News from University of Southampton
A new innovation partnership is set to further strengthen links between the University and its Chinese counterparts.
Southampton is one of five UK universities collaborating in new research and knowledge transfer partnership Innovation China UK (ICUK). The partnership will provide funding and support to enable UK and Chinese collaborators to develop and commercialise their joint research worldwide.
The partnership, which is coordinated within the UK by Queen Mary, University of London, was announced at a meeting in London in September between Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao.
UK funding for the partnership comes from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which has committed £5 million to the programme from the Higher Education Innovation Fund 3 (HEIF 3), a joint funding programme run by HEFCE and the Department of Trade and Industry. The Chinese Government will provide a matching financial contribution through its Ministry of Science and Technology in partnership with the Chinese Ministry of Education.
Other participating universities in the UK are King's College London, University of Nottingham, and the Royal Veterinary College.
Chinese institutions in the partnership include Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing University, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, and China University of Science and Technology.
University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bill Wakeham, said: 'This is an excellent opportunity for Southampton to build on the already strong links we have with universities in China, including Nanjing University, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, and Peking University. Ours is one of the leading UK universities in the commercialisation of research, and this new international partnership will help us build on our existing strengths in this activity.'
The Southampton element of the partnership will be managed by the University's Centre for Contemporary China and its Centre for Enterprise and Innovation.
The Centre for Contemporary China's director, Dr Maozu Lu, commented: 'We at the Centre are delighted to manage this project for Southampton. This initiative will further develop our close relations with the leading Chinese universities.'
Southampton's role in ICUK is a further enhancement of the University's international network for collaborative research and commercialisation, and builds on the US/UK collaboration between the SETsquared Partnership (of the Universities of Southampton, Bath, Bristol and Surrey), and the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Irvine, which was funded by the DTI (£1.5m for two years) earlier this year.
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