China Direct

KPMG develops Ningbo presence with new office

KPMG Ningbo office officially opens

CBI member KPMG's Ningbo office was officially opened on 15^th April. Chu Yinliang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Ningbo Municipal Committee and Party Secretary of the Yinzhou District Committee, Mei Yijin, Member of the Standing Committee and Deputy Director of the Yinzhou District Committee, Wang Jianfeng, Chairman of Joyson Electronics Co., Ltd., Zhuang Wei, Chairman of Shanshan Group, and William Gong, Vice Chairman of KPMG China, attended the opening ceremony.

During the afternoon of the same day, KPMG held a series of seminars on topics such as China's capital market policies and the digital transformation and upgrading of enterprises. KPMG China's experts from different sectors had discussions with the guests to share the latest views of the industry trends.

KPMG Ningbo office is the first new branch of KPMG China to open within KPMG’s national business network in 2020. KPMG's entry into Ningbo also opened up a new prelude to KPMG China's 2020 regional strategic plan.

Based in Yinzhou, Ningbo, KPMG takes advance of its expertise to contribute to local economic and social development

KPMG China Vice Chairman William Gong said: "In recent years, Ningbo has actively adjusted its economic structure. A number of modern service industries such as port and shipping logistics, leisure and tourism, and financial insurance have risen rapidly. New consumption, represented by online shopping and cross-border e-commerce, has continuously flourished in the market.

In 2019, Ningbo’s GDP broke through RMB 1 trillion and became China’s 15th cities with GDP more than RMB 1 trillion. In addition, Ningbo’s economy is resilient and has strong development potential. Ningbo is one of the cities with the highest secondary industry ratio among the trillion GDP cities and industry has long been the first engine of economic growth. With the high-level construction of the “246” industrial cluster* as the starting point, Ningbo strives to build a national demonstration zone of high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. For the first time, its annual industrial growth value exceeded RMB 500 billion, ranking first in Zhejiang Province and second in the national plan. "

(*note: “246” industrial cluster – “2” means to build two RMB trillion-level industrial clusters for green petrochemical and automobiles; “4” means to build four  RMB 500 billion-level industrial clusters including high-end equipment, electronic information, new materials, software and emerging services; “6” means to build six RMB 100 billion-level industrial clusters of key basic components (components), smart home appliances, fashion textiles and apparel, bio-medicine, cultural and sports supplies, energy conservation and environmental protection)

In recent years, KPMG has continuously served enterprises in Ningbo, and cultivated a number of high-quality customer resources in Ningbo, such as Joyson Electronics, Ningbo’s leading enterprise, and many other local enterprises. Going forward, KPMG will take root in Ningbo, serve Ningbo, and continue to expand its business. In addition, KPMG will also give full play to its own consulting professional advantages and propose strategies for the economic and social development of Ningbo.

 Seeking innovation and promoting development, KPMG contributes to the growth, transformation and upgrading of Ningbo enterprises

The Yangtze River Delta region is one of the areas with the most dynamic economy, the highest degree of openness, and the strongest innovation capability in China. It is also an important area for KPMG's contribution and innovative development. In the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the fields of finance, insurance, technology, urban development, etc. all fit well with KPMG's current advantageous business areas.

John Wang, Chief Partner of KPMG China in Zhejiang Province, said: "Ningbo is accelerating the creation of a modern industry, a modern city, opening to the outside world, and an upgraded business environment. As an international leading professional service organization, KPMG will provide our professional services to Ningbo government and enterprises and help Ningbo enterprises grow, transform and upgrade. "

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is rapidly emerging, and emerging industries have become one of the focal points of industrial competition between cities and countries. Nurturing and growing new industries is essential to Ningbo's long-term development.

KPMG deeply understands the significance of accelerating the development of emerging industries, and it is a step ahead in the development of emerging industries and leads the way in future competition. Going forward, KPMG will also grasp the main direction of accelerating the development of emerging industries, and help Ningbo's local enterprises to accelerate the expansion and strengthening of emerging industries in key areas such as healthcare, industrial Internet, "5G +", digital economy, and intelligent logistics.

