The First International Symposium on the Development of Natural Science Museums under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRISMIS) was held in Beijing on 27 and 28 November 2017. The objective of the initiative – which was attended by pepresentatives from 34 museums and 9 museum organisations from 28 countries - is to streamline efforts and build synergies for the wider dissemination of techno-sciences and their history to students and the wider public in general. The founder of the Herakleidon Museum, Mr Pavlos Fyros and Mr Athanasios Kontonikolaou, Director of NOESIS - Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum represented Greece at the symposium.

The symposium was organised by the Chinese Association of Natural Science Museums and was hosted at the China National Museum of Science and Technology in Beijing. In his welcoming address, on behalf of the Chinese Association of Natural Science Museums, Vice-President HUAI Jinpeng referred to the importance that China attaches to promoting connectivity between Museums and scientific communities within the Belt & Road initiative as well as the key role of dialogue and exchanges between scientific communities from museums all over the world in the context of the modern Silk Roads.

Addressing the symposium on behalf of the Herakleidon Museum, its founder Mr Fyros noted the importance of private initiatives and presented the pioneering effort of the Herakleidon Museum, as a private non-profit institution dedicated to the promotion of culture. Representing NOESIS - Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum, its director Mr Kontonikolaou outlined the Center's multifaceted projects since 2004, aiming at presenting and popularizing achievements in science and technology in an original and innovative way through the use of modern technology and digitization, lectures, seminars, educational programmes.

In addition, Mr Kontonikolaou signed a Memorandum of Cooperation, under the auspices of the Chinese Association of Natural Science Museums, aiming to present at the NOESIS Center, in 2018, an exhibition of ancient Chinese science and technology. In this context, the transfer of a NOESIS Museum exhibition to China is also under consideration. A similar Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed between the Herakleidon Museum and the National Science and Technology Museum of China, which have exchanged exhibitions of the two countries’ ancient technology and science.