The Higher Education Institution Academic Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Plan (高等学校学科创新引智计划), best known as Plan 111 and Project 111 (Chinese: 111计划), is a higher education development project initiated in 2006 by the Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs to establish innovation centers for the purposes of technology transfer.[1][2] In 2005, the Ministry of Education announced the creation of 100 innovation centers as part of the plan.[3] The plan aimed to bring in about 1,000 overseas experts from the top 100 universities and research institutes worldwide.[4]
Plan 111 became an avenue for foreign technology transfer of both civilian and military application.[1] The plan established centers at universities that support defense-related research and development such as Harbin Engineering University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beihang University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Xidian University.[1]
