UK-China Innovation Gateway Shanghai Centre
Funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO), Innovation China UK (ICUK) and KTN initiated the 'UK-China Innovation Gateway' project to establish a one-stop shop providing an efficient chain of services to the UK companies and institutes seeking R&D and commercialisation partnership in Shanghai. ICUK is working closely with Shanghai Technology Innovation Centre (STIC), the designated local government agent responsible for implementing Shanghai innovation and entrepreneurship policy. This project will:
1) Launch the 'UK-China Innovation Gateway Shanghai Centre' during Pujiang Innovation Forum providing Shanghai R&D base open access to public innovation resources in both countries. A MoU was signed during a workshop alongside the Pujiang innovation Forum in September 2016.
2) Develop long-term technology strategy that fosters better collaboration between academia, business and policy-makers, facilitates access to open innovation resource and reduce the repetitiveness of R&D investment through networking/expert groups.
3) Organises technology partnering with Shanghai industry to help the UK innovation base gain insight of local market, forge partnerships and facilitate follow-up activities.
Partnering Missions to China
ICUK and STIC organised an initial UK-China Expert Group meeting during a workshop alongside the Pujiang Innovation Forum on 23rd September. This project's co-implementer, KTN supported us on the recruitment of 2 experts from Innovate UK. These 2 experts in turn recommended 2 companies in the areas of Internet of Things (IoT) and Digital Manufacturing.
You can find out more about the September event here.
ICUK is currently organising another partnering mission to Shanghai, Nanjing and Suzhou on 7th � 10th November 2016. During this mission, we'll bring 6 UK companies� representatives in the areas of IoT, Big Data and Digital Manufacturing and 2 Queen Mary University of London representatives. This delegation will visit companies in the Ju Yuan Science Park, ARM shanghai Accelerator and companies in the Suzhou Industrial Park. ICUK and local co-ordinators have organised a workshop at each of the three cities, with attendees from local companies in relevant sectors. The workshop in Nanjing will be part of a bigger programme, the 5th China Jiangsu Conference for International Technology Transfer and Commercialisation (CITTC). Besides the workshops, there will be one-to-one discussions between UK and China companies.
For more information on the November Partnering Mission, please visit the Events Page.
Partners
UK-China Innovation Gateway Shanghai Centre Launching Mission, 22nd - 24th Sep 2016
Event Overview
Shanghai is China's business and financial centre and also one of the most innovative cities in the world with sound R&D infrastructure and technology incubation facilities. The City aims to become China's "technological innovation centre with global influence" and strives to increase its innovation capability and effectiveness of its science policy. UK expertise and resources in innovation not only adds value to Shanghai's public services in supporting international innovation but also provides technology solutions to address China’s development challenges.
ICUK recently won a bid for the FCO Prosperity Fund to support the establishment of the UK-China Innovation Gateway Shanghai Centre. ICUK in partnership with STIC and British Embassy Beijing organised the first mission to Shanghai and launched the UK-China Innovation Gateway Shanghai Centre at a workshop alongside the Pujiang Innovation Forum on 23rd September 2016. This workshop focused on Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Digital Manufacturing.
Event Activities
6 UK delegates participated in this mission - 2 experts from Innovate UK (Digital Lead and High Value manufacturing Lead), 2 UK technology companies (Thingful and Croft Additive Manufacturing) and representatives from KTN and ICUK.
During a workshop alongside the Pujiang Innovation Forum on 23rd September, a MoU was signed between Queen Mary University of London and STIC. This was witnessed by UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Mark Walport and Director Zhu from STIC.
During this mission, UK delegates also visited Lingang Software Park on 22nd September and had one-to-one discussions with local companies. This led to the proposal of setting up a trial platform between Lingang Software Park and Innovate UK. ICUK is following up on this and bridging the discussion between the UK and China organisations.
2nd UK-China Innovation Forum on Personalised Medicine, London, 7th & 8th March 2016
Event Overview
The UK is a world leader in personalised medicine, which uses a patient's genetic profile to devise better treatments. Innovate UK has recently established a new Precision Medicine Catapult based in Cambridge and invested up to £1 million into a new Knowledge Transfer Network for Stratified Medicine. Genomic England has also invested £25 million on training programmes to collaborate through Clinical Interpretation Partnership. More recently, world’s largest community genetics study was launched in East London, led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and supported with £4m funding by the Wellcome Trust and MRC.
China's personalised healthcare system has also been developing rapidly. In June 2015, China announced planned investment of £6 billion before 2030 in Precision Medicine Initiative and set prioritised therapeutic areas to target between 2016 and 2020 which includes cardiovascular and rare disease.
Funded by the BIS Global Partnership Fund, Innovation China UK at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) together with Genomics England and China Science and Technology Exchange Center (CSTEC) of China's Ministry of Science and Technology, jointly organised 2nd UK-China Innovation Forum on Personalised Medicine event in London on 7-8th March 2016.
Event Activities
The two-day forum brought together over 60 UK and Chinese companies and university participants including 14 leading experts from China and the UK in the area of cardiovascular, rare disease, psychiatric disorders and bioinformatics.
The forum was opened by Prof David Sadler, Vice Principal (International) at QMUL, and was followed by Mr Tim Standbrook, Consul Science and Innovation at British Consulates in Shanghai and Mr Keqin Dong, Director of European Affairs of CSTEC, who both addressed the importance of bilateral collaborations in research and development in the area of personalised medicine between the two nations.
Chinese delegates from Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Shanghai 1st Maternity and Infant Hospital at Tongji University, Beijing Institute of Genomics, West China Hospital at Sichuan University, Soochow University and BGI Europe presented their recent research progress and results in the personalised medicine, giving UK audience an overview of the R&D activities in China. Meanwhile, UK experts also provided a landscape of ongoing R&D in the respective areas of personalised medicine in the UK. This includes talks delivered by Genomics England, QMUL, East London Genes& Health, Healthcare UK, Imperial College London, European Bioinformatics Center, GSK and University College London. The conversation was continued with panel discussion and 1-2-1 partnering session at the end of the first day. On 8th March, the Chinese delegates visited UCL Institute of Child Health, the North Thames genomics Medical Centre and Barts Heart Center and Genomics England.
At the 2nd UK-China Innovation Forum on Personalised Medicine, we have successfully expanded the network from 4 diseases subgroups in Year 1 (cardiovascular, hepatitis C Virus, inflammatory diseases and bioinformatics) to 6 diseases subgroups in Year 2 (cardiovascular, hepatitis C Virus, inflammatory diseases and bioinformatics, rare diseases and psychiatric disorders). The 2nd event brought in rare diseases and psychiatric disorders, and created opportunities for new collaborations between the UK and Chinese partners.
The network has been extended from 17 members of 9 UK experts and 8 Chinese experts in Year 1 to 28 members of 16 UK experts and 12 Chinese experts in Year 2. By bringing in key policymakers and funding bodies as well as top UK and Chinese experts in the field of personalised medicine, the network therefore is served as an effective platform to build sustainable collaborations between the UK and China.
