Cuba and China Expand Their Scientific Cooperation

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma) has announced the approval of 56 project proposals submitted by Cuban institutional teams aimed at fostering bilateral cooperation with China's National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC). A total of 61 proposals were originally presented, and specialists from the agency noted on its official website that the majority received approval for meeting all formal requirements, including simultaneous submission in both countries, compliance with defined languages and formats, and the inclusion of a Joint Research Agreement between the principal executing entities.

Officials also detailed the rigorous internal review process, which involved peer evaluation according to respective regulations and procedures. The highest-rated proposals were assessed by review panels, followed by an exchange of lists with the results of national evaluations. According to the same source, the selected projects to be funded span key areas, with a strong emphasis on agriculture and food production:

• Strategic alliance for cassava improvement: development of elite varieties with high bacterial resistance and industrial quality for Cuba, led by the Institute for Research on Tropical Root Crops (INIVIT) and Hainan University.

• Collaboration for the development and validation of an integrated smart rice management system for food security in Cuba, carried out by the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA) and Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU).

• Construction of anti-freeze emulsion gels based on Cuban sargassum polysaccharides and sarcoplasmic proteolytic peptides: mechanisms to protect the quality of frozen pork meat gels, undertaken by the University of Havana, the Institute of Pharmacy and Foods, and Beijing Technology & Business University's School of Food and Health.

In the health sciences sector, approved projects include:

• Sigma-1 receptor signaling pathway in Alzheimer's disease: Mechanisms and therapeutic intervention research, by the Neuroscience Center (CNEURO) and Wenzhou Medical University.

• Integrated diagnosis of Chikungunya based on the One Health approach, by the Immunoassay Center (CIE) and Hainan University.

• Artificial Intelligence grounded in statistical neurodynamics for brain health: from foundational models to lightweight devices, from the University of Havana's Faculty of Physics, Center for Complex Systems, and Department of Theoretical Physics, in partnership with the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (UESTC).

• Integrated surveillance platform for zoonoses based on bioinspired CRISPR precise diagnostics under the One Health approach, from the "Pedro Kouri" Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) and the School of Medicine at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Each project will begin implementation this July and will be linked to science, technology, and innovation programs relevant to their respective themes. Their practical execution timeline will not exceed 36 months (three years). Citma will finance the selected projects with up to six million Cuban pesos (CUP), while the NSFC will provide total funding of up to 1.8 million yuan (RMB).