Queen Mary University of London has hosted a major conference, the China-UK Forum on Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy, which has brought together international experts from around the world.
In 2018, China celebrated the 40th anniversary of the launch of its economic reform programme. It also marked four decades of UK-China scientific relations since the first UK-China bilateral agreement was signed.
Collaboration between the UK and China is said to be entering a new chapter. Opened by Professor Colin Bailey, Queen Mary’s Principal and President, the International Conference of the China-UK Forum brought together policy makers and world-leading academics to understand how four decades of collaboration have had a lasting impact on both countries’ economic development and technological advancement.
Professor Colin Bailey said: "Over the years Queen Mary has established long standing links with China and we look forward to building on these strong partnerships in the future.
"This conference, which focuses on technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, is especially important given the fast pace of change in these areas. Collaborations like this help to identify future opportunities for our students so that we can give them the best possible start in their future careers."
Professor Colin Grant, Vice-Principal (International), said: “Queen Mary University of London is a global centre of excellence. This conference exemplified the important role of our research in fostering international collaborations to address the challenges of our time.
“I look forward to seeing our cooperation with the China-UK Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation go from strength to strength in the future.”
In 2014 the UK government published its UK-China cooperation framework which led to the establishment of the UK-China Research and Innovation Cooperation Partnership Fund. These foundations were built upon in 2017 with the launch of the UK-China Joint Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation. This collaboration was designed to support academics, researchers and businesses from basic research to commercialisation of innovation.
Queen Mary University of London has continued to develop strong strategic relationships with academic partners in China. Last year Queen Mary opened an International Centre for Teaching and Learning (ICTL) with one of China’s top universities, Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPL) and in June 2019 Queen Mary signed a new five-year contract with the China Scholarship Council to offer fully funded PhD placements.
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