Professor Lenny Koh recently visited Beijing and Nanjing, China to meet with AREC China (led by Ken Pan) and partners to foster scaling up of China research collaborations and partnerships. The objective was to further maximise the collaborative partnerships built from the already established significant impact to benefit global society and industry.
The meetings involved several organisations such as leading universities, industry and government think tanks including Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, CIIC International Human Resources Services Ltd, MCC, Great Environmental Group, Beijing Warmland Energy Services Co Ltd, Lotus Lake Capital, Beijing Capital Robotics Industry Innovation Centre, GHDDI (funded by Bill Gates), GHIC, Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Research & Development Institute and etc.
Global healthcare, energy revolution, Belt and Road automotive supply chains, SCEnAT suites and life cycle assessment, water and environmental technology, waste-to-resources, new materials, circular economy and recycling were amongst some of the areas of collaborative projects. A total of 22 projects have been created from these visits through multiple meetings and workshops with stakeholders, leading industry, universities, policy makers and think tanks in China.
Some of the outcomes from these include:
- Tsinghua University (Beijing), DRTT, CCIEE and Transinfo
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Building from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between The University of Sheffield and Tsinghua University, China; the collaboration between UK, Europe, China and USA on automotive supply chain; and collaboration between Professor Lenny Koh with Tsinghua University on blockchain and life cycle, proposals have been submitted to MOST and EU (Brussels).
This involves partners from the UK, Europe, USA and China, with stakeholders from leading industries, policy makers, think tanks and universities.
Tsinghua University is ranked #1 in China and Asia. DRTT and CCIEE are prestigious government think tanks and policies makers in China. Transinfo is China leading provider of big data on transport and logistics (freights and passengers) across multi-modality including road, air, rail and sea.
In addition, existing collaboration and partnership between AREC and Tsinghua includes environmental management, waste recycling and circular economy policies.
- Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Research & Development Institute, Tsinghua Beijing Science Park
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Aiming to advance the discussions between Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Research & Development Institute and Neuroscience Institute and Energy Institute at The University of Sheffield looking at transforming global healthcare and energy sustainability. Tour of key facilities have provided insights into the range of drug discovery, funding mechanism and partners involved, including the GHDDI funded by Bill Gates.
- CIIC – International Human Resources Services Ltd
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CIIC is a SASAC Directly Affiliated Central Enterprise. It is ranked #1 in Human Resources Providers in China and top 10 in Global Human Resources Providers. There are a total of 89 branches of CIIC in 76 Countries. CIIC is a Top 100 Services Enterprises.
Focussing on energy (including advancing SCEnAT suites) and talent development, an MoU will be signed between AREC and CIIC to strengthen our partnership and collaboration in these domain.
This initiative includes the establishment of energy centres in China and Sheffield (covering research, innovation and training); as well as career and employment route map and green lane for future talent.
- China Second Metallurgical Group
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China Second Metallurgical Group Co., Ltd., referred to as 2MCC, founded in 1956, is a national super construction enterprise and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Metallurgical Science and Industry Corporation(MCC), which is the world’s largest and strongest metallurgical construction contractor and operation service provider, one of the state-recognized major resource enterprises, China’s largest steel structure producer, one of the first 16 central SOEs with real estate development as its major business approved by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council, and the main force for China’s infrastructure construction.
Five specific projects with 2MCC to stimulate potential collaboration between AREC and 2MCC which cover areas such as circular economy, sustainable innovation, greener materials, and etc. have been established.
- Beijing Warmland Energy Services Co Ltd
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Using SCEnAT suites in computing environmental innovation impact in particular their application and implementation in the China Beijing Olympic Stadium in preparation for the 2022 Olympic Games. This collaboration, SCEnAT suites and results will be showcased at the Olympic Initiative Zone.
- Great Environmental Group
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Largest in Henan province. Adopting water technology and circular technology innovation, and new methods for improving resource efficiency and recycling for China’s industry environmental and business benefits. Focussing on translational dimensions of these innovation.
- Nanjing University
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Building from the strong partnership between The University of Sheffield and Nanjing University, an advanced collaboration will focus on recycling and waste-to-resources (industrial and municipal waste streams), and Energy Institute with support from municipal/province level. This collaboration is between AREC, Energy Institute and the Nanjing University Government Policy Department.
