ArchiveBuilding a UK-China Partnership in GNSS and Geospatial Sciences
The ICUK workshop on “Building a UK-China Partnership in GNSS and Geospatial Sciences” was held in Wuhan University, China between 22nd and 23rd October 2008 where ICUK and the University of Nottingham brought together a broad range of top experts including senior government officials, key academics of leading universities/research institutions in both the UK and China and also industry representatives from leading Chinese surveying and mapping companies. This high profile workshop provided an important platform for UK-China professionals in GNSS and Geospatial Sciences to present and discuss recent developments, strategy, education and applications in the public safety critical areas such as monitoring geo-hazards.
Mr Weisen Li, Deputy Director-General of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of China, said “This workshop has provided an excellent platform for UK and Chinese professionals to present each other’s capabilities in research and applications. It provides a good opportunity to promote the fast economic development of both countries and to increase the international influence of both countries’ research and development in this area.”
Mr Neil Ackroyd, Director of Data Collection and Management of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, gave an introduction about the current developments of GNSS and Geospatial Sciences. Professor Alan Dodson, a Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Nottingham, Professor Jingnan Liu, President of Wuhan University, and Professor Junyong Chen, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former Director-General of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of China also gave keynote speeches during the workshop.
Professor Dodson said: “Through open debate and discussion, we are aiming to establish mutual understanding about the opportunities and challenges that we are facing with the launch of new satellite navigation systems and new signals, especially the Chinese Compass and the European Galileo systems.
Industry representatives included those from BDStar, Beijing Nav Technology Co., Ltd., South Surveying and Mapping Instrument Co., LTD, Telematics Valley, Sweden, Zhejiang Zhong Yu Instrument Co., LTD., Shanghai HuaCe Co., LTD. The companies were given opportunities, through exhibitions, to demonstrate their technologies.
This workshop has been confirmed as a great success with many potential collaborations being initiated not only between academics themselves but also with industries and between governments. Dr Xiaolin Meng, RCUK Academic Fellow of UoN, also the executive chair of this event said: "This event has a great potential and profound significance for promoting China-UK collaborations in this area. It has already stimulated a high level of media interest."
This workshop was jointly organised by Innovation China UK (ICUK) and The University of Nottingham, and hosted by Wuhan University. Professor Alan Dodson and Professor Jingnan Liu were the Honorary Workshop Chairs while Dr Xiaolin Meng (UoN) and Professor Chuang Shi (Wuhan University) were the Executive Chairs.
"As a sponsor and co-organiser, we are pleased to see academics, businesses and government agencies from both countries have all been benefited from participating this high-profile event. It was a truly successful event in UK-China knowledge transfer." said Manyi Cristofoli, Executive Director of Innovation China UK.
