On December 6, 2007, the licensing ceremony of the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China was held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. Jin Xiaoming, then Director of International Cooperation Department, officially awarded licences to the three first batches of "International Science and Technology Cooperation Bases" and SIOM was one the first three institutions. Professor Li Ruxin, then Deputy Director of Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, attended the licensing ceremony.

The Base in SIOM was established to achieve effective integration of domestic and foreign resources for the fundamental transformation of international scientific and technological cooperation.

Through this scenario, past years have witnessed fruitful cooperation results in intense-field laser, high-power solid-state laser, cold atomic physics and quantum optics, laser and optoelectronic functional materials. Various levels of cooperations have been and are being carried out in forms of agreements, projects, conferences, symposiums as well as academic exchanges.
In 2015, the Base won the "Excellence" award in the on-the-spot evaluation; and its unique integration model of combining base, project, and talent was highly recognized.