ICUK holds successful Forum on Advanced Water Technology
ICUK and Science Innovation Network (SIN) China, together with Bureau of Comprehensive Development (BCD) Ministry of Water Resources, have jointly organised two technology partnering workshops on Advanced Water Technology on 20 - 24 May 2012 in Beijing and Qingdao.
There were around 100 Chinese participants from 60 organizations attended the Beijing partnering workshop. The Director General of BCD (Wang Wenke), and The First Secretary on Science & Innovation of British Embassy in Beijing (Will Hellon) delivered VIP addresses at the Beijing partnering workshop on 21st May, after which General Manager of China Water Investment Co. Ltd (Liu Zhenghong) and Technical Manager of British Water (Ian Bernard) delivered keynote speeches to give overview of water industry in each country.
After the keynote speeches, BCD and British Water signed a Memorandum of Understanding on future strategic collaborations between these two organisations and their members. The MoU covers collaborations on trade and investment, education and training, joint projects and science and technology.
Next section of the event was UK technology presentation. Each UK participant had 10 minutes to present their technology. To make it easy for the Chinese participants to understand the presentations, all the slides were translated into Chinese prior to the event. The presentation was followed by a networking lunch, where Chinese companies had the chances to make initial contacts with UK participants.
The whole afternoon was arranged as 1-2-1 meetings for Chinese companies to introduce themselves, ask specific questions to UK participants, and discuss potential business opportunities.
On the next day, two site visits have been arranged for UK participants. A visit to Beijing Gao Bei Dian Wastewater Treatment Plant has been proven to be useful for the UK participants to understand the current technologies used in China water industry as well as the national water standerds. UK participants also visited International Technology Transfer Centre, where international collaboration policies and assistances from Beijing government were introduced.
At Qingdao partnering workshop on 23rd May, UK participants were welcomed by the General Manager of Shandong Water Investment Co. Ltd. Each UK participant then had 10 minutes to present their technology to around 50 Qingdao audiences, which is followed by 1 hour session of 1-2-1 meetings.
In the afternoon, the UK participants visited Huangdao Water treatment plant, which was a complementing visit to the site visit in Beijing. ? As the visit in Beijing was a wastewater treatment plant and the one in Qingdao is for drinking water. The pair of the visit gave UK participants a very good overview of the national standards, technologies and products used in whole water cycle in China.
All UK participants have expressed that this mission to China has provided them important opportunities in understanding the Chinese market and interaction with the potential local partners - targeted partnering exercise is essential for technology-based companies when entering into a new market.
For more information or an application form please email:
Sumi Wang:
ICUK has several exciting events planned for 2013-14. Please check the ICUK website regularly for updates and application deadlines.
