one-stop services such as platform registration, course selection, online learning, questionnaire survey, online examination and certificate download. A combined approach of video-on-demand (shortened as VOD) study and online discussion were employed in the online training. The trainees were given the opportunity to make their own learning plan and arrange their learning process accordingly all by themselves.

  Up till recently, 93 sessions of IKCEST Training Programmes for Silk Road Engineering Science and Technology Development have been held by Silk Road Training Base, training more than 10,000 foreign students and staff from export-oriented Chinese companies from over 100 countries. This training programme plays an important role in cultivating talents and promoting the Belt and Road Initiative. In the Meanwhile, it also made important contributions to the promotion of cultural, scientific, technological and educational exchanges as well as the economic and social development of European, Asian and African Belt-road countries and regions.

  The International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (IKCEST) is a category II centre under the auspices of UNESCO and was established in June 2014 in Beijing. Chinese Academy of Engineering is responsible for the operation and management of the IKCEST. IKCEST aims to provide knowledge-based services at a global scale in the form of consultancies, scientific research and education for policy-makers and engineering science and technology professionals in the world, with particular reference to the developing countries. In February 2017, based in Xi’an Jiaotong University, IKCEST Silk Road Training Base was established, aiming to train more engineering science and technology talents, and enhance the capacity building in developing countries.