It is worth mentioning that KPMG has mature business lines in the above fields, which can continue to help Ningbo's industrial transformation and upgrading and inject new momentum into Ningbo's high-quality development.

In addition, KPMG also proposed a series of innovative solutions for the digital transformation of the entire industry chain, dedicated to understanding the pain points and difficulties of the transformation of the industry in which the company belongs to, and providing companies with a series of effective digital solutions, using the digital way to liberate the workforce and provides innovative and comprehensive solutions for enterprises, meanwhile bringing better working experience to employees.

KPMG settles in Ningbo to strengthen regional competitiveness

Lane Zhang, Chief Partner, Ningbo, KPMG China, said: "KPMG Ningbo will provide multi-disciplinary professional services to the enterprises in Ningbo.

KPMG's professional team will rely on KPMG's global network and rich industry experience, with comprehensive tax and financial, management, risk consulting and other professional services to assist local Ningbo enterprises to improve internal management, achieve strategic transformation and improve corporate competitiveness. We will also gradually introduce and involve local high-level talents in Ningbo to build a high-quality talent team in order to promote and enhance our core competitiveness for regional development. "

Ningbo is an export-oriented economic city. KPMG Ningbo will help enterprises in Ningbo improve their management standards, transform and upgrade their enterprises towards globalisation, we will also take advantage of our international perspectives and professional service capabilities to attract more transnational companies and world-renowned companies to open office in Ningbo, to enhance the investment value of local companies in the global capital market.

KPMG will regularly conduct special local industry seminars after entering Ningbo, such as tax planning, listing counselling, digital transformation, etc., hoping to provide professional insights and suggestions for local enterprises. At the same time, Ningbo, as a well-known port city, has great demand in the field of import and export trade and enterprise "expanding outside of Ningbo".

KPMG has been committed to creating a functional platform that serves the whole country, faces international market and connects the two, to build a global Chinese business development centre. At present, nearly 60 Global China Business group have been established around the world, which can effectively help local enterprises to "go out" to explore overseas markets, and truly achieve "based on Ningbo and radiate the world."

KPMG will provide more professional services for the government and local enterprises, working together for a win-win future.

[ends]

University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus receives China’s highest scientific honour

 

CBI member, the University of Nottingham was delighted to report that Professor Martyn Poliakoff, Research Professor of Chemistry, was awarded China’s highest scientific honour for foreign scientists, the 2019 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. The certificate was presented by Chinese President, Xi Jinping.

The award recognises the key role foreign scientists have played in China’s scientific development and reflects China’s increasing effort to diversify its scientific research partners over recent years.

Professor Poliakoff was the only British scientist among the 10 awardees.

Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff joined the University of Nottingham in 1979. Throughout his career, Professor Poliakoff has focussed on super-critical fluids, continuous reactions and their applications in Green Chemistry.

He was knighted in 2015 for “Services to the Chemical Sciences” and received an Honorary Fellowship of the Chinese Chemical Society the same year. Professor Poliakoff was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2002 and later served as its Foreign Secretary and Vice-President.

Now in his seventies, Professor Poliakoff continues to travel to China to share his experience and expertise with students at the University of Nottingham Ningbo campus, where he is also a lecturer of BSC (Hons) Chemistry.

Sir Martyn is passionate about passing on his experience to support the emerging generation of young scientists. In addition to his work in Ningbo and the UK, Professor Poliakoff also appears on his own YouTube channel, with over one million followers, where he performs fascinating experiments with all 118 elements of the Periodic Table to popularise basic chemistry.

To read the press release in full, please follow the link.

To learn more about chemistry, please find a link to Professor Poliakoff’s YouTube channel here.

 

 

University of Nottingham launches machine learning for antibiotic resistance study in China

 

 

CBI member, The University of Nottingham has launched a new study surrounding the usage of machine learning to fight antibiotic resistance in farmed chickens in China.

Titled, ‘FARMWATCH’, the UK-led study aims to improve the health of farmed chickens in China and reduce the risk of disease and antibiotics transference to human populations, by using machine learning to find new ways to identify and pinpoint disease in poultry farms. If successful, farmers would begin to be able to rear chickens with a reduced need for antibiotics, lowering the risk of antibiotic resistance being transferred to consumers.

The £1.5m project is a partnership between researchers from the University of Nottingham’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Science and the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment. Funded by Innovate UK and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), the researchers are also collaborating with commercial partners, Nimrod Veterinary Products in the UK and New Hope Liuhe in China. 

Dr Tania Dottorini, Assistant Professor in Bioinformatics at The University of Nottingham, said: “This is a hugely important project that has the potential to transform the ways farm animals are treated and looked after. It also has significant impact on the heath of consumers of poultry products, with future ramifications to other farmed animals. […] For the first time we are using large-scale collection of data, statistical modelling and data mining powered by machine learning and cloud computing to find answers to some big problems faced by the farming industry. This project will contribute to sustainable development in China through improved health and well-being of vulnerable populations. We can then apply these learnings to the UK as well.” 

The researchers in Nottingham will be working with colleagues in China to take thousands of samples from the animals, humans and environment of nine farms, in three Chinese provinces over three years. This complex ‘big’ data will be analysed for new diagnostic biomarkers that will predict and detect bacterial infection, insurgence of ABR, and transfer to humans. This data will then allow early intervention and treatment, reducing spread and the need for antibiotics. 

ExxonMobil puts foot on gas with Zhejiang Energy LNG Deal

CBI member, Exxon Mobil has announced that it has signed a sales and purchase agreement with Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group for liquefied natural gas supply. The deal, which was signed on Monday, will see Exxon Mobil supply Zhejiang Energy with 1 million metric tonnes of LNG annually over 20 years.

Peter Clarke, senior vice-president of LNG at Exxon Mobil said, “This sales and purchase agreement represents an important milestone and provides a solid foundation for our strategic partnership with Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group [and…] developing a major LNG gateway in the Ningbo-Zhoushan region. [ExxonMobil] looks forward to continuing our support for Zhejiang Energy during the construction, commissioning and operation of its [new] Wenzhou LNG receiving terminal.”

Zhejiang Energy is building a $1.3 billion receiving terminal for the fuel in Wenzhou, with an annual handling capacity of 3 million tonnes. Zhejiang Energy will partner with Chinese state oil and gas major, Sinopec for the development of the terminal. ExxonMobil already has another separate long-term supply agreement with Sinopec in China, extending the two companies’ collaboration in the market.

China has been ramping up its efforts to import LNG over the past few years. The country imported more than 53 million tonnes of LNG last year, which accounts for 60% of total natural gas imports. Consequently, the Chinese government has sought foreign investment in the country’s LNG infrastructure to help boost China’s capacity to handle greater LNG flows.

Regular readers of China Direct may remember that back in the September of last year, Exxon Mobil announced that it had agreed with Chinese officials to invest $10 billion in an LNG terminal and petrochemicals plant in Guangdong province.

This is part of the company’s efforts to diversify their global portfolio, and includes diversifying further into the LNG supply chain and better catering to the needs of the China and Asian energy markets.

Benoy announces second project with HK China Travel Service

CBI Member Benoy has announced its second project with Hong Kong China Travel Service (HKCTS) - the Ningbo ‘If mall’, a future community-focused retail and commercial destination whose design has been recently unveiled to the public.

The development is situated in the Jiangbei district of Ningbo on a plot bordered by the well-known Changxing Road, Hongtu Road and West North Ring Road. Positioned as a premium community retail and business centre, Ningbo If mall will be a showcase space for international and local brands as well as offer commercial and leisure environments.

Benoy’s design is comprised of three major blocks covering an approximate GFA of 46,000sqm. The planning regulations required strong interfacing with the surrounding urban areas. Benoy’s approach therefore resulted in an L-shaped layout with a continuous green, urban space woven throughout.

“We were excited by the landscaping opportunities offered by the client and this site. Our design introduces an urban public park between the west side of the development and the major municipal road, as well as smaller landscaped pockets throughout the scheme to create a greener environment for the people visiting as well as working and living within the wider development,” said Qin Pang, Director at Benoy.

