China Direct

Britain's Image Overseas - A 2021 Survey

Dear CBI members and Partners,

 

Kindly find a useful report published in Dec 2021 by VisitBritain. The Headline Summary makes for interesting reading, particularly if you then review China's ranking of UK attributes later in the report.

The full report can be downloaded below. Our thanks to VisitBritain for kindly sharing this information.

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Britain’s image overseas

The Anholt Nation Brands Index ranked 60 nations in 2021 and the UK ranked 5th as a nation brand, behind Germany, Canada, Japan and Italy. 

The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index is an annual online study amongst 60,000 consumers in 20 panel countries around the world. Respondents score 60 nations on a raft of attributes including some relating to tourism, culture and people as well as those relating to exports, governance and immigration. Respondents are representative of the online population in each market. In 2021, there were some methodological changes whereby the number of interviews tripled, 60 nations were ranked vs 50 in previous years and Saudi Arabia replaced Egypt in the panel countries. 

Rank	Nation	Rank	Nation
1	Germany	6	France
2	Canada	7	Switzerland
3	Japan	8	United States
4	Italy	9	Sweden
5	United Kingdom	10	Australia

There were significant changes to the top 10 nation brands in 2021 with the UK dropping 3 rankings to 5^th place after reaching a record 2nd place in 2020. 

The overall nation brand is made up of scores for six dimensions: Tourism, Culture, People, Immigration-Investment, Exports and Governance and there were declines across most of the dimensions in 2021.

Looking at the dimensions relevant for tourism, the UK ranked 6^th out of 60 nations for Tourism and 4^th for Culture. Within these dimensions the UK ranked highest for contemporary culture, sport, historic buildings/monuments and vibrant city life. Within other dimensions, education qualifications, having a close friend from the UK and willingness to live and work in the UK were held in high regard as well. Attributes such as natural beauty, welcome and behaving responsibly to protect the environment were ranked lowest in 2021. 

The table below shows in more detail how well Britain performed across Tourism, Culture, People, Exports, Immigration and Investment, and Governance.

UK’s ranks for all dimensions and attributes

Hexagon dimensions / attribute	UK rank in 2021	Hexagon dimensions / attribute	UK rank in 2021
Tourism	6	People	10
Rich in historic buildings & monuments	5	If visited, people would make me feel very welcome	18
Vibrant city life & urban attractions	6	Would like a person from country as a close friend	3
Would like to visit if money was no object	7	Would employ well-qualified person from country	6
Rich in natural beauty	31
Culture	4	Exports	4
Interesting & exciting for contemporary culture	4	Major contributor to innovation in science & technology	5
Excels at sport	4	Feel better about buying products if made there	6
Has a rich cultural heritage	8	Creative, cutting edge ideas & new ways of thinking	6
Immigration-investment	5	Governance	11
Willing to live & work there for a substantial period	5	Competently and honestly governed	11
A place with a high quality of life	8	Respect the rights of citizens & treats with fairness	10
A good place to study for educational qualifications	2	Behaves responsibly in int. peace & security	9
Has businesses I'd like to invest in	6	Behaves responsibly to protect the environment	15
Cares about equality in society	12	Behaves responsibly to help reduce world poverty	10

Read our full report on how the world views Britain (PDF, 524 KB). Published December 2021

Dates for Diaries: UK-Vietnam HE Webinar 03.12.21

Introduction

The workshop on Project 89 will be virtually co-organise by the British Council in Viet Nam, Department of International Trade – UK Embassy and UK–Viet Nam Higher Education Network on 3 December 2021.   

• Date: 3 December 2021
• Time: 16.30–18.00 (Vietnam time) or 09.30–11.00 (UK time)
• Registration: https://bit.ly/3cmMIco by close of 2 December 2021
• Workshop platform: Microsoft Teams
• Language: English
• Agenda: please see the attachment here

Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam has launched a Scholarship Programme named as Project 89 – a Decision approval the proposal for enhancing competencies of lecturers and administrators of HEIs meeting requirements for radical changes in education and training until 2030.

Main objectives of Project 89 are:

• providing the doctoral training for about 10 per cent of HE lecturers, of which 7 per cent are trained full time abroad, 3 per cent receive domestic training programmes, and joint programmes with foreign universities achieving regional and world quality standards
• attract at least 1,500 scientists and doctorate degree holders who are working abroad or domestically outside of higher education institutions to work at Vietnamese higher education institutions
• expect 80 per cent of lecturers of culture, arts and physical education and sports schools to obtain master's degree or higher, receive full-time training programs provided by foreign educational institutions or domestic institutions meeting regional and world quality as well as structured reasonably 
• by 2030, expecting 100 per cent of administrators and lecturers to be trained to improve their competencies with emphasis on: The competency in orienting training and educational programs towards modern training methods, scientific researches, foreign languages and information technology

Workshop aims 

• Introducing Project 89 as an opportunity for UK–Viet Nam partnership in masters and PhD/joint PhD training programmes
• Discussing (joint) PhD training under a partnership approach and key factors to success
• Connecting and facilitating further discussion between UK and Vietnamese universities to form up partnerships supporting the implementation of Project 89.

Targeted audience

• Rectors/Vice Rectors, Deans/Vice Deans, Heads/Deputy Heads of International Relations and Research of UK and Vietnamese universities.

 

 

Salt battery design overcomes 'bump' in the road to help electric cars go the extra mile

Using salt as a key ingredient, Chinese and British researchers have designed a new type of rechargeable battery that could accelerate the shift to greener, electric transport on our roads.

Many electric vehicles (EV) are powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, but they can lose energy and power over time. Under certain conditions, such batteries can also overheat while working or charging, which can also degrade battery life and reduce miles per charge.

To solve these issues, the University of Nottingham is collaborating with six scientific research institutes across China to develop an innovative and affordable energy store with the combined performance merits of a solid-oxide fuel cell and a metal-air battery. The new battery could significantly extend the range of electric vehicles, while being fully recyclable, environmentally-friendly, low-cost and safe.

A solid-oxide fuel cell converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity as a result of a chemical reaction. While they are highly-efficient at extracting energy from a fuel, durable, low-cost and greener to produce, they are not rechargeable. Meanwhile, metal-air batteries are electrochemical cells that uses a cheap metal such as iron and the oxygen present in air to generate electricity. During charging, they emit only oxygen into the atmosphere. Although not very durable, these high-energy dense batteries are rechargeable and can store and discharge as much electricity as lithium-ion batteries, but much more safely and cheaply.

In the early research phases, the research team explored a high-temperature, iron-air battery design that used molten salt as a type of electrolyte - activated by heat - for electrical conductivity. Cheap and inflammable, molten salts help to give a battery impressive energy storage and power capability and a lengthy lifecycle.

However, molten salts also possess adverse characteristics. University of Nottingham study lead, Professor George Chen said: “In extreme heat, molten salt can be aggressively corrosive, volatile and evaporate or leak, which is challenging to the safety and stability of battery design. There was an urgent need to fine-tune these electrolyte characteristics for better battery performance and to enable its future use in electric transport.”

The researchers have now successfully improved the technology by turning the molten salt into soft-solid salt, using solid oxide nano-powders. Professor Jianqiang Wang, from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is leading this collaboration project has predicted that this quasi-solid-state (QSS) electrolyte is suitable for metal-air batteries which operate at 800ºC; as it suppresses the evaporation and fluidity of the molten salts that can occur at such high operating temperatures.

Project collaborator, Dr Cheng Peng, also from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, explains a unique and useful design aspect of this experimental research. The quasi-solidification has been achieved using nanotechnology to construct a flexibly-connected network of solid oxide particles that act as a structural barrier locking in the molten salt electrolytes, while still allowing them to safely conduct electricity in extreme heat.

Professor Chen, who is leading a molten salt electrolysis laboratory in Nottingham, hopes the team’s “encouraging results” will help to establish a simpler and more efficient approach to designing low-cost and high-performance molten salt metal-air batteries with high stability and safety.

He adds, “The modified molten salt iron-oxygen battery has great potential applications in new markets, including electric transport and renewable energy which require innovative storage solutions in our homes and at grid-level. The battery is also, in principle, capable of storing solar heat as well as electricity, which is highly-desirable for both domestic and industrial energy needs. Molten salts are currently used at large scale in Spain and China to capture and store solar heat which is then converted to electricity - our molten salt metal air battery does the two jobs in one device.”

The full article, ‘Quasi-solid-state electrolyte for rechargeable high-temperature molten salt iron-air battery’, outlining the results, is published in the journal Energy Storage Materials.

ENDS

More information is available from Professor George Chen, Professor of Electrochemical Technologies in the Faculty of Engineering on +44 (0) 1159514171 or [email protected] or Emma Lowry, Media Relations Manager (Engineering) on 0115 84 67156 or [email protected]

The University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world's top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, a pioneering collaboration which brings together the combined strength and civic missions of Nottingham’s two world-class universities and is working with local communities and partners to aid recovery and renewal following the Covid-19 pandemic.

UK-China Trade Summary 2020

Kindly find a one page summary of UK-China trade stats for 2020 attached below.

China Direct would like to thank the CBBC for kindly providing this update.

Download 201229_China_investment_factsheet_final

British Business Awards 2020 - applications open now!

 

We are delighted to announce that the British Business Awards 2020 website (www.britishbusinessawards.cn) is now live and online applications open. 

Established in 2008 and now in its twelfth year, the biennial British Business Awards (BBA) recognises and promotes excellence in innovation, enterprise, and endeavour, in the British and Chinese business communities. The British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai is excited to be hosting BBA 2020 in Shanghai.

Over the past decade, BBA in China has grown to become a prestigious feature of the business calendar. BBA 2020 consists of nine categories which showcase a number of organisations and individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to trade and investment in China. These awards are:

·    Innovation Award (Sponsored by bp)

·    Sustainability Award (Sponsored by Houghton Street Consulting)

·    Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Sponsored by The British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai)

·    Chinese Investor in the UK Award

·    British Exporter of the Year Award (Sponsored by CBBC)

·    Leadership Award (Sponsored by The University of Manchester China Centre)

·    Best Employer Award (Sponsored by Smith+Nephew)

·    Best Services Award (Sponsored by KPMG China)

·    British Company of the Year Award (Sponsored by SpiraxSarco)

 

Key Dates of BBA 2020

·    Wednesday, 27 May: Official Website Launch & Online Applications

·    Thursday, 11 June: Official Launch Event

·    Friday, 31 July: Applications Close

·    Thursday, 3 September: Finalists Announcement

·    Thursday, 29 October: Awards Gala Dinner

For more details about each award and its criteria, please click here. To apply for the awards, please click here to register an account first or find your old account back.

BBA 2020 is supported by Department for International Trade (DIT), China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), The British Council, Confederation of British Industry (CBI), and British Chambers in Beijing, Guangdong and Southwest.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

AstraZeneca & The University of Oxford head COVID-19 vaccine hunt

 

CBI member, AstraZeneca has announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with the University of Oxford, to manufacture the university’s potential recombinant adenovirus vaccine aimed at preventing COVID-19 infections from SARS-CoV-2.

The collaboration aims to bring to patients the potential vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, being developed by the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group, at the University of Oxford. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca would be responsible for development and worldwide manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine.

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca, said: “As COVID-19 continues its grip on the world, the need for a vaccine to defeat the virus is urgent. This collaboration brings together the University of Oxford’s world-class expertise in vaccinology and AstraZeneca’s global development, manufacturing and distribution capabilities. Our hope is that, by joining forces, we can accelerate the globalisation of a vaccine to combat the virus and protect people from the deadliest pandemic in a generation.”

Professor Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, said: “Our partnership with AstraZeneca will be a major force in the struggle against pandemics for many years to come. We believe that together we will be in a strong position to start immunising against coronavirus once we have an effective approved vaccine. Sadly, the risk of new pandemics will always be with us and the new research centre will enhance the world’s preparedness and our speed of reaction the next time we face such a challenge.”

Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, said: “Like my colleagues all across Oxford, I am deeply proud of the work of our extraordinarily talented team of academics in the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group. They represent the best tradition of research, teaching and contributing to the world around us, that has been the driving mission of the University of Oxford for centuries. Like people all across the country, we are wishing them success in developing an effective vaccine. If they are successful, our partnership with AstraZeneca will ensure that the British people and people across the world, especially in low and middle income countries, will be protected from this terrible virus as quickly as possible.”

The potential vaccine entered Phase I clinical trials last week, to study safety and efficacy in healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, across five trial centres in Southern England. Data from the Phase I trial could be available next month. Advancement to late-stage trials should take place by the middle of this year

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

Oxford researchers in UK & China develop new COVID-19 test

Scientists from the University of Oxford’s Engineering Science Department and the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research have developed a rapid testing technology for the novel corona virus (COVID-19). The team, led by Professor Zhanfeng Cui and Professor Wei Huang, have been working to improve testing capabilities as the virus spreads internationally.

The new test is much faster than those being used at present and does not require complicated or expensive instruments in its administration.  While previous viral tests for COVID-19 took 1.5 to 2 hours to give a result, the new test developed by Professors Cui and Huang is capable of giving a result in just half an hour.

Prof Wei Huang says: “The beauty of this new test lies in the design of the viral detection system that can specifically recognise SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) [Ribonucleic acid] and RNA fragments.  The test has built-in checks to prevent false positives or negatives and the results have been highly accurate.”

In addition to providing a result far faster than current tests, the technology behind the test is more sensitive, meaning that patients in early stages of infection may be identified sooner. Moreover, the test requires only a simple heat-block which maintains a constant temperature to be administered. Finally, the results of the RNA reverse transcription and subsequent DNA amplification can be read by the naked eye, making the test particularly useful in rural areas or less well-equipped community healthcare centres.

The technology has been validated against real clinical samples obtained from Shenzhen Luohou People’s Hospital in China. 

The scientists are now working to develop an integrated device so that the test can be used at clinics, airports, or even at home.  

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

University of Oxford announces Advent tie up for COVID-19 Vaccine

 

The University of Oxford has announced that the Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research will partner with Advent to produce the first batch of the novel coronavirus vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 for clinical testing.

The vaccine ‘seed stock’ is currently being produced at the University of Oxford’s clinical biomanufacturing facility and will be transferred to Advent, who will initially produce 1000 doses for the first clinical trials of this vaccine.

Professor Sarah Gilbert of the Jenner Institute said: “Novel pathogens such as nCoV-19 require rapid vaccine development. By using technology that is known to work well for another coronavirus vaccine we are able to reduce the time taken to prepare for clinical trials. Advent are working with us to move as rapidly as possible.”

 The Jenner Institute has been working on a vaccine against another coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has been shown to induce strong immune responses against MERS after a single dose of the vaccine in the first clinical trial which took place in Oxford. The same approach to making the vaccine is being taken for the novel coronavirus vaccine. Once the vaccine has been successfully grown, it will be passed to Advent, who are devising a fast development programme, incorporating the production process and testing strategy to produce vaccine for clinical testing as rapidly as possible.

The vaccines are produced using a safe version of the virus, called an ‘adenovirus’; this is another virus that can cause a common cold-like illness. The adenovirus has been modified so that it cannot reproduce within the body, and the genetic code to provide instructions for making the coronavirus ‘Spike protein’ has been added, enabling the adenovirus to produce this protein after vaccination. That results in the formation of antibodies to the Spike protein, which is found on the surface of coronaviruses. In someone who has been vaccinated, antibodies to the Spike can bind to the coronavirus and stop it from causing an infection.

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

 

Pearson keeps online learning classes running in China

 

CBI member, Pearson has made dozens of online classes available to support the ‘No Suspension of Study’ initiative taking place across China in response to the coronavirus.

When the epidemic hit, schools across China postponed their term start dates after the Lunar Year period in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus. In response, Pearson took immediate action, mobilising staff to ensure that after just a few days dozens of free online courses were available to ensure that students could continue learning without suspension.

Pearson is offering a range of products from its various business lines, including:

• Pearson English,
• K12 online blended learning from International Connections Academy
• Pearson STEM
• Pearson Edexcel,
• PTE-A English test etc.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong and Macao, Pearson has also opened all subjects from pre-primary to senior secondary, as well as major English Reading Series.

Pearson are happy to report, that within a few days of opening this service, more than 60,000 applicants have applied to access the International Connections Academy set up to facilitate these programmes.

Pearson has also opened free AI learning resources on its Longman English Plus WeChat Platform, known as “Longman Xiaoying” and provided free digital supplementary learning resources for end-users with a certified Pearson textbook. As of now, more than 100,000 copies of original readers and supplementary exercises have been released, across nearly 160 books, to the benefit of almost 200,000 users. In the near future, Pearson will open more high-quality English learning resources to full-time schools free of charge.

Joe Lam, Managing Director of Pearson Greater China and India Hub said, "The epidemic situation is still very challenging. We are here to go through the hard time together in China by offering whatever help we can to meet various learning needs from teachers and students and make school available at home.

 

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.