The European Commission will invest 3 million euros ($3.18 million) to set up a research and innovation center in China as part of its efforts to deepen EU-China scientific and technological cooperation.

The European Research and Innovation Center of Excellence is the first EC-funded center in China that focuses on research and development. It will be headquartered in Beijing, and have networks in other cities on the mainland.

Its services will range from organizing events to increasing exchanges between Chinese and European researchers, to producing reports about the situation in China on scientific and technological innovation.

It will also help private companies from European Union countries do research and seek development in China and find Chinese partners.

The project will start working from January 2017 and is expected to come into full operation as early as 2019.

“The aim is to establish a center here in China that can help European researchers on the first step toward the Chinese market, help them contact with Chinese companies and, at the same time, enable Chinese researchers to interact better with the European side,” said Sara Medina, member of the board of SPI, a Portugal-based consulting firm which focuses on promoting EU-China scientific and technological cooperation.