Download Benoy Press Release - Benoy to deliver for HKCTS

 

Nottingham Ningbo University & Shanghai Institute designing new generation batteries

 

Salt is key ingredient for cheaper and more efficient batteries 

A new design of rechargeable battery, created using salt, could lead the way for greener energy. Researchers at CBI member the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) have joined forces with a specialist group at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences on designs for the novel energy store which allows for greater power while also lasting longer than conventional batteries.

                                      

Growing demand for electric vehicles and more sustainable forms of transport means finding new forms of energy storage such as batteries, super-capacitators and fuel cells. Currently a major challenge facing the industry is the poor performance quality of rechargeable batteries which often lose energy and power too quickly over time.

 

The collaboration team is led by Professor Jiangiang Wang, an expert in molten salts chemistry at SINAP, and Professor George Chen, Li Dak Sum Chair Professor in Electrochemical Technologies at UNNC, and has worked to design a possible solution outlined in a paper published in the journal ChemSusChem.

 

The paper, A Rechargeable High-Temperature Molten Salt Iron-Oxygen Battery, outlines research carried out using a novel and affordable rechargeable iron-oxygen battery containing a bi-phase electrolyte of molten carbonate and solid oxide. The first author of the paper, Dr Cheng Peng pointed out that the new design merges the merits of a solid-oxide fuel cell and molten metal-air battery, offering significantly improved battery reaction kinetics and power capability without compromising the energy capacity.

 

Professor Chen said: “Currently, the major challenge to rechargeable metal–oxygen batteries resides in the sluggish kinetics of electrode reactions, resulting in low energy and power densities. Therefore, activation of the reactions of both the negative and positive electrodes is crucial for high-performance re-chargeable metal–oxygen batteries.”

 

The solution to this challenge as confirmed by the team’s work is innovative but simple and low cost. Professor Wang explained: “We looked at elevating the working temperature of the metal-oxygen battery using metals such as iron as a base as this can be activated at a high temperature and keeps the cost low. Solid oxide fuel cells use tin or bismuth as negative electrode materials, but one issue was metal oxides forming between the metal and solid electrolyte and impeding the ion conductivity.”

 

Dr Peng added: “One type of high temperature metal-oxygen battery is the so called molten air battery which can use base metals for fast multiple electron charge transfer in molten salts. The molten salts have the capability to dissolve metal oxides. Our proposal looked at a molten salt iron-oxygen battery with a bi-phase electrolyte of molten carbonate and solid oxide which merges the merits of both types of battery.

 

“The result was a low-cost and long service life rechargeable high-temperature molten salt iron-oxygen battery with both high energy storage capacity and fast charging and discharging power capability."

The team behind the new design anticipate that the new battery has a great potential application in the area of grid-scale and renewable energy storage. Professor Chen, who is also leading a molten salt electrolysis laboratory in Nottingham, said that the new research behind the battery design has multiple applications. For example, molten salts are the ideal storage fluid for solar heat at high temperatures. Therefore, the molten salt iron-oxygen battery is in principle capable of storage of both the solar heat and electricity, which is very much desirable for both domestic and industrial energy needs.      

International collaboration and knowledge transfer is vital to reduce CO2 emissions in China's major cities

 

 

A new study from experts at CBI Member The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), looks at whether international collaboration will help to tackle pollution in some of China’s biggest cities.

In the research, led by Professor May Tan-Mullins from UNNC, a group of experts looked into one of the most promising low carbon planning initiatives in China – Shenzhen’s International Low Carbon City (ILCC).

‘The role of international actors in low-carbon transitions of Shenzhen’s International Low Carbon City in China’, which is published in the journal ‘Cities’, looks at the influence of a group of international partners involved in the ILCC.

The research is part of the wider collaborative project – Smart Eco Cities – which is a comparative study of Europe and China. The project is the first of its kind and provides the first comparative analysis of the green economy, and particularly smart city and eco-initiatives in China and Europe.

The Shenzhen ILCC is a national pilot low carbon project in China. It was launched in 2012 with the aim to become one of the national low carbon city planning models for all future low-carbon planning.

It is the first collaborative project between Dutch and Chinese partners, which then expanded to include other countries including Germany, France, Italy, Australia and the US.

