NIO officials said the maiden understanding is for a period of five years, with scope and intent for renewal.

The NIO's Dr N Ramaiah and ZOU's Professor Wu Changwen will be the pointmen for coordination under this MoU.

"The envisaged cooperation and consultation in the chosen areas will be accomplished through joint research proposals, researchers and information exchanges, access to research enabling instrumentation and an implementation committee comprising staff scientists and faculty from NIO and ZOU," officials said.

ZOU's contribution to the local society and economy in China is through its academic-industry research model with emphasis on subject domain specialisation and development.

The university has won National Scientific and Technological Advancement Awards thrice in the recent past and is among the three marine research and educational institutes in its province.

NIO is one of the 38 constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi.