A previous jointly produced report, the China 2030 Report, concluded that the country was likely to become both the largest, and a high-income economy before 2030.

However, it also warned that for China to fulfill that destiny, reforms and a new development strategy are needed.

The planned knowledge hub and the joint urbanization study form an important early part of Kim's overall strategy for the World Bank, which he said will see it become more of a "solutions bank".

Kim said he expects to build the organization into an entity that reduces poverty by applying "evidence-based, non-ideological solutions to development challenges".

"I am a development practitioner. For me, knowledge is something very specific; it's data experience, and the result of experimentation," he said.

"The strength of the World Bank is both knowledge creation and taking knowledge and helping countries like China use that knowledge by putting it into action."

The shift in the bank's thinking comes at a time when the outlook for the global economy remains blurred amid the eurozone debt crisis, and the looming US "fiscal cliff".

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, recently slashed its global growth forecasts for this year and the next to 2.9 and 3.4 percent, warning that "OECD member countries as a whole would move into recession".

It also comes at a time when China has seen its economy slow for seven successive quarters, although economists expect the fourth quarter of this year to show the start of a growth momentum.

"China will play a major role" in the World Bank's transformation, said Kim, and "we can help China find its own solutions, shape its future, and provide services and infrastructure", in ways outlined within the planned knowledge hub.

In the 68 years since its creation, the World Bank has "continuously evolved with a changing world", he added.

It was originally a "reconstruction bank", then a "lending bank", extending funding for poverty reduction in developing economies.

Under former president James Wolfensohn, the bank transformed into a "knowledge bank", and under its most recent head Robert Zoellick, it became "more open and transparent", Kim said.

The Harvard-trained medical doctor and anthropologist succeeded Zoellick in July to become the first scientist to head the Washington DC-headquartered institution, which has more than 9,000 employees in 100 offices worldwide.

In the run-up to his taking over, some had doubted that such a background was suited to an organization that primarily commits itself to providing financial and technical assistance to get developing economies to stand on their own feet.

But Kim is wholly confident his "solutions-led" strategy for the bank will prove successful.

"The World Bank is a bank - but it is also a development bank. It's special," he said.

"The fact that I have been in so many developing countries working on development gives me very high-level familiarity with my current position.

"I feel very comfortable in the role."

Contact the writer at dingqingfen@chinadaily.com.cn