In this study, experts from UNNC investigated the influence of these international groups in the development process of the ILCC, and the benefits of such partners in the long run, through knowledge transfer and gathering resources.

Located in the northern edge of the Longgang district in Shenzhen the ILCC is a transit-orientated development (TOD) and is located between three main cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou.

Similar to many other Chinese eco city or low-carbon city projects, international partners play a major role in the development of the ILCC.

The team used stakeholder mapping to identify three categories of international or foreign stakeholder groups; including:

• Foreign city governments/government agencies, that worked with the Chinese Government or helped with knowledge transfer
• Foreign research institutes
• Foreign enterprises , who are engaged in construction projects

This stakeholder mapping of the project shows that, while Chinese stakeholder play major and leading roles in initiating and planning the projects, foreign partners are also heavily involved in the ILCC.

Professor May-Tan Mullins from UNNC, says: “The remarkable difference about this ILCC is that there is not only one, but multiple international partners from various countries which have differential influential roles in the project. This is possibly due to the substantial amount of local and national incentives, which attract multi-partnerships throughout the project’s development process.”

The study found that while the roles of these countries are visible in the early stages of the project, their involvement varies depending on their method of investment and collaboration.

For example partners from Australia, Germany and the US are involved through investment but their mediums of interaction are different from each other:

Australia is focused on the education and research (social investment); Germany is focused on the development of a new high tech industrial zone which will showcase some of their technologies and may be seen as a knowledge transform platform, and the US is focusing on new low carbon community areas – which has a more marketing and business-orientated approach of involvement.

The mapping and analysis carried out by experts indicates that the relationship between the international partners’ involvement and the stage in which they initiated their collaborations and partnerships is significant.

Other key findings show:

• That the two key partners – the Netherlands and the US, have both engaged in the ILCC’s development at an early stage of the project.
• The level of investment and policy/planning processes are significantly lower than the technological knowledge transfer. This clearly highlights the initial level of gathering as a coherent method of collecting knowledge applying knowledge from multiple international experts into policy and practice.
• The ‘gathering stage’ of the project is vital – in gathering the knowledge and collaborations for the latter phases of the project.
• The importance of political relations between China and different European partners, and that the EU as a regional organisation plays a stronger role in coming to agreement with their Chinese counterparts.
• The importance of this project at the national level in China and how the development process was affected by this bilateral agreement.

The findings were based on a combination of sources, including existing research findings and new research findings from UNNC’s conducted interviews and surveys carried out in 2016 and 2017.

The current state of the ILCC, although slightly delayed, shows progress as a low carbon city. There has already been progress with technologies including retrofitting buildings, low-rise but high dense development of new zones, and better infrastructure as part of the whole planning process.

Projects with international partners include - anew industrial park (in partnership with Germany), and the new low-carbon community zone (in partnership with the US), and the new education zone (in partnership with Australia – that are due to complete in 2020

Professor Tan-Mullins said: “Some of the ongoing projects of the ILCC are directly benefitting from the involvement of ILCC’s international partners. Whilst it is too early to judge its progress, it is clear to see that these partnerships and subsequent knowledge transfer, are vital in order for China to work towards its low-carbon goals.”

The ILCC’S venture with multiple international partners is an attempt to grasp new opportunities of low carbon development, to provide a continuous marketing plan and engage with external partners and restructure the industrial sector of Pingdi, from a heavy polluting industrial zone, to low carbon new development zone.

Nottingham Uni drives UK-China medical primary care excellence

 

A unique collaboration between the UK and China is set to benefit GPs of the future – and their patients – by identifying the real challenges of the Chinese GP training system and driving forward improvements in clinical training.

This unique project, being led by academics and educators at CBI Member The University of Nottingham is using the experiences of patients, educators and trainee doctors themselves to recommend improvements to primary care training in both countries. Different from other ‘training China’s GP’ programmes, the project team undertook a 4 month in-depth exchanges in Nottingham and Ningbo, providing a detailed understanding from the grassroots level.

And, it is hoped, it will assist in addressing the serious shortage of GPs in China, which has been a focus of Government healthcare policy in the country in recent years.

The UK and China share a number of public health challenges, particularly chronic diseases in an ageing population, such as diabetes, dementia, heart conditions and respiratory conditions. Furthermore, how to attract the right medical students to enter the GP training system strategically is always difficult and not well addressed.

The partnership between the Evidence Based Healthcare Centre at University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus (UNNC), Health Education England, the national leadership organisation for education, training and workforce development in the health sector, and Ningbo First Hospital is to help equip new general practitioners to meet these challenges and provide the highest standards of care.

The initiative – the first of its kind in the world - is being led by Dr Prit Chahal, Honorary Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham and Associate Postgraduate Dean at Health Education England.

Dr Chahal said: “China has recognised that one very effective way of improving its wider healthcare would be by developing its primary care system. It is now looking to the UK as a model on which it can base the training of the general practitioners who will be crucial in delivering that system.

“However, the impact of this research is going to be felt in both countries – there are things about our system of training which could also be improved, so it’s about an exchange of ideas with the ultimate aim of raising the quality of healthcare for the ordinary citizens of both countries.”

In China, only 15 per cent of doctors are general practitioners, compared to the UK where around half of doctors who qualify become family doctors. But looking behind the numbers, there are cultural barriers that the project will be also be looking to overcome, in line with Government reforms aimed at tackling the issues.

Compared to their UK counterparts, Chinese GPs have very low status – both among their patients and their healthcare peers – and are comparatively poorly paid. Many current medical degrees do not include general practice training but, as a result of current attitudes, of those doctors who do train as GPs only a small percentage ever go into practice.

Many patients have little confidence in GPs and an ingrained mistrust of local clinics, which often suffer from a chronic shortage of qualified doctors, preferring instead to bypass these and go straight to the hospital. As a result, these are ay crisis point and are struggling to cope with the numbers coming through their doors.

In recent years, the Chinese Government has been driving the development and transformation of its healthcare service, with a particular focus on enhancing primary care. It has committed to increasing access for the Chinese population with a goal of two to three general practitioners per 10,000 people or 300,000 by 2020, and to five general practitioners per 10,000 people or 700,000 by 2030.

In 2016, an Expert Committee for Education and Training of General Practitioners supported by the Ministry of Health, under the administration of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, was established. Its remit is to provide advice on policies relating to the education and training of GPs in China, to establish basic standards and the evaluation of GP training and to inspect training centres.

As part of this national landscape, the Nottingham-Ningbo initiative is aiming to play a key role in helping to drive up standards in general practitioner training and education and has developed an exchange programme for GP educators. This programme will be focus on quality and capacity building, rather than numbers of training participants, which will help the local hospitals to build up its GP training system organically.

Two GP educators from Ningbo First Hospital spent two months in England interviewing their British counterparts, trainee doctors and patients and UK educators have recently repeated the process in China.

Dr Chahal added: “We have seen there is an open door spirit in terms of Ningbo colleagues wanting to help trainees to become the best doctors they can be by developing first class education and training programmes, which is encouraging and fills us with optimism for the future.

“The partnership is already starting to deliver some promising results – we have recently had a meeting with the senior medical chief at Ningbo First Hospital and offered an outline of some quick-win, short-term gains that could be implemented fairly swiftly and some longer term plans that could start to bear fruit within one to five years.”

This programme may also open up opportunities for UK healthcare organisations and businesses who want to enter the China market.

Dr Huang Kai, the project member from Ningbo First hospital said: “This new exchange model enabled young general practitioners from both countries to learn through the real world experience, significantly deepening their understandings of both systems and improving primary care training.”

Dr Ruan Liemin, Director of Ningbo First Hospital added: “This exchange is just a start, we hope more general practitioners from Nottingham and Ningbo could obtain valuable experience and knowledge through this collaboration platform in the future.”

The Evidence Based Healthcare Centre was established at UNNC back in 2015, with the support of the Ningbo Healthcare and Family Planning Committee.

It comes as part of a wider initiative, Nottingham Health China led by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences launched in 2016, which is working to increase the amount and quality of research taking place between UK and Chinese healthcare institutions by forging new relationships between UK and China-based researchers and clinicians. A number of healthcare initiatives are being developed at different stages including lung cancer and hearing science.

It is focusing on a number of topics including nursing and midwifery, mental health, medical education, healthcare software, epidemiology and other key areas of need.

Nottingham University research improving lives in China

New growth for research that improves lives in China

Research carried out by academics at CBI member the University of Nottingham Ningbo is helping to improve the lives of people in China.

The University is leading the way in research into the areas of improved healthcare, greener transport, and sustainable environments.

The University, which made its home in Ningbo 14-years-ago, has heavily invested in research, increasing the number of funding partners, expanding its research facilities and recruiting 20 world-class chair professors.

It now stands poised for new growth in the shape of its PhD programme. Thanks to new government support the University will aim to recruit 1000 PhD students, shaping a first-class research portfolio.

Professor Chris Rudd said: “Research is in the DNA of our institution and we share the University of Nottingham’s passion for excellence with impact.

“We have made a commitment to investing in our staff, our students, our partners and our facilities and, as a result, we are seeing the remarkable growth in research outputs, the attraction of world-class talent and momentum for translating this research to impact not only regionally for the people of Ningbo but nationally and internationally.

“This is an exciting time for the University with further plans to develop our PhD programme and grow our research and innovation in the years to come.”

The University of Nottingham Ningbo was the first Sino-foreign University to open in China. During its history it has seen the opening of China’s first carbon-neutral building and helped 7,800 students through their university life to graduation and beyond.

Research in the themes of healthcare, transport and environment are already changing lives in China. This includes work into supercapatteries- new energy storage devices combing the properties of batteries and super capacitators, technology to reduce climate change and pollution, improving local healthcare and creating cleaner manufacturing systems.

Professor Chris Gerada, Vice-Provost (Research and Knowledge Transfer) said: “Research at our Ningbo campus is intertwined with the University of Nottingham’s global research strategy but with a focus on local priorities. Research teams at Ningbo work closely with hospitals and healthcare professionals to develop technologies and practices to improve lives of ordinary people.

“China is at the forefront of a more sustainable transport agenda. Our researchers are working closely with key stake holders in government and industry to develop electrical technologies, light-weight materials and energy storage and conversion technologies towards greener future transport systems. Together with much of our other research this is having a demonstrable impact in China and further afield. 

“All this would not be possible without our capable and dedicated staff and students. People are at the heart of our research strategy. We have been attracting world-leading chairs, fostering future research leaders and expanding our doctoral programmes and partnerships. These talented people underpin our capability in delivering high quality research and impact to our local and international community.”

CBI makes the case for British Business in China

 

CBI MAKES THE CASE FOR BRITISH BUSINESS IN CHINA

The CBI’s Director-General is visiting China this week on a trade visit with the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Theresa May.

Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General, said:

“The Sino-British relationship is a tremendous success story. From services to schools, and iPhones to tea, our countries have a special and integral place in each other’s lives.

“British businesses are keen to play their part in further deepening and engraining the economic ties between China and the United Kingdom. With the consumer market alone worth over £3.3 trillion, this relationship creates thousands of jobs in the UK and China, raising living standards and boosting productivity.

“As the UK forges a new global trading future, it is well ahead of the curve in making the most of its relationship with the world’s fastest growing economy. By making inroads into China’s lesser economically known regions, the UK stands to profit from China’s move from manufacturing and infrastructure into technology and services, writing a new chapter in the golden era of relations.”

30 January 2018

Notes to Editors:

Read the CBI’s latest report on British trade and investment with China, Sterling Assets China.

Across the UK, the CBI speaks on behalf of 190,000 businesses of all sizes and sectors. The CBI’s corporate members together employ nearly 7 million people, about one third of private sector-employees. With offices in the UK as well as representation in Brussels, Washington, Beijing and Delhi, the CBI communicates the British business voice around the world.

Media Contact:

CBI Press Office is available 24 hours a day on 0207 395 8239, or email: [email protected] Follow the CBI (@CBItweets), Carolyn Fairbairn (CBICarolyn) and CBI China (CBIBEIJING) on Twitter.