Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the project results of the National Key R&D Program. The project Corrosion Inhibition Mechanism and Application of New Environmentally Friendly Surface Film-forming Corrosion Inhibitors, which was jointly applied by Maribor University in Slovenia and led by our institute, has been successfully approved. The funding is RMB 1.15 million (Chinese side) and EUR 130,000 (foreign side), the research period is 3 years, and Prof. Yefei Wang is the PI. This is the fourth project of this category approved by the University, and the first project of scientific and technological cooperation between the University and the countries of the 17+1 Cooperation strategic node in Central and Eastern Europe.

The project leader, Prof. Yefei Wang, is the deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Oilfield Chemistry in Shandong Province. He has been working on the theory and methods of high performance fine oilfield chemicals and chemical drive for enhanced oil recovery under complex reservoir conditions. In recent years, he has undertaken more than 30 projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Oil and Gas Special Project, the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, and the scientific and technological research projects of three major oil companies, and has been active in international academic exchanges. In the past five years, the oilfield chemical working fluid research team led by Prof. Wang has made promising progress in the research and development of high performance corrosion inhibitors for oil and gas field acidification, and has published more than 20 high-level papers in mainstream journals and authoritative conferences such as Corrosion Science and Petroleum Journal, and applied for two invention patents.

The National Key R&D Program Intergovernmental Cooperation in International Science and Technology Innovation is an effective way for the Chinese government to carry out mutually beneficial and win-win foreign scientific and technological cooperation in an open environment to solve major scientific and technological problems in the fields of energy, resources, environment, health, etc.; it is an effective way to promote bilateral and multilateral intergovernmental cooperation in science and technology and to serve China's modernization and national development; it is an important platform for promoting bilateral and multilateral governmental science and technology cooperation, serving China's modernization and national foreign policy; it is an important initiative to promote cross-sectoral and cross-regional coordination of foreign science and technology cooperation, enhance science and technology innovation capacity and promote the construction of national innovation system. Based on <the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Slovenia on Joint Funding of R&D Cooperation Projects> signed between the two countries on May 17, 2019, the China-Slovenia Intergovernmental Science and Technology Cooperation Program supports scientists from both countries to carry out substantial and complementary innovative research and cooperation, with the first batch of solicited collaborative research projects in biomedicine, surface materials technology, and karst geomorphology and other three fields.