JERUSALEM, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Tel Aviv University and Chinese Tsinghua University inaugurated Tuesday a joint center for innovative research and education.

The Xin Center was launched in the presence of the Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, President of Tsinghua University Chen Jining, and the President of Tel Aviv University Joseph Klafter. Leading business figures and scientists from both countries also attended.

The XIN Center, meaning "new" in Chinese, will initially focus on nanotechnology with medical and optics applications and will later expand to other scientific fields.

It will recruit leading international researchers and top students from Israel and China as well as the rest of the world.

Noting the increasing impact of basic scientific research on economies and societies worldwide, Tsinghua's Chen said that "the purpose of this center is to explore new methods for teaching innovation and training the entrepreneurs of the future."

"The center will explore critical issues in the fields of environment, energy and sustainability. It combines innovative research and encourage other universities to develop innovation processes, as part of new models for promoting innovation," he added.

In the framework of XIN, an investment fund will be established to seed ventures initiated by XIN Fellows. The fund of 100 million RMB (16.35 million U.S. dollars) will be set up by Infinity Group, Israel's largest investments managing firm. Investors in the fund will include the Beijing government and alumni of Tsinghua University.

The center was inaugurated amidst an increasing number of joint enterprises between Chinese institutions and the Israeli academy.

Last November, Chinese Elion Resources Group of China signed an agreement for creating methods to battle the desertification of the Kubuqi desert in Mongolia.

In September, Haifa-based Technion Institute of Technology and Shantou University singed 130 million dollars agreement to establish a new tech institute in the province of Guangdong, China.