SHENZHEN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- French business school HEC Paris has partnered with Shenzhen-based Southern University of Science and Technology to cooperate on education and innovation.

The two parties will develop international and world-class joint degrees, executive programs and joint initiatives around innovation management, the fintech industry and entrepreneurship, as well as reinforcing academic research and exchanges between both institutions, according to the agreement made during French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's visit to China.

They will also jointly establish the Sino-French Innovation Platform for Shenzhen, a project to encourage deep-tech cooperation between the two countries.

The partnership is expected to reinforce the two institutions' competitive positions in the Asian and European regions as well as allowing greater mobility and networking between French and Chinese students, faculty, startups and hi-tech companies, according to Peter Todd, Dean of HEC Paris.

HEC Paris has previously worked with China's Tsinghua University to develop joint degree programs.